Page 116 of The Prison Healer

“You’ve hadnine weeks,Jaren!” Kiva cried, ignoring the fact that the last two were spent with them in separate punishment cells. “Even after that night in the garden, there were stilldaysbefore what happened in the quarry. You could have told me at any time. Youshouldhave told me at any time.”

“And what would I have said?” Jaren asked, his calm tone morphing into exasperation. “‘Guess what, I’ve been lying to you about who I am. Please don’t hate me for it’? Yeah, I’m sure you would have been fine with that.”

“OfcourseI wouldn’t have been fine!” Kiva said, loud enough to echo off the tunnel walls. In the back of her mind, she knew they should be focusing on the Trial by Earth, figuring out where they were and trying to find their way aboveground before the allocated hour was up. But too much was simmering within her for her to think about anything but the person in front of her. Theprincein front of her.

“I don’t know what I can say to make this better,” Jaren said, running his free hand through his hair.

“You can tell mewhy!” Kiva cried, the word breaking.

Jaren’s face softened. She didn’t want to see him looking at her like that, realizing just how upset she was.

“No one knows the full story,” he said quietly, moving a step toward her, but then buckling slightly and shifting back to lean against the wall again, his second hand now pressed to his abdomen as well. Kiva noted the move, a distant part of her frowning, but before she could muster her inner healer and ask if he was all right, he continued, “Only Naari.” He paused. “I assume you know ...?”

“That she’s your Golden Shield?” Kiva said. “Yeah. You’re both just full of surprises.”

Jaren had the decency to look contrite, but Kiva remained unmoved.

Taking a deep breath, then wincing and paling further, Jaren revealed, “I came to Zalindov to get information about the rebel movement.”

Kiva froze. “What?”

“We heard that Tilda Corentine had been arrested, but she was found across the border in Mirraven, outside of our jurisdiction,” Jaren explained, something Kiva already knew. “Mirraven’s ruling house wouldn’t even consider handing her to us, despite knowing the history between the Vallentis and Corentine bloodlines. They delighted in making it impossible for us to talk with her, not without us starting a war with them.”

“Talk with her,” Kiva repeated, her voice little more than a croak. “You mean interrogate her.”

Jaren watched her carefully, clearly weighing his words. “I know you’re sympathetic to her cause, you’ve already told me as much.”

Everworld help her, he was right. She’d told the crown prince and his most trusted guard that she understood the rebels’ motives. She might as well have said she was one of them, for all the difference it would have made. If she weren’t already locked up in Zalindov, that was exactly where she would be headed for such an admission. Her father had been arrested for less.

“Your compassion for them is admirable,” Jaren continued. “And your reasoning is sound.”

Kiva’s mouth fell open. She quickly closed it again.

“But that doesn’t change the facts,” he went on. “What I told you that night remains true: there’s been too much unrest from the rebel movement in recent years, and none more so than in the last few months. Their uprising is in full swing, with them hell-bent on creating havoc and discord throughout not just Evalon, but beyond it. And Tilda Corentine has been their figurehead, recruiting more and more followers and rallying them against the Vallentis crown.Mycrown.”

Kiva’s blood was like ice. No wonder Jaren had never liked Tilda. They were sworn enemies.

“I won’t lie,” Jaren said, “it was hard hearing you defend her cause.”

“I didn’t defend her cause.” Kiva’s mouth spoke before she gave it permission. “I just said that I saw where they were coming from.” She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “You still haven’t explained why you’re here. What information did you think you’d find?”

“I came for Tilda,” Jaren said, as if it were obvious. And really, it was, even if Kiva struggled to accept it, to understand. “When Mirraven finally agreed to send her here, I realized there was a way for someone to speak with her—yes, all right, interrogate her—without them knowing. We can’t risk open war right now. But if someone could come in undercover and get close to her, encourage her to reveal her plans ... It made sense to try.”

“It madesense?” Kiva repeated, incredulous.

Jaren reached up to scratch his jaw, then quickly returned his hand to his middle. “In hindsight, it was a foolish plan.”

“You don’t say.”

“We all knew it was a risk,” Jaren defended himself. “But we couldn’t let the chance slip by, not when the knowledge Tilda holds could be vital for the safety of our kingdom.”

“Pause there,” Kiva said, holding up her hand. “Who iswe?”

“There were three of us in on the plan. I was only meant to be overseeing it from afar,” Jaren said. “Once we found out Tilda was coming, Naari and another Royal Guard volunteered to infiltrate the prison. But that other guard, Eidran—”

“Broke his leg,” Kiva said, suddenly recalling Naari’s words in the Abyss. “So you came in his place.”

Jaren squinted at her. “You already know?”

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