◢✥◣
PREVIOUSLY...
◥✥◤

Azura made it back to the Order where she soaked in a cold bath, washing away the soot and ash still left over from Warroll. Ari joined her and comforted her as she told him of the fire she wielded when killing Jile. Ari reassured her that she's not alone and that he'll stand by her, even after this discovery.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

I pace the plush carpet, my fingers pressed to my lips as I wander between the shelves of books. Ari watches me, his chin in his palm, a book before him.

"What if I dreamt it?" I supply, a crease between my brows.

Ari sighs, having heard this conversation already, but I can't stop. "You didn't dream it, we read the report from Warroll."

I chew my lip, knowing he's right but not wanting to believe him. "But I haven't been able to summon the fire since, what if it was just an explosion and I was too poisoned to realise."

"That doesn't match the report."

"What if they were wrong in the report?"

"Azura, please sit down, you're going to put a hole through the floor."

I expel a breath and do as he bids, slumping in the chair opposite him with my gloved hands splayed on the table, staring at them like they might burst into flames at any moment.

"You said you've always felt it within you, so why are you denying it so much?"

"Because I don't want it," I tell him, lifting my gaze. "I already have these markings and they've already put me in enough bad situations. If people realised..."

"They're not going to find out," he reassures me, reaching across the table to clasp my hand in his, the touch quelling some of my panic. "Trust me, I've gotten good at keeping secrets, I'll help you."

I turn his hand over, studying his callused palm. "And what secrets do you have to keep?" I muse aloud. Everyone has their secrets, things I don't expect people to share with me, but right now all I want is a distraction from the turmoil in my own head.

"Well, I did find this." Ari reaches into his pocket. "When I stole that report for you from Palmira's office—"

"Which I didn't tell you to do," I scold, though a part of me is still grateful he did.

"I managed to grab this." He slides the paper towards me and I look at it, the writing incomprehensible.

I glance at him, my head too chaotic to possibly concentrate on reading right now. We've been doing frequent lessons and he's taught me more than I ever imagined learning, but it's still an uphill battle.

"It's a letter," he supplies, able to read my exasperated expression and not have to ask me what I need in this moment. "To a man named Lieutenant Pierre. I found it odd because that's a title from the Empire's army."

I stare at the piece paper before me, at the letters that make up the man's name. As my hand inches towards my pocket, I realise I recognise the name.

"Palmira is asking him to send her any information he may have on the history of Yetok. More specifically from eleven years ago and earlier."

I frown at him, not understanding where he's going with this as my fingers brush against the metal in my pocket.

"Eleven years ago, the Sharlik Empire destroyed the village of Usteronte in Yetok. Why would she need that information?"

"Wait," I interrupt, staring at the words I can't make sense of. "Eleven years ago? But that's..." The same time my brother found me. Dressed as a Sharlik soldier while I still had the stench of blood and smoke on my clothes. I don't remember anything before it. But what if...

Jadira's flowers and herbs.

I pull the slip of metal from my pocket and nearly choke to see that the name inscribed on it matches the one in the letter. "Ari, you have to put this letter back," I tell him, my throat tight.

"Well, I can't do that now. She'll know someone stole it then. She hadn't even sent it out yet, so she'll think she just misplaced it."

She hasn't sent it out yet because I killed the man it was intended for.

"Ari, please," I beg him, shoving the tag back into my pocket to reach for his hand. "You don't know what you've stumbled upon."

His eyes narrow. "Neither do you. But this proves that something is happening between the rebellion and the Empire and it was going on over ten years ago, around the same time the Tacree Kingdom fell."

"Ari..." I start, my breathing quickening.

Let the past die, little flame.

Let it all die.

"I'm not letting this go, if that's what you're going to say. I need to know who killed my family."

"It was ten years ago."

Ari leans forward, sparks igniting in his gaze. "My people were crushed, Azura. Do you have any idea what that feels like? To see your own kingdom burning in flame?"

I blink at his phrasing, my panic subsiding as I finally hear his words. "Your kingdom?"

