Page 17 of The Gilded Cage

“Evening,” Caldon greeted the sentries.

“Prince Caldon, is everything all right?” a young female guard asked, noting his bloodied appearance.

“Never better,” he lied. “Can you send word to the search parties that they can return to the palace? Our little felon is safe and sound.”

Kiva not so subtly stomped on his foot.

The woman smiled coyly and offered a breathy, “At once, Your Highness.”

To Kiva’s shock, Caldon didn’t react to the invitation in the guard’s eyes, instead bidding the group a good night before tugging Kiva past them and up the narrow gravel road toward the palace.

“I’m surprised you didn’t flirt with her,” Kiva couldn’t resist saying as they trudged along the path. Freestanding luminium beacons lit their way, the manicured gardens beyond looking like an enchanted parkland under the soft light of the moon.

“Careful, judgy,” Caldon said, swinging their hands like children, “or I’ll think you’re jealous.”

Grinning, Kiva shook her head and replied, “Keep dreaming,Your Highness.” There was no mistaking her mocking tone as she copied the guard’s breathy words.

Humor lit Caldon’s eyes. “I think my cousin underestimates you.”

That was exactly what Kiva was counting on.

And it was also something that made her insides roil unpleasantly.

Reaching the end of the path, Caldon guided Kiva into the western palace, a place she’d yet to set foot in, the residence of the king and queen. They’d barely stepped through the back entrance before a servant appeared, bobbed into a curtsey, and informed Caldon that his aunt was waiting for them in the River Room.

His aunt — Queen Ariana.

Nerves bubbled in Kiva’s stomach as Caldon shuffled her down a long hallway peppered with artwork that she barely paid any attention to, nor did she notice the gold finishing on the walls, the white marble floor, the sweeping staircases lined with red carpet. All of it she’d already seen in the eastern half of the palace, both sides equal in grandeur. Just as she’d already seen the River Room on the opposite side of the Serin. It was her favorite room, small enough to be intimate, but with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked straight out over the water and into the city beyond.

Upon arriving in the western River Room, Kiva saw it was identical to its eastern counterpart, right down to the elegant luminium chandelier dangling at the heart of the inviting space. The only difference was who sat on the comfortable plush lounge awaiting their arrival.

Kiva sucked in a breath at her first close look at Evalon’s ruling monarch.

With golden hair coifed perfectly atop her head and eyes like shining sapphires, there was no denying the queen’s beauty. But what brought Kiva up short was the look on Ariana’s face as she moved quickly toward them, the relief, the warmth, thekindness.Her expression radiated genuine concern as she took in the wound on Kiva’s head, the blood on Caldon’s clothes, and she didn’t waste a second before asking a lingering servant to call for a healer. Only then did she reach out her hands — but not to her nephew. Instead, she drew Kiva away from Caldon, giving her fingers a squeeze of comfort and saying, “I’m so glad you’re safe, Kiva. Please, come and sit. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through tonight.”

“What about me?” Caldon asked with fake affront. “Your favorite nephew is standing here, bleeding freely. Just in case you didn’t notice.”

“Favorite nephew?” Ariana arched a golden brow. “Who’s been lying to you?”

Caldon laughed. “That’s just mean.”

The queen’s face gentled — even more, if that were possible. She released one of Kiva’s hands so she could touch Caldon’s cheek, heedless of the dried blood that speckled his flesh. “Thank you for finding her, darling. As always, you make me proud.”

“That’s more like it,” Caldon said, satisfied.

Something was happening inside Kiva, something she didn’t understand.Noneof this was what she had expected upon meeting the near mythical Ariana Vallentis. The Queen of Evalon was supposed to be haughty and cold, vicious and unforgiving. She was the face in Kiva’s nightmares, the person responsible for all of her family’s suffering.

But Ariana was nothing like what Kiva had imagined. Even with Jaren’s warning in the back of her mind, how his mother’s angeldust addiction had resulted in untold abuse over the years, none of that added up to the person standing before her with bare feet and kind eyes.

“I have hot cocoa on the way,” Ariana said, turning back to Kiva. “And we have fresh blueberry muffins already waiting.” Another squeeze of her soft hands. “Let’s get you off your feet and resting until the healer arrives to take a look at that nasty bump.”

Kiva moved stiffly as the queen led her deeper into the room, her mind struggling to comprehend Ariana’s reaction to their meeting. The queen knew exactly who Kiva was — and where she’d come from. Surely Ariana couldn’t be so accepting of an escaped criminal, even if Kiva had earned her freedom. No monarch would want an ex-felon living in their home, and they definitely wouldn’t want one befriending their children, theirheir. And yet ... there was no mistaking how genuine the queen’s expression was as she smiled at Kiva before turning her attention to her nephew.

“Caldon, be a dear and try not to get blood on the lounge,” Ariana said over her shoulder. “Last time the servants had to replace the upholstery, and I’m rather fond of this fabric.”

Caldon uttered a dry reply that Kiva didn’t hear, too numb to what was happening. That feeling only grew when she rounded the side of one couch to see Tipp curled up in a ball, snoring softly.

Ariana reached down to run her fingers through his glossy red hair, quietly telling Kiva, “The poor darling was so distressed that we had to give him a moradine tonic to keep him from joining the search parties. I couldn’t bear to move him, not until you’d had a chance to see him and know he was all right.”

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