Page 45 of The Blood Traitor
A jerk of Jaren’s body had Kiva’s eyes flicking back to him, but he’d frozen again before she could decide whether she’d imagined it or not.
“— and when she arrived, she was too messed up from the —”
“CRESTA!” Kiva finally snapped. All eyes returned to her, including Jaren’s, and a panicked desperation came over her. He couldn’t learn about the angeldust — after the abuse he’d suffered from his mother’s addiction, Kiva feared it would only give him another reason to hate her. She might not have willfully chosen to use the drug, but she still recalled her darkest moments of begging Cresta for it. Her shame was suffocating, something she couldn’t stand the thought of him knowing about. And not just him — the others, too. So she cleared her throat and said, “It’s fine — I’m here, aren’t I? Yes, I was back at Zalindov, just for a little while. But I got out.” She held up her hands as if to prove she’d sustained no permanent damage, at least not physically. The scars on the inside... those were hers to bear alone.
“How did we not know?” Caldon asked, horror clear in his features.
Kiva wanted to reassure him that there was nothing he could have done, but Cresta answered before she could.
“Zuleeka and Mirryn snuck her out of Vallenia in secret. They knew she’d try to help you, and they wanted her out of the way.” The exquarrier didn’t mention the state Kiva had been in upon arrival — having clearly noted Kiva’s reaction to her previous attempt — and smoothly segued back to her earlier story. “That all happened straight after the masquerade, but when Torell woke the following day, he —”
“Why don’t we let him tell his side of things?” Ashlyn cut in smoothly, her silvery eyes shifting to Tor’s. “I’d like to hear it in his own words.”
Torell straightened in his chair. “After the attack, I woke up in —”
“Attack?” Ashlyn interrupted.
“Mirravens,” Caldon answered for Torell. “They kidnapped Kiva to bait Jaren.”
Ashlyn looked like she had more questions, but Caldon waved Tor on.
“Everything was hazy at first, but Rhessinda — my friend and second in command — helped me remember,” Torell said, his gaze unfocused in memory. “I’d been stabbed in the heart, but it wasn’t by a Mirraven soldier — it was by Zuleeka.” He raised his eyes to Kiva’s, his face haunted. “She nearly killed me. You saved me.”
The sudden spotlight on Kiva’s healing magic was as subtle as a rabid bear in the corner of the room.
“Rhess filled me in on what had happened at the palace,” Tor went on. “She’s never trusted Zuleeka, so as soon as she heard about the takeover, she moved me and Tipp from the rebel safe house to her hidden apartment in the city while we were both still unconscious.”
“Who is this Tipp I keep hearing about?” Ashlyn murmured.
“Unnaturally happy kid,” Cresta said, sounding bored. “Like a little brother to Kiva, until he learned she’d been lying to him for years. Keep up, would you?”
Ashlyn scowled at Cresta while Kiva fought back her pain from the too-candid answer, all while Torell continued, “That morning, I went to the palace and confronted Zuleeka. I’d had no idea that she —” He broke off, his eyes moving straight to Jaren. In a broken voice, he said, “I swear, I had no idea what she’d planned. If I’d known, I would have —”
“What?” Jaren said, his voice whip-sharp. “You would have what? Stopped her? You’re a Corentine. The Jackal. The rebel general. Isn’t this what you wanted? Congratulations, you succeeded.”
“Jaren, mate,” Caldon said quietly, moving closer to his cousin and placing a hand on his shoulder. “We talked about this.”
“No,” Jaren said, shrugging Caldon off. “Youtalked about this. Just because you believe he’s more than what he seems, that doesn’t meanIhave to. He’s from a family of liars and murderers. Trust him all youwant, but you’ll only bring about your own ruin. Then you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
Jaren wasn’t talking about Torell. Everyone in the room knew it, Kiva especially. Her eyes burned, every word like an arrow shooting into her chest.
“Gods, were you this dramatic when you were at Zalindov?” Cresta asked, pulling a face at Jaren. “No wonder I never liked you.”
“Why are you here, Cresta?” he asked flatly.
“Tor isn’t done yet,” she replied, heedless to Jaren’s mood. “He needs to finish before you can see how I fit into things.”
Sensing everyone’s patience was growing thin, Torell quickly summarized, “Zuleeka wouldn’t tell me where Kiva was, and demanded that I help her take control of the kingdom. When I refused, she tried to attack me with her magic.” There was enough disbelief in his tone to confirm he’d had no knowledge of her deadly power. “I only managed to escape because Mirryn arrived and talked some sense into Zuleeka, giving me a chance to flee.”
Kiva’s eyes widened at the thought of Mirryn intervening. Jaren, Caldon, and Ashlyn all showed visible reactions as well, making her wonder how they were dealing with the emotional fallout of her betrayal. Jaren especially.
“After that,” Torell said, turning to Kiva, “it took me some time, but I found a witness from the masquerade who saw you being carried away by two guards. I assumed they were Royal Guards, so I lost even more time trying to hunt them down, only to learn they were transfer guards who had taken you back to Zalindov.”
His sorrowful green gaze held hers. “I’d already abandoned you once — I wasn’t going to let you rot in there a second time. But I also worried that the rebels might report what I was planning to Zuleeka, so I knew I had to go alone. Rhess agreed to stay behind as my eyes and ears inside Vallenia, and Tipp —” Torell looked down at his lap, beforemeeting Kiva’s gaze again. “He was harder to convince, but he knew he couldn’t go back to the palace while Zuleeka and Mirryn were there. Since he had nowhere else to go, he agreed to travel with me to Zalindov.”
Kiva’s heart shriveled, now understanding what Caldon had meant earlier. Unlike Torell and Cresta, Tipp wasn’t there because he’d wanted to find her. He was there because he’d had no other choice.
Painfully aware of how many people she’d hurt with her lies, Kiva only half listened as Torell explained how he and Tipp had stayed at the inn in Vaskin until they’d overheard some guards complaining about the new recruits who had finally arrived to replace those killed in the riot. Tor quickly realized that was something he could exploit, especially when the guards went on to laugh about “that healer girl” locked in the Abyss. It took a few days, but he eventually managed to corner a different guard and knock him out, before stealing his uniform and sneaking into the prison disguised as one of the recruits. Thanks to Tipp’s reluctant sharing, Tor knew exactly where the punishment block was and headed straight there, only to find not Kiva, but Cresta.
