I raise my voice above the din. “Tell them how you let the Drained in to steal those women, just like you compelled them to come for the people of Mountain Haven. You deserve to pay for your sins.” The first part is a lie, but the second is true. Beyond that, Rafe is a man made of secrets. Divine know what kind of fucked-up skeletons we’d find in his closet.

Rafe struggles valiantly against my hold, but I’m in too deep and I have too much anger behind me to lose my focus.

“Why?” he asks through gritted teeth.

“You will never touch my wife again.” I nod to the crowd and raise my voice. “Admit it.”

“I let the Drained in,” Rafe shouts. “I thought I was doing the right thing by trading a few lives for the many. I did the same thing ten years ago. The Havenwoods were getting too cozy with the Carrenwells and I wanted to solidify my place in the high houses. I was afraid of my lack of extended family. It was just me and my mother left in our house, and I thought I would be the first one to go when Harrick found a more powerful ally.”

I didn’t tell him to say anything this elaborate. The first part might be a lie, but the second part is definitely true.

The crowd shouts loud condemnation. This betrayal seems almost worse to them than the Carrenwells. At least Harrick never pretended to be kind and friendly toward them, only to feed them to the wolves.

“Keep going. Surely that’s not the end of your sins.”

Rafe is resisting so hard, sweat drips from his brow. Either that or the crushed Stellarium Blossoms we put into the whiskey are hitting him.

“I pretended to be magnanimous by visiting those locked up for resisting the blood tithes so I could stir up the dissent and use Rochelli’s rebellion for my own means,” Rafe says breathlessly.

The angry jeering of the crowd grows even louder.

I want him to keep going, but I don’t want a riot. Worse, Harlow looks deathly pale. I wanted Rafe to admit what he’s done, but now I don’t want her to have to hear him say it.

“Take him away!” someone in the crowd shouts.

I shove Rafe toward Carter and Bryce, who are waiting at the far end of the stage. He stumbles over to them, and they tie his hands behind his back.

I lock eyes with Carter. “You have him?”

I can already feel the pressure of my friend’s magic, and I can tell by the way Rafe’s steps are getting more labored that he’s only a few minutes from losing his ability to walk. But you can never be too careful with a Polm-blessed prisoner. That’s why I need to be sure Carter can control him before I release my magic.

“I’ve got him,” Carter says. “We’ll hide him in the secret room at the bar until this is over and we can move him more easily.”

I release my hold on the mayor as they drag him away. I turn back and walk across the stage to join Harlow.

“Are you well?” I ask.

She nods, but she won’t meet my eye. Instead, she takes off her black cloak, hands it to me, and steps up onto the stage. The day is still dark, but the sunstone stage lights hit her shimmering dress as she walks to the center of the platform.

The crowd quiets, looking at her with genuine reverence. I can’t blame them. She looks ethereal and every part the Divine being she’s meant to play.

“I am Stellaria, Divine of the Stars, the bringer of darkness,” Harlow says. Her voice is clear and loud. “I have claimed my love once and I reclaim him now. My Deathless has delivered him back to me. Now I will summon a new dawn.”

Drums play from somewhere at the back of the crowd, then a second beat picks up, and another and another, until the pounding is coming from all eight paths that lead to the Blood Well.

That’s the signal. It’s time.

The drumming grows louder and louder as Harlow lifts her arms, until I can feel it in my chest.

Rafe thought he was going to play this part, but that was just a ruse.

This is the moment. Rochelli is going to reveal himself on stage in front of all of us as Asher, the Divine of Endings. It’s a bit dramatic, but I suppose it’s not a bad representation of the drastic change the city is about to go through.

The crowd is restless, those with rebel ties looking around for any indication of who their new representative might be, and everyone else waiting for the ceremony to end.

Harlow swoops her hands downward, and the sunstones flare around the square, bathing the crowd in light. The people cheer loudly, and Harlow bows and walks down to join me, but as soon as she reaches me, the crowd noise dies.

Footsteps sound on the wooden stairs on the other side of the stage. Rochelli is here.

Whispers pass over the crowd in a wave.

Though I logically know who I’m looking at, it takes me a full minute to comprehend.

Kellan Carrenwell is not on the stage to represent his family. Kellan Carrenwell is Rochelli. He’s the one who has been organizing a rebellion against his own family.

Beside me, Harlow stares at him with the same mix of shock and confusion.

Kellan holds up his hands, and the crowd murmurs die down.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Kellan says. “How could I possibly be Rochelli? Why should you trust me? What if this is all just a grift from the Carrenwells?”

There are whispers of agreement in the crowd.

Kellan nods. “I knew this would be hard to explain. Some of you know what cruelty my parents were capable of. Suffice it to say that those cruelties existed both in and out of our home,” he says solemnly. “I made a hard choice because when I vowed to Divine Vardek to protect the people of this city fifteen years ago, when I became captain of the city guard, I meant all of our people. I’ve watched the disparity grow between the blessed and the rest, and I have seen firsthand the way it’s affected crime inside these city walls.”

Harlow reaches for my hand without looking for me, and even though I know she just needs something to hold onto, it’s the first hint of hope I’ve had since she ran from me.

Kellan shakes his head. “How quickly we’ve forgotten how this community formed. And that selective memory was encouraged by my parents. I knew when I was young. I tried to work around the system, but my parents’ roots were deep. I couldn’t strike until I knew who would support a change when the time came. My parents were vindictive, and if we didn’t succeed on the first try, I knew we wouldn’t get another.”

Bryce and Naima stand on the far side of the crowd. They see me looking and offer nods of encouragement. So far, so good. I’m really hopeful that no one tries to kill my brother-in-law.

The people’s anger and frustration are palpable. I don’t blame them. They were expecting to channel it into the ones who hurt them, but Harrick and Liza are already gone.

I can relate to that disappointment, though knowing they met a violent end has brought me some measure of peace.

“I take responsibility for how long it took to know exactly how to get us here. I’m not blind to how many of you have suffered in that time.” Kellan pauses as shouts of affirmation ring out. “More importantly, I know that it’s easy for someone to stand on this dais and tell you what you want to hear. So let me be honest for a moment and tell you what you don’t want to hear. I beseech you to listen until the end. I’ll hold weekly town hall sessions after this so that you can have time to think of your concerns and discuss them in detail. Are you willing to hear me?”

There’s a brief hesitation before murmurs of agreement break out.

“Okay. Good,” Kellan continues. “Now, this is going to sound scary, but let me start with the Drained. You’ve probably noticed that we’ve had more breaches in the last few months. That’s because the Drained have evolved. Fortunately, thanks to the cooperation of our old friends at Mountain Haven, we have a working theory that our blood tithes that were made in pain and frustration have exacerbated this problem.”