Page 153 of A Storm in Every Heart
“Exactly, but of course then you came and ruined everything.” She almost smiles, and I get the feeling she’s joking. Or at least, isn’t all that bothered by my “ruining” her plans.
“I heard you talking about it once,” I tell her.
She narrows her eyes. “You heard me talking about what?”
“Your betrothal…and your father’s plans.”
I hope she picks up the story from here because I don’t know how much I can say out loud. I’ve never wanted to test the boundaries of the vow I made to the sirens in case I accidentally crossed the line and something horrible happened as a result.
Thankfully, Lyra grasps what I’m getting at. “I wish you hadn’t heard that. Though, I suppose, it makes things easier. Obviously that plan failed too—Kastian didn’t die while you were all visiting Vernallis.”
“I know,” I say stonily.
I want to add, “because I wouldn’t let him,” but I can’t. Lyra doesn’t seem to notice my internal battle.
“As I’m sure you know, it took several years after that for Magnus to work out a new plan to take the kingdom, but eventually he did it. By then he’d decided that it would be simpler to take the kingdom outright rather than through my marriage or some doomed war. He spent years bringing courtiers and soldiers over to his side, until finally he had enough support to ambush the royal family in their beds. I helped him do it.” She gives me a challenging look, as if expecting me to condemn her.
I’m uncertain how I should feel. On the one hand, I sympathize with Lyra, but on the other hand, she was enmeshed in multiple plots to murder Kastian and his family.
“Did you kill anyone directly?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I guess it’s a good thing Kastian and I knew each other, because without me he wouldn’t have lived any longer than his mother and sisters.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was the one who my father sent to kill Kastian the night of the coup. By forcing me to wear his face, Magnus could give the impression of being in many places at once, which added to his mysticism as a ruler. I’m sure you’ve noticed how loyal his soldiers are?”
I nod, thinking of the guard who slapped me. “Yes.”
“That’s because he’s got many of them convinced that he can be in multiple places at once. They think he’s omniscient, that he knows and sees everything they do and judges them even when they’re alone.”
I shake my head in disgust. I wasn't that far off when I said the guard must have thought her king was a god.
This information is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to learn by coming here in the first place. Whether Hydratta became an ally or enemy of Vernallis, Alix and Daemon need to know that the Hydrattan citizens won’t simply accept the removal of a king they’ve been brainwashed into worshiping.
It’s too bad that now I may never get the chance to warn them.
“So why did you spare Kastian?” I ask.
Her eyes dart to the side, like she’d also been lost in thought and forgotten what we were talking about. It takes her a moment to return to her story. “On the night of the coup, Magnus wanted to capture King Sebastian himself, so he sent me after Kastian. When I got to his room I must have closed the door too loudly because he woke up and looked right at me. After that, I just couldn’t do it. Stabbing him in their sleep was one thing, but I didn’t want to fight it out or watch him die. Kastian and I might never have liked each other much, but we’d still known each other practically our whole lives. I didn’t want to kill him—I didn’t want to killanyone.”
“Thank you,” I say hollowly. “For not killing him.”
She laughs harshly. “Would you still thank me if I told you I wondered for years if I did the right thing? My father called me a coward and punished me for decades over it, and in the end I don’t think I really helped Kastian at all because he got sent to Dyaspora instead, and I’ve heard that’s worse than death.”
I stare blankly at her. This is all so desperately sad and twisted, I’m not sure what I should think. I just feel numb.
“Why are you really here, Lyra?” I ask finally. “Why tell me all this?”
She sits up straighter, rolling her shoulders. “Because I want to help.”
I assess her. “Why?”
“Because my father is the definition of evil.”
I choke. “On that we can agree.”
She scowls. “He can’t be allowed to control the kingdom any longer. There’s so much more that I know that I could tell you…why he’s been obsessed with allying with Vernallis, what he wants to do with Ellender…”
