Palace Bedroom.
Oredison Palace, Gazda.
The morning of the Welcome Dinner.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of someone banging on my bedroom door. For a moment, I was disoriented enough to not remember exactly where or when I was. I knew I was in the palace, but my mind was so rattled that I initially thought it was Cohen—come for a late-night chat or an impromptu walk. But as I threw back the covers and stumbled my way across the room, I was hit with the violent realization of where I really was.

I slowed my steps, suddenly afraid to go to the door.

It was still night or at least very early morning. Out the moonlit windows across from me, I could just barely see the skyline as it began to blossom from midnight blue to frosty daybreak. The knock sounded again, jarring me back to the present moment.

Dread stole my breath away. It made my hands shake. Fire pushed adamant at my skin, fighting to be released. I reached for it, the way I always had, but found it just out of my grasp. Either the drug wasn't entirely out of my system, or someone on tacet was close enough to suppress my ability.

I was still standing a few feet from my bedroom door as a key rattled in the lock. I knew exactly who was on the other side of my door then. Only one person in Oredison Palace held a key to my bedroom.

I was momentarily blinded as the door opened and Mirren Caine stepped into my bedroom. He regarded me, his mouth turning up into a cruel smile as he saw me standing there, one hand lifted to shield my eyes from the bright light in the hall. He took me in, running his eyes over my bear feet and legs, to the thin nightdress I wore. The fabric was sheer and fell a good way above my knee. A rush of cold went through me and I wrapped my arms securely around myself, trying to mentally unpuzzle why he was here at such a strange hour.

He hadn't come to fetch me from Anna's suite. Instead, he had sent Ross and Igell to get me. Thankfully, by the time they'd arrived, Kai was already long gone.

Saying goodbye to him had been more difficult than I wanted to admit. It wasn't that I wouldn't see him, it was that I didn't know when we would have another opportunity to speak openly with one another. And while a lot had been said, there was more that we hadn't discussed.

Seeing the way Caine watched me, his expression bemused, I wondered if he'd found out about my time with Kai. But then, if he had, I doubted he'd be smiling.

"Why are you here?" I was surprised by the strength in my voice. Caine scared me, especially when we were alone together in rooms like this, rooms with doors that could shut—but just then I was too tired, too anxious, to shrink away from him. I found that I was angry, but not afraid, as I said, "It's rude to barge into a lady's room uninvited."

Caine's smile only widened. "I didn't realize you were a lady, Miss Benson."

It was like he was undressing me with his eyes. That gaze, hungry and predatory as it was, reminded me of dark alleyways and slurred speech. It brought back memories of another man who had taken advantage.

Before I could begin to spiral, I turned and crossed to the bathing room. I kept an eye on Caine as I grabbed a thin robe from one of the hooks by the door and pulled it on.

I was just tying it around my waist when he said, "Get dressed. We're going on a trip."

I glanced to the brightening cityscape beyond the windows. "It's early."

He turned on his heels and stepped back into the hall. "Dress comfortably—boots, pants. Nothing flashy. You have ten minutes. If I have to come back into this room, you won't like it."

And with that, he shut the door again, casting me into darkness.

***

A transport.
Gazda.
The morning of the Welcome Dinner.

If I'd thought being alone with Caine in my bedroom was uncomfortable, it was nothing compared to what it was like to be trapped in the back of a transport with him. There were no windows and the only light came from small bulbs imbedded underneath the benches. And they only shone bright enough to illuminate the floorboards and the very tops of the seats.

Caine sat across from me, just the bottom half of his face lit, the rest of him in shadows. He'd been quiet, only speaking to instruct me to get into the car and shut up. When I protested, demanding he tell me where he was taking me, he threatened to have me tied up. That was enough to get me in here—seated towards the very back of the van, trying my best to put as much space between Caine and me as I could.

We'd be moving for about ten minutes when he finally spoke up.

"Did you enjoy your visit with Anna yesterday?"

"It was fine."

"Was she well behaved?"

I glanced at him. "She isn't a child."

"She certainly acts like one though, doesn't she?"

When I said nothing in response, he smiled at me. The gesture was more a leer than anything else. "Don't you have questions about her?"

I licked my lips, wishing for water or something stronger. I felt my courage waning like the moon—slowly disappearing until it was only a sliver of defiance. One last push before I caved completely. I exhaled and dug my fingers into the edge of the bench. I hadn't had the best experiences with transports.

One of the last times I'd been in one, Larkin had shot a man at point-blank range. The time before that, I'd been being taken from Erydia to Vayelle—where I would join the Culled. That trip and the events that had taken place prior to it, had been enough to give me nightmares. I'd struggled with dark rooms and cramped spaces ever since. I hated that stupid fear, but I couldn't suppress it.

So, this thing—this cage of steel and wires—was the last place I wanted to be.

The shadows around us shifted as Caine darted forward on his bench. Before I could react, he was looming over me, his hand wrapped securely around my jaw. His grip tightened as I tried to pull away.

