I shake my head. “I don’t know how to break his control. He’s been taking a draft that makes it where he doesn’t have to sleep. And I hardly have any worthwhile magic now that Az burned the scrolls behind the library fireplace.”
A look of disgust overtakes Dinah’s face.
“Oh, he has just gotten out of hand, hasn’t he?” Dinah says, the appropriate reaction for when your childhood role model and friend goes rogue, uses you as leverage, stages a coup, and traps your sister as his forced bride.
“Did Blaise offer any ideas as to how I might sever Az’s control?” I ask.
“From the tone you get when you talk about her, I would have thought you were asking so you could do the opposite.”
“I am not. Though I am considering it.”
Dinah sighs, long-sufferingly. “She thinks it’s taking him a fair amount of concentration to keep them under control. Blaise thinks if we can distract Az thoroughly, it will give Piper the opportunity to wrestle away his reins.”
“Distract him?” I ask, dryly. “And did Blaise have any suggestions for how I might do that?”
Dinah’s expression darkens. “She seemed to think you would know.”
Dinah can’t stay long. Something to do with the guard shifts.
Before she leaves, I ask, “Is Tavi with you? Az says she’s traveling, but I can’t help but wonder if she defected.”
Dinah’s face falls, and she shakes her head. “No. No, she…” My sister watches my face intently, and I realize there’s something she’s been keeping from me. “Kiran and Fin were captured around the time of Az’s coronation. Tavi helped them escape.”
My heart pounds in my chest, even that much exertion making me dizzy after weeks of inactivity. “Kiran and Fin were here?”
Something about that knowledge, that they were here, and I didn’t somehow know, makes me numb.
Dinah nodded. “They tried to rescue you. But they were caught by Az’s soldiers. Tavi had magic, Asha. She’d kept it hidden all these years, but she used it to transport Kiran and Fin away from the palace.”
“And then Az killed her for it,” I say, my throat dry.
Dinah winces, tears filling her eyes. “It was a stray dagger. One of the soldiers threw it, aiming for Kiran.”
My heart crumbles then, which is a strange sensation, because I assumed my heart was already rubble.
I suppose even rubble is turned to sand eventually, battered by the overbearing wind until there’s nothing left of the edifice that once was.
“She deserved better than that,” I say, remembering the female who had shown me nothing but kindness since she painted my face for my wedding. I remember the friend and confidant she’d grown to be.
Dinah sighs, then plants a salty, tear-soaked kiss on my forehead and tells me she has to go.
As she slips away, I wonder if I’ll ever see her again.
I try not to think about it too much as I sneak into Az’s empty quarters through the door Dinah left ajar, and steal his dagger out from underneath his pillow.
I lock myself back in my room and prepare for what very well might be the end.
Half an hour later, I’m in bed, though I can’t sleep. The lock on my door clicks, and Az waltzes in. The sight of him makes my chest seize up.
“Asha,” he says. “You’re still awake.”
My legs are trembling underneath my blankets. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Well, that’s for the best,” he says, his smile eerily kind. “I was actually hoping you’d still be awake. Because there’s someone I’d like for you to meet.”
CHAPTER 97
BLAISE
The tavern owner Bezzie whistles to herself as she locks, actually locks, Nox and me in the cellar bedroom together.
I stare around at the space, which is rather tidier than I might have expected from someone as eccentric as Bezzie.
There’s no vanity, though I’m not surprised. Bezzie appears to be in her seventies and not what most would classify a looker. Nor does she seem like she puts much stock in her appearance.
The rest of the room is neatly arranged with a handful of books and crafting materials.
And then there’s the bed.
It’s clearly the type meant to sleep only one, though my heart gives a lurch at the thought. Because this is Meranthi, and it’s likely beds like this sleep multiples all throughout the city. If a family is fortunate enough to have a raised bed like this one rather than simple cots.
“You take it.” Nox gestures toward the bed. He’s returned to being rather distant since this morning in the bunker.
My cheeks heat as I remember the taste of his blood against my lips.
What a mess.
“Where are you intending to sleep, then?” I ask.
