Page 228 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
“Because that’s why I’m here in Kyvena. It was the only reason I stayed in the capital after the attack. I’ve been searching above for any signs. The only hint I have is the layout of the city. Everything hinges on a singular point in McKenzie Square, but nothing I’ve done has triggered its opening.” Skibs rubbed his stubbled chin. “I probably don’t have the correct words of power, but my uncle assumed my Essence power would reveal them to me when the time came.” He snorted. “Fates, I hate that man.”
Fates.A Cerl curse. Kase didn’t think he’d ever heard Skibs use it before, but he’d been pretending to be Jaydian for years. Now Kase knew the truth—that he was working with the enemy—it would make sense if the man he knew as Ben Reiss was actually from Cerulene. He narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Uncle? Did you…take your power from him?”
Maybe it was a situation like Hallie’s.
Skibs froze. He looked as if someone had painted him into a portrait. He moved not a muscle.
When Skibs didn’t answer, Kase leaned down. “How can we trust you? All you’ve done is betray us. You threw our friendship away. Is there anything you told me that wasn’t a lie?”
Skibs just sat there, staring at the ground.
That was all the answer Kase needed. “I don’t care what the truth is. I need your help with the Gate. If you do that, then I will put a good word in for you and do my best to make sure you at least get a trial. That’s all I can promise. And it’s the best deal you’ll get.”
Skibs still didn’t speak. Kase just let out a frustrated growl. He wasn’t any closer to finding Hallie. If Skibs wouldn’t help, he’d take one of the swords and go down to the tunnel himself. Maybe that would trigger something, if the swords were connected to the Gates somehow like Hallie and Saldr talked about. He would do whatever was needed to find her.
He reached for the curtain, but Skibs’ voice stopped him.
“My name isn’t Ben Reiss.”
That revelation didn’t necessarily surprise Kase, but the tone of the confession did. It came out strained, like Skibs was under duress. Like it was physically painful to say the words.
Kase let his hand drop. A few of the shadows on the other side moved, but no one came inside. He turned back to Skibs. Blond hair peeked out between the fingers pressed to his forehead, his face bowed and hidden.
“My real name is Asa aven d’Correa, crown prince of Cerulene,” he said quietly. “I was the illegitimate son of the late Queen Astraea, but because I completed my mission, the one to Myrrai and opened the Gate, I was granted legitimacy.
“I ran away from home at seventeen and found myself in Kyvena two years later. However, I was recognized on one of thejoint missions we had as pilots by a courtier friend of my uncle’s. They blackmailed me into joining the Watch and then taking on the Essence power from Professor Owen Christie, who once was a Cerl asset during the Great War but had become more and more uncooperative in the years since. If I led a group of Cerls to Myrrai, activated the Gate, and subdued the Lord Elder, I would be granted full legitimacy. They’d found out about Lucy, too, and threatened her and our baby. That was what made me ultimately decide to go along with the plan.”
Kase’s mouth had fallen open near the beginning of the speech. It was still open. It was like Ben was reading out of some fantasy novel, not telling Kase his own life story. “So everything you told mewasa lie.”
Worse than that. His best friend was a Cerl Prince. Wait, no—Hallie’d said the King was dead, and if Skibs…blast it. IfAsawas telling the truth about the legitimacy thing…
Kase couldn’t think straight. Not knowing the man in front of him was now the King of Cerulene.
Holy stars, did that woman—Fely—did she know? She’d been Filip’s betrothed. Had she known and not told anyone? Who was she really working for? Had they been duped?
If that was the case, had she lied about Hallie going through the Kyvena Gate? His chest tightened.
Skibs looked up, his eyes pink. “Not everything.” He pressed his hands to his knees. “I tried to spare Hallie at the end. I knew what she’d translated in that notebook of hers was only possible with Yalven heritage. I didn’t know what she was—whether she was Chronal or Chosen to take on an Essence power—but I tried to stop my uncle from finding out. I took it into the Aurora, or Myrrai Gate, with me.”
Except Correa still found her. But Kase didn’t point that out. Not yet.
“I was in control of the Essence power at the beginning, but hitting my head during that storm…broke me somehow. I wasn’t able to control it well at all after that. Each power is different, and with the burden of the Gates, this particular Essence power requires immense control. It’s more malignant than my brother’s…or my uncle’s, even. With the injuries sustained on theEudoramission, I lost control.”
Kase crossed his arms over his chest. “But if your mission was to lead the Cerls to Myrrai, why did you not go with us? Why did you disappear during the battle at the ruins?”
Kase had bargained with the Lord Elder to find him. He’d gone every day to the gatehouse to check on the scouting party’s progress. Every single day.
A moment or two of silence passed, Ben looking anywhere but at Kase. Then it hit him like a hovership. Dread and anxiety built in his chest at the realization. “You tried to stop them, didn’t you? But you lost control.”
“And I’ve been trapped ever since. I couldn’t—I never would’ve—I destroyed both the Yalven city and…and my home.”
“Home?”
A beat or two before the choked word left his lips. “Kyvena.”
Shocks. The hurt in his voice was very real. No one could fake that. Could it be that his friend was truly back? Kase chewed on the inside of his cheek again. It’d be raw by the end of the conversation.
“And now I’ve probably killed Lucy and our child, even if I wasn’t in my right mind. So many dead.” Ben covered his face, shuddering visibly. “So many.”