"You will look at me when I'm talking to you."

Fear rose in me and I had to shove it down, down, down. I bit back the apology that sprang to my lips. I would not give him the satisfaction. I would not cave to him.

Impatient, Caine let go of my face and shoved me roughly against the transport wall. "Come now, Miss Benson, I'm sure you've got questions. Am I supposed to believe that you aren't curious about my wife?" When I still said nothing, he settled back onto his own bench and crossed an ankle over a knee. "You're a clever girl. I'm sure you noticed that Anna wasn't quite...normal."

He was right. My disinterest in her was a red flag. Any other time I would have asked him about her. I would have pushed the subject. Or I would've let Caine bait me until I asked whatever question he wanted me to ask. And even though Kai had told me about Anna's past; I couldn't let Caine know that.

I rubbed my jaw, wishing I could access the heat that blazed just out of my reach. My ability swirled, indignant, as I said, "You obviously have her drugged. I saw the bruises."

"Ah," Caine said, the light gleaming off his teeth as he smiled. "Yes. I thought you might recognize that."

"Why?" I crossed my arms over my chest, hoping the action looked annoyed and not as self-protective as I meant it to be. "Why drug her and why bring her here? She's your wife. Don't you love her?"

He laughed at this. "Do I love her?"

Caine sighed and examined the signet ring on his pointer finger. The symbol engraved on the top of it was of a stag, its massive antlers incasing a blooming rose. It looked old, like it was a family heirloom of some sort. This ring was one of the many things I wanted to ask Kai about—but with my current list of questions, it wasn't important.

I didn't need to know what the signet ring meant for me to know what it could do to someone when it scraped across their face. The small red jewel encrusted in the engraved rose was lifted enough that it was like a small blade. I'd seen Caine leave marks on servants with that ring, and I'd known when I'd seen the scar on Anna's face that it too had been cause by that small stone.

Caine lifted his gaze to mine. "What does love mean to you, Miss Benson?" One corner of his mouth twitched up. "What does love meant to anyone?" He waved a hand as if he were brushing the term away. "It's an empty thing—the word love. It's an excuse. You love someone so you can touch them. You love someone so you can control them. You love someone so you can own them. You love someone so you can get them to do what you want. Love is relative. Its value is only in what it can get you. It's a currency."

"Is that why you married her? So you could use her?"

"I married her because it's what my father instructed me to do. I married her so she could give me a son. But do you know what Anna gave me? Three stillborn daughters and a fourth that didn't make it past two weeks."

I recoiled at the resentment in his voice. It had already been difficult to imagine someone as fragile as Anna living with Caine, but to imagine her going through something as heart-wrenching as a stillbirth—not once, but three times—with Caine as her husband? I couldn't fathom it. I couldn't get myself to even picture what her life must have been like.

Kai had once told me that she'd seen him as her opportunity to be a mother. But I wondered if Anna had seen something more in him. Had Kai been her miracle, her point of rescue? Would Caine have forced her to continue to try for a living child if they hadn't been given Kai to raise?

Anna had lost four children.

She'd buried four children.

Caine jabbed a finger at me. "She is nothing to me. I want you to understand that. I think it's important for you to grasp. Especially if you think, even for a second, that you can play me. Let Anna be a warning to you and any stupid girl who would try to defy me. I'm in charge. If you're breathing, it's because I'm letting you. Everything you hold dear can and will be taken away from you if I so much as think you're trying to—"

"I'm not trying to defy you," I said, trying to keep the trembling from my voice. "Caine, I haven't done anything. I haven't fought you in weeks. I told you, I just want to be with Kai. I want to help him."

He nodded slowly, considering me. "My own wife has spent the last decade in an asylum being drugged day in and day out. If you think tacet and a palace bedroom are uncomfortable, you won't like the rooms or medications they have in places like that."

I was shaking now. The transport was slowing to a stop and I was suddenly very aware that no one but Caine knew where I was. I fought against the sudden burning in my eyes as I said, "I'm not—"

The words were cut off as Caine grabbed my wrist and pulled me across the small aisle. I hit my knees hard and came to a skidding stop at his feet. He looked down at me, his short nails digging into my skin as he said, "If my nephew is all you want, you can have him. You can be his queen. But don't think of reaching for more than that. Don't imagine yourself as anything other than a lovely puppet." He traced a lazy fingertip down my cheek and I turned my face away, unable to get out of his tight hold as he said, "Everyone is already doubting the validity of making a teenage girl queen. Once you're crowned, it would be easy to convince them that the trials and pressures of your Culling were too much. Maybe the pressures of it would be enough to drive you to madness. And the last thing the Erydian people want is another insane queen."

***

As the doors to the transport were pulled open and I was hauled out of them by three armed guards, I found myself brought back in time. The smell of metal and asphalt filled my nose as I was tugged to one side so Caine could exit the vehicle. He smiled at me and gestured to the large garage we now stood in.

"I trust you know where you are."

