Page 167 of A Dance of Lies

We all have our comforts, Minnow. I wonder if you might be mine.

“Anton,” I breathe again.The performances. Philam. Illian,I try to say, but my throat tightens, squeezing around the words. I wrap a hand around it, and only just manage, “You remember the Gathering, don’t you? You must—”

My windpipe cinches until I can no longer speak.

“I rememberenough,” he says, turning a sharp glare on Sadira.“And now that my kingdom has been stolen from me, I am held hostage by the woman I thought afriend.A nice distraction this one is, Sadira, but I’ve had enough.”

He remembers the Gathering differently,she had said.And no matter how hard we try, our words never seem to reach his ears. We even tried to show him the stills. He sees nothing but a blank pane of glass.

My pulse storms through my veins. “We need you.Ineed you.”

Consumed by darkness, his heart a snare,

Those around Him will remain unaware.

Heat burns through my blood. “I don’t care what Moranya did.Anton—”

“Youdarespeak ill of my Fate,” he says, swinging back toward me. One step, and he’s cornered me against the wall—

Soldiers in black swarm the room, Basile along with them.

“Leave him alone!” I beg, but they don’t. They shove him until his back hits the opposite wall. Basile pins his arms above him. “Get her out of here!” he shouts.

“Vastianna,” calls the queen.

I whirl around. “Why is he in here, hidden away like some kind of common convict? He is aCrown!”

He is stronger than this, stronger than what was done to him. I can reach him—somehow. I believe in him. Why don’t they?

Queen Sadira sighs. “His first request was for us to imprison him. Lock him up. But I refused, and even now, I wonder if I made the right choice. If he reclaims the Miridranian throne, child, he could become a monster. You know the prophecy. The second Eremis will crave blood. He’ll wash the lands with it in service to her.”

When Crowns divide, and nations collide,

Blood will run, high as tides.

And I had seen it, hadn’t I? She had some kind of hold on him, even before the bargain. He’d leaned into her touch, there for a moment, as if he were drawn to her somehow. And the stories of her—it wasn’t just who she appeared as. She had a power beyond that. An allure of some kind.

“There has to be a way to undo this,” I say.

“Maybe,” says the queen. “But for now, it’s time to go.”

But I won’t. I can’t. I march toward him, resolute. “Take me to Moranya,” I demand. “I want to speak with her.”

“You can’t,” Sadira interjects. “Only in death. And to try to arrange that, Vastianna, would be an insult to what he did.”

“But he found a way into her lair without dying.” He’d carried my body there. “Surely I can, too.” I eye him, see the pendant—the lens—still hanging around his neck.

“Even if I knew how he accomplished such a thing, he forbade it,” she says.

“But we need him. Miridranneedshim.”

“Yes, we do. Like you, I do not intend to abandon him so easily, prophecy or not. We of Razam are loyal to our friends.”

“Then I will find another way,” I say, my eyes locked on his. “I will save you, Anton, like you saved me. This is my vow.” I throw my hand around his neck and pull him down, pressing my promise onto his smirking lips.

He doesn’t notice the way I unhook the chain, the way the pendant falls into my free, open palm.

If he could cheat death, I can certainly cheat a deal.

For my immortal king, I will find a way.