He lets go of my hand so fast I think I've burned him, but I look down to make certain I haven't, discovering that no fire flickers on the tips of my fingers. "Yes," he replies, his voice strained. "My kingdom. My people. My queen who sacrificed herself in that tunnel to get me out."

"But that woman was your..." My eyes widen and I lean back to look at him, really look at him. He strides into the ballroom with all the composure of a prince. "You're the lost prince of the Tacree Kingdom."

He opens his mouth, then closes it. A stream of emotions pass across his features, ranging from sorrow to relief. "I haven't told anyone."

"Does Palmira know?"

"My questions about the fall of Tacree started because she knows. Because those members of the Order were waiting beyond that tunnel, like they knew it was one of the few escape routes leading from the royal wing."

"Maybe your mother—the queen—reached out to them."

Ari shakes his head, his jaw clenching. "No, we refused the Order's offer for an alliance because my parents wanted the fighting to stop. They were working towards peace and all the Order wants is more war. She would have never gone to them for aid. They knew. Somehow the Order knew to be there when the Empire attacked."

There's a shift behind us between the shelves of books and I twist around. "Well," someone says and Vera steps into view, snapping shut the book in her hands. "I didn't expect to stumble across this sort of conversation in such a public place."

My gaze hardens as I rise to my feet, my fingers twitching. "How much did you hear?"

"Enough," she replies with a shrug, her slanted eyes glancing between us, dark amusement within their shadowy depths. I take a threatening step towards her but she rolls her eyes. "I don't care, Azura. If it were my brother who heard this conversation, then Palmira would probably be told, but I don't give a damn. She just sent me to find you and tell you she wants to talk."

My stomach plummets but I don't back down. "If I hear a word that you repeated this..."

"Yeah, yeah, you'll cut out my heart and eat it." She waves her book and steps out of the way. "I'll keep it to myself until it's useful to me."

My nostrils flare at her slight smirk, but I say nothing. I look back at Ari to see him standing and gathering his things.

"I'll see you in class," he murmurs, meeting my eye.

I swallow and nod before sending another scathing look at Vera and stalk past her.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Palmira is the only one in her office when I enter. Her back is to me as she observes her wall of books and loose papers, her fingers trailing along their spines. I shut the door, my mouth already dry.

"I hear the location Erasmus gave you was set on fire," she begins, tugging a piece of paper free and inspecting it. "Your doing, I suppose."

"I couldn't have them identifying who it was, it would have been tied to me."

She hums and slips the paper back into place before turning to me. "Have you decided?"

"Decided what?" I ask, keeping myself close to the door.

"Decided whether you're going to keep your promise and assassinate the emperor?"

I lift my chin and draw in an even breath. The debate has crossed my mind, kept me up a few nights, and still I waver.

She doesn't know I have this fire within me. She can't know. She would have treated me like I was a powder keg waiting to go off if she knew. Because that's what I am. Maybe she doesn't even know what these marks are, maybe she's playing a dangerous game, trying to control me like she does Vera and assassinating the emperor is her way of making certain I'm loyal to her.

I refuse to be her slave.

"I won't do it," I tell her, my voice steady.

A muscle under her eye ticks. "You break promises so easily."

"Are you going to kill me?"

She turns away, her dreadlocks flipping over her shoulder as she rounds her desk. "That would be a waste of resources."

I keep my shoulders from slumping in relief. "What are you going to do then?"

She sits, her teeth grinding together, but she seems to be trying to keep her anger down. "He needs to be eliminated, Azura. You know this. After what his men did to your friends in Warroll, I don't understand why you wouldn't want to kill him."

"Maybe I made new friends," I retort and regret it when her head tilts.

Showing weakness.

She's dangerous. Run!

She steeples her fingers and nods. "I'll wait for you to come to your senses. You'll believe yourself ready to take on such a task eventually. Until then, continue your training." She leans forward and picks up a pencil to begin writing on her strewn papers.

"That's it?" I watch her, waiting for her to grow talons and strike me down.

She glances at me. "That's it." She gestures with a wave. "Now, get out of my office. I tire of you."

I don't argue any further and escape while I still have my head on my shoulders.