Page 74 of The Uncrowned Prince

When the others looked at him, he offered that rakish, sharp-edged smile that he wore when he wished to mask his feelings. “Vaniell, once and perhaps now again known as second prince of Garimore. But Melger was never my father, so it may prove difficult for me to pursue that claim.”

He glanced down at Karreya. “You do not have to tell them anything.”

“But I do.” It felt strangely bittersweet to know that he wished to protect her, but there was no flinching from this moment. “I am Karreya. Senaya is my aunt.” She saw Leisa start in astonishment, but she could not stop there. So many strange roads had led them all here, and the only thing that could help them find their way was the truth. All of it.

“The Zulleri Empire is my home, but I came to these shores with the purpose of finding my father, who disappeared here nearly eleven years ago.” Vaniell’s fingers tightened on her hand—whether to protest or to give her courage she did not know. “You should know that my father”—Karreya had to fight to keep her tone steady—“like Senaya and Leisa, is also a mirror mage.”

The elf swore in some other language, but the tone was unmistakable.

“It seems likely,” Karreya continued, “that he has taken on a new face and a new life for the purpose of satisfying his ambitions.”

Leisa lifted her gaze to stare at Karreya, her eyes focused and intense. “And what are those ambitions?”

“I believe he means to rule at all costs.”

Somehow, those simple words were enough. Leisa’s expression turned dark and terrible. Grief and rage seethed beneath her skin, turning her hands into fists and bowing her shoulders as her whole body began to shake.

The elf was instantly at her side, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her into his chest and holding her with fierce strength.

“No, Leisa. This is not your burden to carry.”

“Then whose is it?” she cried, pulling back to stare up into his eyes. “Hers?” She flung a hand in Senaya’s direction. “How long has she known? How long has she allowed him to play his games and ruin the lives of everyone around him? How long has she watched him deal in terror and lies and stood back as if it has nothing to do with her?”

“Do not assume you know everything.” Senaya spoke sharply, her expression a flat, icy mask.

“Clearly I knewnothing,” Leisa hissed back. “But how am I at fault for that? I am twenty-four years old, and only now do you bother to tell me that my mother is a Zulleri mage. That I have a cousin. And that the man who has brought fear and destruction to the entire Abreian continent is… my uncle.” Her shoulders hunched forward as her face fell and her eyes closed. “He is my uncle,” she repeated in a dull whisper, and dropped to her knees on the sand.

Senaya had been right. So many tangled webs that wove them together—webs of pain and lies and sacrifice—with one man in the middle. The spider who lurked and spun and waited in the center of his plots, as those he ensnared struggled and grew ever more tightly bound.

Karreya might have lost hope had she not recalled Senaya’s words.

He envied me my position as your grandmother’s heir… He was not chosen, and he has likely never accepted that truth. Your being here will not aid him in his ambitions, and he will not be happy to know that you have drawn your grandmother’s attention to these shores…

“I can help you,” she said boldly, stepping closer to the fire and tilting her chin up in defiance. “I know what he wants, which means I might be able to stop him.” She experienced a brief pang as she said these words, understanding with a sudden rush of clarity that what her father lacked was the same thing all of them desired—to be known and valued for who he was, rather than rejected for who he was not. But he had chosen to trample others in pursuit of his own self-worth, and she could not simply stand by and allow this world to pay the price for his ambition.

“There is too much that you do not understand,” Senaya insisted. “This is beyond any of you, and if you meddle, the cost will be high—higher than any sane person would wish to pay.”

“You told me that you have already lost everything,” Karreya returned flatly. “Why then are you not willing to fight? Perhaps he cannot take more from you, but he can continue to take from others.”

“And why should you care?” Her aunt’s eyes blazed with pure frustration. “Have you not been trained to avoid entanglements? To protect the citadel of your feelings and never permit encroachment?”

“I was taught many things,” Karreya said. “Above all, I was taught to think only of the mission. That the good of the Empire might rest on my ability to set feelings aside and do what is required of me. Only now, I think, my mission has changed.”

“You did not learnthatat the Enclave,” Senaya replied through gritted teeth.

“No, I did not.” Karreya was surprised by the freedom that came with this admission. She had learned a great deal since arriving in Abreia, and while not all of it was easy, it had loosened the chains around her heart. Made her want more than the unchanging sterility of the Enclave. More than to be the unfeeling Blade of the imperial court.

Moving forward across the sand, she dropped to one knee beside… her cousin. Someone, she realized, she very much wanted to know.

“Will you hear me?” she asked. “Whatever you may think of me, will you listen if I can tell you how to end this war?”

Leisa’s chin lifted, and they regarded one another in the flickering light of the fire. Despite the strangeness of that second face that seemed to blur just beneath the surface, the eyes were the same. Light and direct, ravaged by what she’d learned, but still unwavering.

“Can I trust you?” Leisa murmured. “How can I believe that you would sacrifice for the sake of this land that is not yours? Or betray the plans of your own father when he acts in service to your homeland?”

“He serves no one but himself.” Karreya felt no pain or guilt after this admission. “And the Empire does not need these lands. Zulle has her own struggles, her own conflicts to solve. If my father prevails, it will be the worse for my people, not better. I believe we can help one another if you are willing to consider what I have to say.”

She heard footsteps behind her, and then Vaniell’s voice.

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