“I would tell the Chancellor not to spend his riches before they’re in his greedy palm. I’ll remind you, I am not dead yet.”

Garvin laughed, and his face loomed closer to mine. “Here?” he whispered. “Yes, here you’re as good as dead. You’ll never be leaving again—at least not alive.”

I tried to push past him, but he tightened his grip on the table. He was not a large man, but he was wiry and tough. I heard the snickers of the scholars, but I could see only the stubble on Garvin’s chin and feel his thighs pressing close to mine.

“I’ll also remind you, though I may be a prisoner of the Komizar, I’m his betrothed as well, and unless you’d like to see your thin, sour hide served on a platter, I would suggest you move your arms now.”

His smile disappeared, and he stepped aside. “Be on your way, and I’d advise you not to come this way again. These catacombs have many forgotten and dangerous passages. One could easily get lost forever.”

I brushed past him and the scholars, tasting the bitterness of their betrayal, but when I was a few yards away, I stopped and slowly scrutinized them.

“What are you doing?” Argyris asked.

“Memorizing each of your faces and how you look in this moment—and imagining what you’ll look like a year from now as you face death. Because as you all well know, I do have the gift, and I’ve seen every one of you dead.”

I turned and left, and heard not a shuffle nor a whisper in my wake.

It was the second time in less than an hour I had perpetrated a sham.

Maybe.

Because in a brief cold second, I saw every one of them hanging from a rope.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

I sat on a wooden bench near the servants’ stables, staring at a feather stirring on the ground, my feet and fingers numb, my thoughts jumping from rage to disbelief. Secrets at home, secrets in the caverns. Deceit knew no boundaries.

Secrets. That was what I saw in Argyris’s startled eyes and felt pressing on my chest when I passed through the cavern. A dangerous secret.

Movement in the distance caught my eye. He walked toward me.

The ultimate betrayer.

He stopped several feet away, noting that something was off. “Where are your escorts?”

I didn’t answer.

“I’ve looked everywhere for you,” he said. “What are you doing out here? It’s freezing.”

So it was.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

I studied Kaden, his eyes warm and searching. Kaden wanting a truce. Make everything better, like we were walking in a meadow after one of his drunken tirades. Kaden bringing me a basket of crabapple dumplings. Kaden holding me as I watched my brother die, saying how sorry he was. Kaden with his steady eyes. His deceptive calm. His devastating betrayal.

He stared at my jiggling knee.

It wasn’t I who had betrayed him.

“Lia?” he said as if testing the waters. Lia, is it safe to approach you?

“You knew,” I said. My knee bounced. My hands trembled. “All along you knew.”

He took a cautious step forward. “What are you—”

I flew at him, slapping at him, beating at him as he retreated, step after step, trying to dodge my blows. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know! All along you played games, telling me you were trying to save my life while you planned to exterminate every last person I love! Walther and Greta weren’t enough? Now it’s my other brothers? Berdi? Pauline? Gwyneth?” I stopped advancing on him and glared. “You want to kill every last person in Morrighan!”

His shoulders pulled back. “You saw the army.”

I returned his passionless stare. “I saw the army.”

He was quiet for only a moment and then he lashed out, his hand sweeping the air as if that could dismiss my accusation. “What of it? Morrighan and Dalbreck have their armies too. Ours isn’t going to kill everyone. Only those who suppress us.”

I looked at him in disbelief. Did he really believe that?

“And I’m sure that includes your father, a highborn lord. He’s probably first on your list.”

He didn’t answer, but his jaw clenched.

“So that’s what it’s been about all along. Vengeance. You’re so consumed with hatred for your father that you want to kill every last breathing person in Morrighan.”

“We’re marching on Morrighan, Lia. We’re removing those in power, and that includes my father, and yes, he may die.”

“May?”

“I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know what kind of fight we’ll face. With our numbers, they would be wise to lay down their arms, but if not, yes, he and many others will die.”

“By your hand.”

“You’re a fine one to talk about vengeance. Ever since Walther’s and Greta’s deaths, you’ve chased after revenge, telling me no matter what you did, it would never be enough. Your eyes glow with vengeance every time they fall on Malich.”

“But I don’t plan on killing a whole kingdom to get it.”

“It’s not going to happen that way. The Komizar and I have agreed that—”

“You have an agreement with the Komizar?” I laughed. “How wonderful for you. Yes, we all have our agreements with him. The Chancellor, the emissary, me. He seems very good at striking agreements. You once ridiculed me for not knowing my own borders. I was shamed by that truth, but my ignorance pales in comparison with yours. I’m sure Berdi, Gwyneth, and Pauline would be so relieved to know that you have an agreement.”