Page 93 of Ashes of Gold
“Those that could ran into the mountain, Yiyo. And the Chancellor built this empire out here calling himself Ghizoni. Stealing even our people’s name.”
“I didn’t know the full of it,” he says. “Shit, I’m sorry, Rue.”
“He’s awful,” Bri says. “Growing up, I just knew he had magic and he was generous and kind enough to share it with us at Designation age. The history books say nothing of Rue’s people other than they died because they got sick. I could never have imagined this.”
“Do we know how he passed along the Sickness?” Julius asks. “I mean, if he’s got that as his plan B, we should be learning anything and everything we can about it.”
“I don’t,” I say.
Bri shakes her head. “No idea.”
Julius’s fingers trace around his mouth. “Someone on this island has to remember. Had to have known about what he did. Dirtyones always have people in their pockets that they pay to keep quiet or kill. If he cursed these people like this, someone knew. Someone helped. Someone as old as him. Someone—”
Cursed…
I gasp, steadying myself on the wall.
Oh.
My.
God.
“I-I know who knew,” I say.
“Who?”
“Taavi’s mother—the Seer.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
SHE HAD LOVED SOMEONE.
Could that someone be him?
It would make so much sense. Either that or it’s a million coincidences. She’d said the man she loved died. She must have meant the man she fell in love with… before he became the mass-murdering, power-hungry dictator he is now. It’s him, I know it.
How much did he tell her about what he was doing? How much did he let her see? Did he become someone elseafterthey were already an item or…? I try to swallow, but my throat is dry. I can’t wrap my head around all these people talking out of both sides of their mouths.
“Th-there’s no way shehelpedthe Chancellor though, right? She’s been so kind to me. Like she wants to help me, our people. And he abandoned her, so she has to hate him, right?”
Her words echo in my head. Part of her still loves him, she said. I feel sick. Is she playing me too? I’ve put everyone at risk, keeping the person deceiving us around. I’m failing at this leading thing… all over again.
“Why would she help me if she was in league with him forever ago?”
“Sounds like a guilty conscience to me,” Julius says.
Bri is chewing a hole in her lip. We meet eyes and hers dart away.
“Why are you so quiet?”
“I… I… nothing.”
“What do you know, Bri?”
“Nothing, really!”
“What, are you gonna betray me too, now?” I regret the words as soon as they leave my lips, but I watch for her reaction. Because I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t giving side-eyes to everyone but Jue at this point.
