Page 129 of The Blood Traitor

Except, as Kiva strained her memory, she realized that, aside from withholding key details — like how she had abrother— Cresta had never outright lied. She’d claimed to have no family anymore, but she’d never once said they’ddied.Kiva had been the one to read into her words and not ask questions, too caught up in her own troubles to consider looking deeper.

In one night, I lost everyone but my mother.

Kiva knew the story: that Arakkis’s wife had been so afraid of him that she’d fled, abandoning her family, with it rumored that she’d been hunted and killed soon afterward. Only, the tale was wrong — she hadn’tbeen killed, and she hadn’t fled alone; she’d taken Cresta with her. They’d left everyone behind. Even Serafine.

Now that Kiva thought about it, she realized Cresta must have run from the entrance hall earlier not to find Navok, but to find her sister, having bolted off straight after Captain Veris had shared about the king locking Serafine in the library.

I was all my sister had.

Kiva still remembered the pain in Cresta’s voice when she’d spoken those words — pain not because her sister was dead, as Kiva had assumed, but because they had been separated. Why, Kiva didn’t know, but as she watched Navok and Cresta staring at each other, she waited with bated breath to find out.

“Father killed you that night,” Navok said, his voice still rippling with shock. “He told me he lost his temper, that Serafine tried to stop him, but by then, you were already broken beyond repair. That’s why Mother fled. She couldn’t stand to look at him after that.”

There was no hint of emotion on Cresta’s face as she said, “I guess we were both lied to, because when I regained consciousness, Mother told meSerawas dead. That was why she took me from Blackmount, to keep us safe from him — andyou.” She tilted her head. “Can you imagine how it felt when I finally learned the truth? That Sera was alive? That she’d been left alone with not one, buttwomonsters?” Cresta’s gaze slitted. “I wanted to come back and rip you both apart, but unfortunately, I wasn’t in a position to do so.”

Zalindov, Kiva realized, her heart hurting for her friend. Cresta must have found out about Serafine sometime during the five years she’d been locked away.

“Luckily for me,” Cresta went on, “you’ve already taken care of Father.” A feline grin touched her lips. “And now I’m going to take care of you. Mirraven has seen too many tyrant kings — it’s time for that to change.”

Before anyone could process the threat in her words, Cresta declared in a loud, carrying voice, “By the laws of the country to which we were born, I, Crestoria Vossendi Kildarion, challenge you, Navok Arakkis Kildarion, to the blood duel.”

Waves of tension hit Kiva from all directions, with the gray-clad Mirravens on the bridge sucking in shocked breaths, and even Jaren turning solid beside her.

This time it was Queen Ariana’s voice in Kiva’s mind, words she’d spoken months earlier during the Royal Council meeting beneath the palace:Mirraven law states that if anyone of royal blood challenges the ruling monarch and defeats them in combat, they can claim the throne as their own.

Cresta had challenged Navok, just like he had once challenged his own father. If she triumphed over him —

She would become queen of Mirraven.

Kiva stared at her friend, recalling how obsessively she’d been training since leaving Zalindov.

There’s always going to be someone stronger than you. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

Cresta had been preparing herself — forthis.

A laugh left Navok, dark and ugly. Kiva expected him to oppose the words, maybe even give Cresta a chance to rescind her challenge. But instead, he said, “You always were a brash, foolish child.” He returned her feline grin, his sharp and feral as he added, “I didn’t mourn you the first time. I won’t this time, either.”

And then he moved lightning-fast, pulling a dagger out of nowhere and flinging it straight at her.

Kiva screamed a warning, but there was no need, because Cresta had predicted the underhanded move. She pivoted to the side, the blade flying past her to sink deep into the chest of one of Navok’s guards, making him cry out and stagger backwards into another, before collapsing to the ground.

Madness descended then, with Cresta unsheathing her blade and charging toward her brother just as he pulled out his own sword, the two meeting in a clash of steel. But they weren’t the only ones — their attack had broken the spell on the bridge, and suddenly everyone leapt back into action.

Jaren grabbed Kiva and pressed her against the railing, yelling at her to keep down as he stood in front of her, using his swords and magic to fight off the Gray Guards and anomalies flinging everything they had at him. By unspoken agreement — or perhaps Mirraven’s laws — none of them aimed their powers at Cresta, leaving her and Navok to their duel without interference. Kiva watched in amazement as the redhead — theprincess— slashed and stabbed, blocked and ducked, jumped and lunged, meeting every one of Navok’s attacks and returning her own. All the while, the bridge succumbed to mayhem, with Jaren pushing his magic to its limits to keep the anomalies from tearing it apart beneath them and sending them all into the river.

Kiva’s ears rang with the crashes and groans of metal and bodies, her nose stung from the smell of sweat and blood, her eyes burned from the fire and water flashing across her vision. Through the railing, she spotted Torell and Ashlyn, closer to the palace now, near to where Mirryn and Ariana were throwing their magic more slowly than they had in the queen’s chambers, their fatigue catching up to them. Kiva prayed Oriel and Tipp were hiding safely inside, perhaps wherever Cresta had told her sister to run to when she’d sent her away from the fight. But not even the palace was safe. Because as Kiva watched, a crack formed at the base of the western residence, cleaving upward through the luminium-fortified surface, all the way to the highest tower. The bridge shook in response, the river roared, but then it stilled just as quickly when the anomaly responsible was brought down by a blood-splattered Rhessinda.

It was then that Kiva lost track of her friends and brother, the pandemonium on the grounds too difficult for her to keep up with, and thedanger facing her too real to not be giving it her full attention. Because while Jaren was trying desperately to hold off their attackers, they were now coming at him from both sides, and his already strained magic was beginning to splutter into wisps and embers, before finally failing him completely. Even with the Royal Guards and Evalonian soldiers helping to beat back their opponents, he wouldn’t be able to keep up his defense for much longer. And Kiva couldn’t just keep hiding behind him like some pathetic damsel waiting for a rescue.

Ignoring his order to stay down, she lunged for the nearest body and claimed the fallen woman’s sword. It was heavy in her hands, but that didn’t stop Kiva from swinging it madly when a Gray Guard ran toward Jaren’s unprotected side, her lack of technique irrelevant. An image of the golden warrior she’d killed in the arena came to her, along with Naari’s words:Kill or be killed.Knowing this was the same, Kiva didn’t hesitate to slash her blade toward the man, aiming low and slicing straight through his leather boot to sever his Achilles tendon. He roared and dropped his weapon to clutch at his leg, the sound causing Jaren to spin around with wide eyes — and then his eyes widened even more, but not in surprise at what she’d done.

Infear.

Kiva had just enough time to turn and see Xuru’s flames heading for her, to feel dread pool in her stomach, to brace for her flesh to be seared off her bones — but that never happened. Because Jaren, no longer having enough magic to combat the flames, jumped in front of her, shielding her with his body.

She still felt the heat of Xuru’s attack, could smell her hair burning, even had to slap fire from her sleeve, despite being otherwise unharmed.

But Jaren —

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