Page 58 of The Gilded Cage

Kiva jerked backwards in her seat, her reaction just as violent as when Councilwoman Zerra had asked Jaren about his intentions. But it wasn’t the thought of marrying him that was so appalling — no, it was the thought of betraying him so thoroughly.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Torell snapped at Zuleeka, to Kiva’s relief. “We’re not forcing our sister to marry anyone. That’s not happening.” When Zuleeka raised her hands in surrender, Tor told Kiva, “Our numbers are strong, but you’re right — we’ll never win the kingdom by a show of force. And frankly, I don’t think we’d deserve it if we did.”

Zuleeka tapped a fingernail against her mug. “It seems we have a new task for you, little sister. Find us a legitimate way to take the throne, something that will make Evalon accept us as their new rulers without contention.”

“Oh, is that all?” Kiva asked with clear sarcasm.

“It’s either that, or you find us a way to bring those royal bastards to their knees,” Zuleeka stated. “I have to admit, it’d be satisfying to see them abdicate of their own volition.”

“They’re not all bad,” Kiva said, the words slipping from her before she could stop them.

Tor didn’t react, but Zuleeka’s face turned stony.

“You need to choose, Kiva,” she said in a low voice. “You can’t claim to be on our side while staring longingly at your precious prince. It’s him or us.Themor us. You can’t have it both ways.”

Kiva’s insides twisted because Zuleeka was right: she couldn’t keep going as she was, scheming with the rebels while sympathizing with the royals.

And yet ... Zuleeka was also wrong. Because ten years ago, the decision had been made for her. The choice was no longer her own — it never had been.

She would put her family first.

Just as she always had.

“There’s something else I need to tell you,” Kiva said, shifting in her seat. “I managed to spy on a Royal Council meeting.”

Torell stilled at her side, and the anger vanished from Zuleeka’s face.

“They spoke for hours, mostly about day-to-day kingdom business, but there were a few things that seemed important.” She paused. “Something’s happening with Mirraven, and it’s got them worried.”

“Mirraven has been threatening to invade since before we were born,” Torell said dismissively. “They’ve never managed it before, they won’t now.”

“Not without help,” Zuleeka said.

“Caramor is with them,” Kiva shared. “As allies, but soon by marriage, too.”

“I heard about that — Princess Serafine and Prince Voshell.” Zuleeka snickered. “What a match.” Before Kiva could ask why that was funny, her sister went on, “How is any of this relevant to us?”

Gritting her teeth, Kiva said, “I mentioned it because the council is worried about Mirraven, but they’renotworried about the rebels.”

Zuleeka’s eyes slitted. “Explain.”

“The royals have spies among you — I assume you already know that, or you wouldn’t be so cautious.” Kiva tapped the silvery mask resting on the table. “They’re not in deep enough to provide useful information, but there’s a guard who seems to know more than anyone else, including that you — the Viper and the Jackal — have Corentine blood.”

Torell swore, but Zuleeka didn’t seem fazed.

“What guard?”

Kiva opened her mouth to share Eidran’s name, but then she recalled what the council had said about the two spies he’d trained turning up dead. She didn’t need something like that on her conscience, not when she was already battling so many other demons.

“They didn’t say,” Kiva lied. “But from the sounds of it, he’s moved up north and is no longer a guard” — not until he’d fully recovered from his injury, at least — “so he’s out of the picture now.”

Zuleeka looked like she wanted to press for more details about Eidran’s identity, so to distract her, Kiva quickly went on, “There’s one more thing. Before that guard left, he heard about a secret rebel meeting place in the city. You might want to tell your Vallenian followers to keep a low profile, because I have a feeling he shared the location with Jaren.”

“I’ll warn them myself,” Zuleeka said.

Kiva breathed a quiet sigh of relief. If Eidran had indeed told Jaren the address, then at least the prince wouldn’t be walking into something dangerous.

At the thought, Kiva gave herself a mental slap, since what sheshouldhave worried about was that Jaren would learn rebel secrets. She needed to realign her priorities before she slipped up again and earned another verbal lashing from Zuleeka.

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