Page 117 of The Gilded Cage

“Youarein real trouble,” Caldon said, his voice as hard as his face.

“I ... am?” Kiva asked. Outwardly, she made herself remain composed, but on the inside, adrenaline was tearing through her as panic set in. While she was confident he couldn’t have heard anything she and her siblings had said down in the alley — it was too narrow for them not to have noticed him slipping in to eavesdrop — he could have easily seen the three of them meeting. And he obviously knew Kiva had snuck out of the palace. Caldon wasn’t an idiot — he’d clearly followed her for a reason.

“Let’s cut the bull and get straight to it, Sunshine,” Caldon said, prowling toward her. “What did your brother and sister want?”

“Zuleeka wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday,” Kiva answered quickly, truthfully. A partial truth, at least.

Caldon came to a stop right in front of her. “Let me rephrase.” He leaned in, his eyes like cobalt fire as he asked in a lethal voice, “What did your brother and sister — the Viper and the Jackal — want?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

With Caldon’s words, the world stopped.

Pure terror flooded Kiva’s veins, prompting her to raise her blade again, the reaction automatic. But Caldon moved like lightning, grabbing her wrist and spinning her so her back slammed up against his front, his hand closing over the dagger and pressing it to her throat.

“You seriously thought that was a smart idea?” he growled into her ear.

Kiva’s pulse thundered with the knowledge that she’d been discovered, certain she was about to die.

But then Caldon released her.

One second, her life was flashing before her eyes. The next, she was stumbling as he spun her to face him once more.

“A few things worth noting,” he said conversationally as he slid Naari’s blade into his belt, meeting Kiva’s panic-stricken gaze. “The first is that I know exactly who you are,Kiva Corentine,and I have almost since the day we met.”

Kiva swayed on her feet.

“Captain Veris recognized you during your first Trial,” Caldon explained, which Kiva already knew from overhearing Jaren tell the Royal Council. “Before I visited you in the infirmary, he told me about the night you and your father were arrested.He,however, only remembers you as Kiva Meridan.” Caldon’s tone was full of wry disbelief. “You’re lucky he wasn’t curious enough about the girl who would risk her life for the Rebel Queen to fill in the gaps like I did, scrounging for records of you and your father that eventually led me to the rest of your family. ‘Meridan,’ my ass.” He snorted ruefully.

Everworld help her, the prison records. But — there shouldn’t have been anything incriminating in there, and certainly no way to tie Kiva to the rest of her family and their true bloodline. Just how deep had Caldon dug to figure out who she was?

Full body trembles racked her frame, until —

“I just told you I’ve known for months, so you can stop looking like you’re about to piss your pants.”

Months.

Caldon had known about herfor months.

And yet —

He’d still saved her.

He’d still trained her.

He’d still befriended her.

What part of this aren’t you understanding?he’d demanded after she’d returned from her grandmother’s.Wecareabout you, Kiva.

All that time, he’d known exactly who she was.

“Why?” she breathed, incapable of anything louder. “Your family means everything to you — why didn’t you turn me in, knowing how dangerous I could be to them? Toyou?”

Without hesitating, Caldon said, “Because I was planning to use you.”

Kiva jolted.

“We’ve had trouble getting spies into the rebels’ inner circle, and I thought you might be our way in. All I needed was to keep you close and gain your trust. And if that didn’t work, I would’ve blackmailed you — I certainly had enough leverage.”

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