Page 116 of King of Storms and Feathers

I squinted, looking closer, and cogs turned in my head, memories shifting and crunching together until they slid into their rightful places. Like a blade plunged into my gut, horror tore me open.

“Van?” I said in a hoarse whisper, my pulse roaring in my ears. “Is that you?”

The boy smiled, nodding his head as tears made white tracks in his dirty face.

“You remember me, Zali?”

“Yes. Yes, I do. You’re my brother,” I said, a million memories rushing in at once. “How the hells did this happen?”

“Quin used a Sun Realm mage’s spell to steal your memories. They drugged you, then worked magic on your mind. But the spell needed an anchor, someone’s face who could unlock your lost memories on sight. Our brother chose me, and then locked me up for safe-keeping.”

Fury blazed through me. I would kill Quin slowly and enjoy watching the light leave his gold-fucked eyes, breath by ragged breath.

The pain of what my own brother—the twin who had grown beside me in our mother’s womb—had done to my parents, to Van, and to me, eviscerated my heart. Childhood memories rushed back—a happy family, a life of luxury in the Mydorian palace, love and laughter. Then as Quin and I grew into adolescence, his smiles turned to jealous sneers, and we became competitors in a game I’d had no interest in playing.

I took Van’s face in my hands, cried, and kissed his cheeks in the spaces between the bars. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If I had known what Quin would do… what he was capable of, I would have just handed him the crown.”

“No, you wouldn’t have. You cared too much about fixing everything that was wrong with our realm—the gold trade, the slaves, and the addicts. You would have fought to make things right with your last breath. Our people know that, too. Not many believe Quin’s lies.”

Patches of gold marred Van’s cheek, and I traced them with my finger. “You’re an addict. Did Quin do this to you?”

Van nodded. “He needed me weak, content to lie here dreaming. I’d given up, Zali, but now… listen, I have an idea. Sometimes he lets me out. Like most Mydorians, his guards can’t stand him, so he’s lonely and has no one to bore with his made-up tales of his wondrous deeds. Over time, during the journeys from here to the hall, I can speak to the guards, begin building a resistance against Quin. We can do this, Zali. Together. We’ll crush him.”

Stroking his cheek, I said, “For a kid, you’re pretty wise and brave.”

“I grew up the day our soldiers dragged you before the court, drugged and beaten to within an inch of your life. Quin told everyone you’d had our parents killed and had tried to kill the reaver elves who cloak the city.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Why would I do that?”

“Anyone with a brain knows you wouldn’t. He was projecting his own desires. Some bullshit scheme about controlling the gold.”

“And look at where the gold serum has got him,” I said, sitting back on my haunches. “Quin’s a mess. Almost unrecognizable.”

Van dropped his eyes in shame and wriggled away from me.

“It’s not your fault, Van. If I was in your position and the serum had any effect on me, I’d definitely take it too.”

“It’s stopped me from bashing my brains out on a wall, so there is that.”

“You can wean yourself off it. Get strong again. After we kick Quin’s butt off the throne and into a deep grave, I’ll need your help to put things right around here.”

“So… about killing Quin. You’re not worried about the twin soul myth?”

Slowly, I shook my head. “No. But if it turns out to be true, bury me on top of him, and I’ll make sure he stays down there forever.”

Van laughed, then crawled into the corner of his cell to retrieve a tiny clay bottle. He poured the contents down the drain in the center of the floor. “Done. No more serum for me. Will you hold my hand while I try to sleep? You look awful yourself. You need to rest.”

Grinning at each other, we curled our bodies on either side of the bars and entwined our fingers. Our foreheads were so close we breathed the same air as we tried to relax and fall asleep. It wasn’t easy since my mind spun with so many remembered images. My parents, family dinners, conversations with friends, then me in an indigo bedchamber, laughing with a maid who braided my hair. All of them comforting memories, until my face in the mirror changed into Quin’s drug-ruined visage.

Just breathe, I told myself as panic tightened my chest. Just breathe.

Even though I was a prisoner again and my twin was a psychotic addict who wanted me dead, at least I’d made it home. I could tick that off my list of things I hoped to achieve before I died.

I also had my memories back, one brother who loved and needed me, a kingdom to heal, and hope kindling in my chest. I would cling to that hope like a drowning person bobbing on a single plank of wood in a savage ocean.

I would do everything I could to survive Quin. And if I couldn’t, then I would make damn sure that Van did and could rule in my place.

Quin was going down.

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