The Gilded Cage

I want you to have it as a reminder of tonight — of everything you helped make happen. We’ll send along orders to make sure they don’t remove it with the rest of your possessions. I want you to remember, every day, until you no longer can.”

Kiva swayed on her feet, the iron bars swirling before her, every word from her sister’s mouth like a hazy, nonsensical dream.

Zuleeka gave a sharp whistle, much like she’d done in the warehouse earlier that day, then waved the angeldust pouch again and said, “This really is a gift — something to help you survive the long journey back. You won’t notice a thing, not even the passing of time.”

Zuleeka’s face was melting into colorful shapes as the hallucinogenic drug pulled Kiva into its embrace, but somehow she managed to slur a single word: “Back?”

“To Zalindov,” Zuleeka said. “I can’t have you running around helping your prince get in the way of my grand plans. Or Torell, if he doesn’t cooperate.” She leaned toward the swirling bars and whispered, her face tinged with a hint of madness, “There’s so much more happening here, so much you don’t understand. Mother was thinking too small. I won’t be making the same mistake. And I won’t risk you being free to stop me.”

I want you to have it as a reminder of tonight — of everything you helped make happen. We’ll send along orders to make sure they don’t remove it with the rest of your possessions. I want you to remember, every day, until you no longer can.”

Kiva swayed on her feet, the iron bars swirling before her, every word from her sister’s mouth like a hazy, nonsensical dream.

Zuleeka gave a sharp whistle, much like she’d done in the warehouse earlier that day, then waved the angeldust pouch again and said, “This really is a gift — something to help you survive the long journey back. You won’t notice a thing, not even the passing of time.”

Zuleeka’s face was melting into colorful shapes as the hallucinogenic drug pulled Kiva into its embrace, but somehow she managed to slur a single word: “Back?”

“To Zalindov,” Zuleeka said. “I can’t have you running around helping your prince get in the way of my grand plans. Or Torell, if he doesn’t cooperate.” She leaned toward the swirling bars and whispered, her face tinged with a hint of madness, “There’s so much more happening here, so much you don’t understand. Mother was thinking too small. I won’t be making the same mistake. And I won’t risk you being free to stop me.”

“You’re pathetic. Mother never should have bothered trying to get to you in Zalindov. But if she hadn’t, I wouldn’t have Mirraven in my pocket, so at least her sacrifice was worth something.”

Kiva froze. “What?”

“The bargain Mother made with Navok — I said I’d tell you, and believe what you want about me but I rarely go back on my word.” Zuleeka brushed invisible dirt from her shoulder before revealing, “Mother allied the rebels with Mirraven. With Caramor, too, since they’re so tightly joined, though her deal was with King Navok only.” As if to herself, she murmured, “He’s not going to like what happened in the warehouse today, but he should’ve had more patience. Those idiots could’ve ruined everything.”

Heart pounding as Zuleeka’s words repeated in her ears — Mother allied the rebels with Mirraven — Kiva ignored everything else to ask through numb lips, “What deal?”

“Evalon’s defenses are too strong for the northern territories to invade without inside help,” Zuleeka said. “So we — the rebels — will be the help.”

Kiva struggled against her growing alarm. It sounded like Zuleeka was planning to aid Navok in taking over Evalon. But —

“Why would Mother make that promise if she wanted the kingdom for us?” Kiva asked, confused.

“Her anger was enough that she would’ve been happy just to unseat the Vallentis family, even if she couldn’t take the throne from them herself,” Zuleeka said. “When she left us to make the deal with Mirraven, she’d been working for years with little to show for it, and she was becoming sick enough that she knew she had to make a choice. She decided that allying with Navok would be the fastest way to get vengeance. But despite that, she still did everything she could to make sure there would be a Corentine ruling by his side.”

It took a moment for Kiva to understand, but when she did, she gasped aloud. “Are you saying — are you marrying King Navok? Was that part of the deal?”

Zuleeka’s hands clenched into fists, the only indication of how she felt about the arrangement. But all she said was, “Mother didn’t know about the Royal Ternary — she didn’t know there might be another legitimate way. Even with it, there could still be problems, so Mirraven’s forces will guarantee the citizens of Evalon fall into line. The armies, too. Either way, a Corentine will be on the throne. That’s what matters.”

The backup plan Princess Mirryn had mentioned — it was Mirraven.

Gods. Gods.