My mate’s bright green eyes fill with pain, and he slowly shakes his head. “We cannot, Candra. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think it’s the best thing for our child. There are physicians here. Herbalists. Midwives. You need them for our baby. And even if you can forget about your people, I cannot. Things are just as wrong here as they were back in Lios. It’s my duty to do what I can. Once I get to see my brother⁠—”

I fling his hand away. “I thought you loved me.”

I know I’m being dramatic, but more than anything, I need him to show that his allegiance is with me. That I matter above all else. That nothing has changed and we’re still in this together, the two of us against the world. I need him to prove to me that Riza is wrong wrong wrong, because my heart is shattering into a thousand pieces with every moment that passes.

Nemeth’s expression is defeated. “You know I do, milettahn. But I cannot abandon the people here for my own selfish wants and needs. Can you?” He grips my shoulders, forcing me to gaze at him. “Look me in the eye and tell me that you would be content with abandoning all those here in Darkfell. All the humans. All the Fellians who have nothing to do with my brother’s machinations. You would abandon them?”

“That’s not fair.”

He shakes his head. “None of this is fair. And yet it is the fate we have been given.”

I stare up at him, mutinous. “Fine. If you want to stay, then get me in to see your brother. The king.”

“I’ve been trying to see him⁠—”

“No, not you. Me. Let me talk to him.”

Nemeth’s jaw sets in that stubborn way of his. “You’re not going to see him until I have.”

“Then I guess that answers that,” I manage to say, my voice light despite my heartbreak. Tonight has proved one thing to me. Riza was right. Nemeth has some plan with his brothers, and he won’t let me in on it.

Whatever he might feel for me falls secondary to duty.

The rest of the day is full of tension. We’re silent over our meal, and afterward, I declare a headache and take to bed. It’s not as if I can go anywhere else, after all. I pretend to sleep, the covers pulled over my head, while silent tears trickle down my cheeks.

I’m going to allow myself a tiny bit of crying, but that’s all. If Nemeth has used me, I can’t trust him. If I can’t trust him, then I have to make my own plans.

I have to think about my baby. I have to think about my people. It feels strange to say that to myself. I’ve never been the most devoted of princesses, not in the slightest. But Nemeth is right that there is something wrong here. He just refuses to see that it’s his brother.

So I have no choice but to work around my mate.

He holds me that night, his hand on my belly, and our child kicks and flutters in my stomach, reminding me that I have more to think about than just myself, than just Nemeth. The baby inside me is going to need a safe place to live, and I don’t care if that place is Darkfell or Lios.

Right now, neither one is safe. Darkfell is full of plague, slavery and intrigue, and Lios is full of mud and empty of people and food.

“Give me another day,” Nemeth whispers into my hair as I pretend to sleep. “We must go carefully when we approach my brother.”

I nod. As if I have a choice? In a strange sort of way, I do know that he’s trying.

I just don’t know if it’s enough. If he’s lying to me and deliberately stalling, dragging our feet could mean the death of so many Liosians. Even if he’s not lying and his brother truly is pushing him off, we cannot afford to wait.

I go to sleep that night with the terrifying word “purge” echoing in my head.

It’s a tense breakfast the next morning. I glare at Nemeth over the food.

“I cannot today,” he tells me, his expression grim but determined. “I must speak with my brother first. I will not put you in front of Ivornath before I know if you will be safe or not. I cannot get the sight of Lionel’s dead body out of my mind. I will not let that happen to you.”

I hate that he sounds logical. It’s almost believable. If I didn’t know what I know now, I’d be a much happier woman. A fool, but happier. “May I have the letters that were sent to me, then?”

He gets to his feet. “We’ll talk about those when I return.”

“Am I your prisoner?” I ask him. “Am I no longer your wife? Your mate? Because right now, I feel like a prisoner, Nemeth.” I gesture at my surroundings. “Even a golden cage is still a cage.”

He moves to my side. I don’t get up from the table with the strange stools, and continue to mutinously glare at him from my spot by our breakfast. He strokes my cheek with his knuckle, sighing. “I know this is difficult. I wish you could understand.”

“Then tell me,” I exclaim. “Tell me what’s going on so I can understand.”

“I’m trying.”

“Are you? Because I feel like you’re keeping secrets from me. Why can’t I go with you to the palace? Why can’t you let me see those letters? Why won’t you tell me what the red symbols are on the doors? Where is everyone? Why won’t your brother see you? What’s he hiding?”

Nemeth flinches at my torrent of accusations. “Once our safety is secured, then I’ll explain it all. I promise.” He leans down and presses a kiss to my brow. “I’m sorry, Candra. Give me one more day.”

“Do I have a choice?” I gesture at my surroundings. “It’s not as if I can go after you.”

“Think of this as the tower, and we are yet in waiting once more,” he offers.

“In the tower, we didn’t keep secrets from one another, did we?”

Nemeth is silent, and at that, my heart breaks. He leaves, and I pick at my food, no longer hungry. To think that I’d been thrilled to eat anything such a short time ago and now my heart is so heavy that I can barely bring myself to eat the expansive plate of food in front of me.

How is it that we were so happy in the tower, and yet the moment we’re around others, everything turns to dragon shite? It’s unfair.

I finish my meal and remove the stone from the teleport circle. I suspect Tolian will come again today, or at least bring a message from Riza. If they’re lying to me, they’re very good lies with far too much truth embedded in them for me to be able to pick out the differences. I know Riza, though. I’ve known her since I was a child. She wouldn’t lie to me. Not about something as important as this.

So either she’s being lied to as well, or Nemeth is the one not speaking the truth.

Tolian appears in the teleport circle a short time later. I’m dressed and waiting for him, and when he holds his hand out, I take it. It feels like a betrayal of Nemeth…and yet I have no choice.

If Nemeth is hiding things from me, it’s my duty as the mother of his child to find out what those things are. I have to make sure that my baby is safe.

This time, we don’t return to the seaside villa. To my surprise, Tolian takes me deep inside the mountain, to a strange storage building that reeks of mushrooms and sour wine. Barrel after barrel are stacked to the ceiling here, and as I look around, Riza appears from the shadows.

“You came back,” she says, relief in her voice.

“I worry that you’re right,” I confess, hugging her.

“I hate that I am.” Riza gives me a miserable smile. “More than anything, I want your happiness, but I cannot remain quiet if I know that he’s lying to you.”

I nod, not trusting my voice. Glancing around the storage building, I sigh. “So what now?”

“I want you to see for yourself what’s happening to the survivors of Lios,” Riza tells me. She opens a bag and pulls out a cloak and a scarf. “You need to see how they’re being treated. You need to see our fates if we don’t rise up.”

I slip the cloak on over my clothes, noticing that the patterns on it are similar to the ones Nemeth wears on his breast and on the buckle of his belt. The sigil of Second House, then. Riza covers her face with the scarf and indicates I should do the same. “We won’t be allowed to move through the city without a covering. Even Tolian would not be able to save us from a beating if we were caught. We are considered plague-bearers.”