I nodded, that same nervous feeling—like a million butterflies all flapping their wings at once—filled my stomach. Every other time I'd been here, the arena above our heads had been crowded with people. The sounds of them cheering and yelling and moving about had been like a torrent of rain against the ceiling. Now, with the arena silenced, I could hear the way the concrete structure echoed each far-off sound. Footsteps from a corridor over, the sound of one of the guards accidentally dropping a set of keys on the floor, the way Caine laughed as he caught my bewildered expression...

I was just about to ask what was happening when a second transport pulled into the garage next to ours. The guards pulled me roughly backward as the doors to that car were wrenched open and Nadia was escorted out. She blinked at the sudden bright lights and then blanched as she caught sight of Caine, then me.

I'd been brought here without the use of restraints, but they had Nadia handcuffed. Her arms were twisted behind her back at an uncomfortable-looking angle and it made her off-balanced as she stepped down from the transport. As soon as her boots hit the ground, she stumbled and almost fell, but Caine stepped forward in time to catch her.

She yanked away from him like his touch was electrified and turned to look at me, her eyes wild with fear. There were a million questions shining there—all of them laced with terror and vivid uncertainty. I tried to move towards my friend, but the guard behind me caught my shoulder and kept me still.

Nadia's voice cracked as she asked, "What's happening?"

Caine pulled a timepiece from his coat pocket. He ignored her question as he said, "We're running behind, where's the other girl?"

One of the guards next to Nadia shrugged. "I think they brought her over first."

Caine opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by an accented voice yelling my name.

I spun to see Ruthie Finchum being dragged by the arm towards us.

She was dressed the way she'd been on the day of the palace attack. Her simple muted green trousers and cream-colored button-up were stained and ripped in places, and the black armband that marked her as a Culled healer had slipped down her bicep and now rested in the crook of her arm. Her coppery red hair was coming loose from its braid and now hung in matted waves around her thin face.

As the man pulled her to a stop in front of our group, I got a closer look at her face and the bruising down her jaw. I wondered who had done that and why. There were plenty of people who would've caused problems in the prisons below Oredison Palace—my oldest brother, Ambrose, and Heidi to name a few.

But Ruthie was sixteen and sweet. Her biggest flaw was that she talked too much and wasn't the best at keeping secrets, both of which only served to make her more endearing. I doubted the marks on her had been earned by her own definace.

Caine stepped up to meet her, stopping uncomfortably close. I was impressed when Ruthie didn't balk or try to move away from him. She just puffed out her chest, lifted her chin, and said, "You're a bastard and bein' the uncle to a king sure as hell ain't changed that."

I stepped forward as Caine lifted a hand sharply as if he'd strike her. "Why are we here?" The question burst from me, too loud, each word running into the next until I wasn't even sure it had made sense leaving my mouth. I shrugged out of the guard's grasp and moved to stand between Ruthie and Caine. "Why are we here, Caine?" I asked again.

Caine lowered his hand slowly to his side, his eyes still locked on Ruthie as he said, "You and Miss Reese have exactly an hour to train."

"Training?" Nadia asked confused. "We're...We're training here?"

I glanced to her and then back to Caine. "But tacet—"

"You haven't eaten anything since dinner last night; so, you should be clean." Finally, his gaze slid to me. "Which I'm sure you already knew."

I did know it.

I'd spent the entire ride here trying to force the fire from my skin. I could feel it, brush invisible hands through the roiling mess of it, but I couldn't move it. With Caine and the other guards so close, it was impossible. Even if I wasn't on the drug, they were.

Caine grabbed Ruthie by the upper arm and pulled her towards a familiar hallway. The guard who had been holding her fell into step next to Nadia and me as we were herded after them. For a moment, the only sound was our footsteps and the skid of Ruthie's boots as she tried to yank out of Caine's grip. She kept turning to look at us over her shoulder, her gray eyes flooded with fear and questions I couldn't begin to answer.

After a moment, Caine continued to speak, his voice echoing across the low concrete ceilings of the hallway. "You will have an hour alone in the arena. There will be targets for you to use, but your main objective is, of course, for you to practice with your abilities. You should be able to access them once the guards are out of range."

Nadia and I exchanged a glance at this. It seemed unlikely that Caine would leave us alone in the arena together. While the walls were incredibly high, I knew there was a way out—even if we had to force our way past the guards at the gate, we could do it.

He was too clever to allow us to have that freedom.

Nadia's shoulders slumped slightly as Caine explained, "The only entrance into the arena will be barred and you will be monitored at all times. So, trying to escape would be unwise. Besides..." we rounded a corner and came to a stop in front of a large metal door with a glass window that looked into a viewing room I recognized. Caine turned to us and smiled, his grip on Ruthie tightening as he opened the door to the viewing room and shoved her inside. He grinned like a cat who'd caught a mouse. "Miss Finchum and I will be spending the hour together. And it would be in her best interest for you both to be on your best behavior."

***

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