Page 59 of The Gilded Cage

“Did the council mention anything else?” Torell asked.

Kiva answered by asking, “What’s the Royal Ternary?”

Blank faces met her question.

“Ternary, as in three?” Zuleeka asked. “The Royal Three?” She frowned. “Three what?”

Kiva didn’t know, so she shared, “I told you that the council isn’t worried about the rebels. They think you’ll —we’ll— eventually give up, especially now that Mother is gone, and with her, the figurehead of the Rebel Queen.”

“They’ll soon learn how wrong they are,” Zuleeka said coolly.

“That’s not my point,” Kiva said. “When they were talking about it, the Grand Master mentioned something called the Royal Ternary.”

“In what context?” Torell asked, his head cocked in puzzlement.

Kiva tried to remember exactly what Horeth had said. “I think it was, ‘without the Royal Ternary, there’s no other way for them to claim the throne.’”

Both Torell and Zuleeka froze like marble.

Warily, Kiva asked, “Are you sure you’ve never heard of it?”

Zuleeka unfroze first, shaking her head in the negative. “I’ll ask our palace spies to look into it.” Tor opened his mouth, but Zuleeka went on, “Do you have more for us?”

Kiva held her sister’s eyes, thinking of everything else she knew, including — and especially — the greatest secret of all.

Jaren’s magic.

I trust them.

His words flitted across her mind, his steadfast faith in both Kiva and Tipp. It was a mere whisper of a thought, but it was enough.

“No,” Kiva said, her voice catching slightly. “I’ve told you everything I know.”

The lie tasted bitter on her tongue, but at the same time, a weight lifted from her shoulders. Revealing what she knew about Jaren’s power wouldn’t change anything — her brother and sister already believed him to have control over two elements, so what did it matter if he could wield all four?

Ignoring the churning of her stomach, Kiva kept her eyes locked with Zuleeka’s, honey-gold connected to emerald green. Her sister looked away first, but only so she could turn to Torell and say, “Can you give us a minute?”

Tor hesitated, as if gauging Kiva’s reaction to being alone with Zuleeka, but then he collected his jackal mask and stood.

“We should leave soon,” he told Kiva. “I’ll have Olix brought around and meet you outside in a few minutes.”

Kiva nodded, her heart beginning to pick up speed as Torell left the tent.

“I haven’t been treating you well.”

At Zuleeka’s words, Kiva jolted, her gaze swinging immediately back to her sister.

“After everything with Mother —” Zuleeka cut herself off, looking away and biting her lip. “It’s been difficult for me. And I know I shouldn’t blame you. I just — it’s hard. When I look at you, I can’t help thinking of how she went to find you. She left us, and she died. For you.”

Kiva felt like there were knives in her throat.

“And it’s not just that,” Zuleeka went on, as if she now couldn’t stop. “When I heard about the prince being in Zalindov with you, about the two of you growing close, I was so angry. I didn’t understand how you could cozy up to him while Mama was dying before your eyes.”

“I didn’t know who he was,” Kiva rasped out.

“But even after you found out, you still stayed close to him,” Zuleeka returned. “Gods, from what I heard, you saved his life. AVallentis.You could have left him to rot beneath that prison, but youdidn’t.”

“He saved my life first,” Kiva argued weakly. “Multiple times. And I wouldn’t have escaped without him and Naari.”

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