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“Even if I wanted to do this. Even if I agreed to kill my own father. How, exactly, do you propose to do that? He’s the head of House Brood. Every asset we possess is at his disposal. He has defenses that only the great houses know about. Our estate…” He trailed off, gesturing wildly. “Gods, Ren. The estate is nearly impossible to breach. They took away my access before I left. Those walls are so deeply enchanted that they could hold off entire armies. It’s not just that this would be difficult for me. What you’re asking would be difficult for anyone. We could have Able Ockley with us, and he’d tell you the same thing. My father is one of the most protected men in all of Kathor. What, exactly, is your plan?”
Ren answered. “I have thought about this for the last decade. Every action I’ve taken. Every move I have made. All in service to this task. Do you think I would do all of this without a plan?”
Theo didn’t smile. His eyes, though, were cold and calculating. She saw a confirmation of what she’d secretly been hoping for all this time. All she needed was for Theo to believe this was possible. That Landwin Brood was not a god. She knew it had started at the dinner in the Heights. In front of the city’s elite, Landwin Brood had humiliated his own son. He’d exiled Theo to teach him a lesson, but now all it meant was that his son was far enough away—filled with enough rage—to actually imagine a future without him.
Ren waited for Theo to sit back down. “I am not the only one who has been wronged by House Brood. About ten years ago, there was a smaller house in Kathor that was destroyed. All of the members of that house were executed. It began with a minor offense to your brother. Do you remember that family’s name?”
Theo’s face went pale. This all would have happened when he was a child, but that did not mean he didn’t know about it. His voice was quiet, distant.
“House Tin’Vori.”
Ren quietly began explaining what would happen next.
23 REN MONROE
The next morning, Theo took Ren by the hand and led her carefully up the western tower. They skirted loose stones and sprawling cobwebs, arriving just in time to watch light crawl over the empty plains. Sunrise patiently carved mountains into the empty nothing. The two of them wrapped themselves in extra blankets, curled around each other, and watched morning take its first breath.
“You’re quiet,” she noted.
“The whole world’s quiet up here.”
He kissed the back of her hand. Ren could feel herself slipping. It had been such a gradual slope, her affections for Theo. Maybe that was why it actually ended up being so dangerous to her. She would have resisted a quick falling in love. Some nonsensical, butterfly feeling. Falling for Theo had been more like walking slowly down a hill and finally realizing she was in a new place, breathing in an entirely new air. She knew this moment—wrapped in his arms—was only uncomfortable because it was like nothing she’d ever felt before.
Theo had made a liar of her. The promise she’d made to the Tin’Voris was on the verge of collapse. What would she do? If she had to actually choose? Would she save Theo or take her revenge? The thought made her stomach turn. It would be far more preferable to arrange events so that no choice would have to be made. The two of them would burn House Brood to the ground—and then they would make their own house from its ashes. That would be the way of it.
It had to be the way of it.
“Now you’re quiet,” he noted.
“What else is there to say?”
She turned back. Their eyes met. Theo leaned toward her. Ren felt a bright thrum across their bond just before their lips met. He tugged pleasantly on her bottom lip. She reached up and ran a hand through his golden hair, pulled him closer, kissed him harder. All the emotions running across their bond flared in a white-hot instant. It felt like the world was on fire, like it should be. The two tangled together beneath those blankets for a long time—the sunrise forgotten.
* * *
The waxway candle was almost done burning.
Ren sat there, quietly focused on an image in her mind. An empty field outside Morningthaw. It was a small town that her carriage had stopped at on the way to Nostra. She’d purposefully walked out and memorized an abandoned stretch of grass, as well as the delicate flowers that bordered the field. Every detail she needed to travel back along the waxways now.
Theo was there. He sat behind her, humming softly. She’d almost told him to stop being distracting, until she realized that she actually liked the sound. It was calming.
Down the hall, she could also see flashes of Dahl performing her various duties. The girl had been scarce ever since Ren’s arrival. An incredibly hard worker, but rarely visible. Ren would find her bed made or her towels folded, without once spotting the girl inside her quarters. All of her initial fears about a forbidden romance felt foolish now. She saw how Theo saw her—like a little sister. Their kinship was wholly derived from a shared loneliness. Who else did they have up here besides each other? Ren hoped Dahl would continue to be useful when Dahvid Tin’Vori arrived. She knew it would be no small task to smuggle hundreds of soldiers through the mountain pass in the middle of the night.
Don’t race ahead, she thought. Take it step by step.
Dahvid still needed to win his gauntlet. Ren would need to check in on Nevelyn Tin’Vori’s progress. If there was even a hint that their plan was going awry, she and Theo would fall back on their own contingency plans. They would not waste their one shot at House Brood on a crumbling strategy.
She kept expecting her bond-mate to balk. Instead, he’d been the steady, driving force of all their discussions. Ruminating on every possible strategy. Offering up family secrets like they were the cheapest currency in the world. Ren had learned so much from him in their brief time together, but she suspected there were secrets Theo didn’t know about his father’s power. Secrets that would only come out when they truly put him to the test. They’d find out what those were soon enough.
“The candle’s almost out,” Theo whispered. “Last chance to join House Shiverian.”
A smile ghosted on her face. “I prefer the sound of House Monroe.”
“Honestly, I do too.”
There was quiet. Ren watched the wax continue to melt down the side of the candle. The time was coming. She did not want to leave but knew it was necessary. They must part now if they hoped to survive together.
“The last time we traveled the waxways,” Theo said, “you saved my life.”
