“No. Stop him!” I tried to make it sound good, as much as I could.
Darzin ran back into the palace.
Therin made no move to chase. “What is going on here? Kihrin, you have a lot of explaining to do.”
I ignored him.
Now we just had to hope that Darzin was stupid enough to go running straight to Gadrith.
Because as soon as he did that, it was all over.
* * *
Darzin’s astonished question about Therin telling me the truth hovered in the air between us. My father ignored it. He didn’t ask what either Darzin or I had meant. He didn’t try to protest that we weren’t brothers.
Because he knew that was a lie.
“What exactly is going on?” Therin demanded.
“I don’t suppose I could convince you to release Lady Miya from her gaesh?” I saw the look on Therin’s face and waved a hand. “Never mind. We don’t have much time now. Probably not more than a half hour. Darzin’s off to warn Gadrith I’m back. I honestly do not know what Gadrith will do when he finds out, but we’re going to be ready for him.”
“Gadrith’s dead,” Miya said, but she didn’t say it with much conviction.
“He’s not.” I pulled back the collar of my misha, revealing both the Stone of Shackles and the necklace of star tear diamonds. Lady Miya already knew about the latter, but my father hadn’t yet seen them.
He flinched. “Where—?”
“You remember where these star tears ended up after you bought Miya with them, don’t you? With a certain old vané hag who just happens to be a High Priestess of Thaena?” I let the collar of my misha fall forward again. “Take my word for it that I know for a fact that Gadrith didn’t travel past the Second Veil. He found a way to fool you and Thaena both.”
Therin stared. After a moment, he seemed to shake off the paralysis that had seized him. “I will talk to you in private. Now.”
“No,” I said. “We don’t have time. I just pushed Darzin to do something rash and a mimic has infiltrated this household. I need to find her before he returns.”
“A mimic?” Whatever news Therin had expected from me, that wasn’t it.
I turned to Lady Miya. “Lyrilyn was murdered by a mimic while she was wearing the Stone of Shackles. Your former handmaiden never left the house, but she did switch allegiance. She works for Darzin now.”
I was dumping a lot of information in their laps at once, but I couldn’t give my father a chance to demand that I provide proof. I needed them acting first. The proof would come soon enough.
“Oh, that poor girl,” Lady Miya said.
Therin looked like he’d been slapped. No matter how good Therin’s information networks had been, I’d just told him that Darzin’s were much better and why.
“Is there anyone who’s been acting oddly? Inconsistent?”
“A mimic isn’t going to reveal themselves so easily,” Therin said. “The mimic could be anyone.” He gave me a thoughtful stare.
“That paranoia’s coming just a little late. Please try to remember that I’m the one who just warned you about the mimic.”
“No, it is not you,” Lady Miya said. “And it is not just anyone, either. Ola. It has to be Ola.”
I startled. “What? Ola’s here?”
“Yes,” Therin said. “We captured her. I was so angry when you first disappeared that I would have let Darzin kill her. However, Lady Miya said you would never forgive me—if you ever made your way back to us—if I allowed the woman who’d raised you to be executed. So she’s our ‘guest.’”
“That’s the mimic,” I agreed. “Where is she?”
“Your rooms,” Lady Miya said.
Therin scowled. “We still can’t be sure she’s the mimic.”
I sighed. “Yes, we can, because Ola’s dead. Ola Nathera is in the Land of Peace. I heard that straight from Thaena’s mouth. Which means the Ola you know is the counterfeit.” I felt under my agolé for yet another letter tucked away. “Lady Miya, please go find Aunt Tishar. This is for her. It explains what’s going on and what I need her to do.”
She took the letter and left.
“Kihrin, I need to know—”
“You need to do what I say for once,” I said, turning on him. “Evacuate the palace. The one thing I have not been able to plan for is exactly what Gadrith will do once he realizes I’m back, and wizard duels are messy. Get everyone out.”
“Think, Kihrin. Where could Gadrith D’Lorus have been hiding for all these years?”
I raised an eyebrow at my father. “There’s a whole guild of wizards dedicated to the craft of opening gates between distant lands. I don’t know why everyone thinks hiding would be so difficult.”
I started to walk off.
“Did Khaemezra tell you? I mean, about—” Therin choked on whatever he’d been about to ask.
I stopped.“Which part? About you being my father?”
He stared at me with haunted eyes. “No,” he said. “No, absolutely not. Darzin’s your father.”
I scoffed. “That’s not true and you know it.”
“It IS true. It is true and you will not contest it.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Would you like me to tell you how I know you’re lying? I mean, the ways are nearly endless, but let’s start with the fact that I know you’re lying because I know Miya is my mother. And Miya’s hatred of Darzin isn’t personal. She hates him on principle, she hates what he does to people around him, but she doesn’t hate him in the way she would if he’d forced himself upon her. And frankly, if he had done that, you’d have murdered him—son or not. But her feelings about you—” I pointed at him. “—are more complicated. And you have her gaesh, so it’s not like she could refuse your smallest whim. So, settle a curiosity for me: it was rape, wasn’t it?”
Therin hit me.
For a second neither of us moved. I felt the sting where his signet ring cut my lip. Therin wouldn’t look at me.
Again, I started to walk away.
“Where are you going?” my father asked.
“The others are doing their parts. Me? I have a mimic to kill.”
* * *
Honestly, I still don’t know where it went wrong.
A thousand times since I’ve replayed how it went, how it could have gone if I’d been a little wiser or if this had all just been practice under Chainbreaker’s spell. If I’d asked a servant to deliver the letter to Tishar while Miya had stayed. If I hadn’t argued with Therin and so he’d come with me to confront you. If Tyentso had come with us instead of staying at the Culling Fields to monitor for a possible Hellmarch. If I had insisted on Emperor Sandus coming with me personally instead of waiting for a signal on his damn magic ring.
In any event, none of that happened.
I went to Ola’s room alone.
76: BETRAYAL
(Talon’s story)
Bear with me, love. We’re almost finished, Kihrin. At least, as finished as my story can be.
* * *
Escaping from the Blue Palace proved to be distressingly easy.