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“You’re meant to be playing nice, remember?” he murmured. So I elbowed him again, harder this time, and his arm slipped away. The win wasn’t as satisfying as it should have been.

The book in my pocket vibrated, as if telling me to do as he said, and I had no idea why.

“This was fun to watch, but can we all sit down and work this out?” Bronwen’s tall form was surrounded by a soft glow. She held powerful magic, and she was making everyone aware of it.

The room hushed as everyone collected themselves.

Taking a deep breath, I returned to my chair and slumped back. I needed food and sleep before I would be strong enough to take on any of them. But first, I wanted to hear their plans for me. I suspected they had staged everything since I first sent the note about finding the codex, and I needed to know why.

Torran sat down in the far corner of the room. Close enough to listen, but distant enough that no one risked touching him. Unexpected sorrow twisted in my gut. Not for Torran, never for him. But for Lex, who used to do the same after he had bonded to his phoenix. Riders sacrificed so much to join the Skyworld. I wondered if that was why so many of them had become so corrupt. They became shut off from everyone they loved and lost their humanity in the process.

“And where’s Kit?” I asked. Yet another Rider who had sought to contain me. And what had Kit said about the people of the Ruckus before leaving me here? Hold your ground with this lot.

“So it’s the Nomad prince that really caught your attention then?” Bronwen chuckled.

Aster glared at me, and Torran scoffed. She whistled through her teeth as the Seer nudged her.

“Enough.” The Seer sighed. “We’re about to enter the fourth night. You Skyworlders know what that means better than anyone. I don’t have time for old feuds. The Smoke Rider…” She nodded towards Torran.

The door opened. “You called.” Kit ambled into the room with a pie in his hand. “Ah, the little rebel?” He tilted his head at me. “Why am I not surprised you found your way in here?”

The Seer stabbed a finger at a chair in the corner. “Sit. Eat. Don’t speak. You’re to blame for a lot of this, and you won’t say why.”

Kit gave her a glowing smile and shrugged one perfect shoulder, then sat on an entirely different chair from which he could study both doors. He wasn’t the fool he liked to play.

“Right,” the Seer continued. “Torran retrieved the codex. And you will fix it for us, as planned in place of the Phoenix Order.”

And that was what Aster had meant when he said not to tell them who I was—not that I was Annatalian royalty, but that I had been trained to restore. And it was Aster who had made sure of that. I glanced over at him. One of his eyebrows rose, and a small smile touched his lips. I had finally understood what he had given me. That was the thing with Aster: he might have betrayed us, but before that, he’d ensured that I had a rare power play in a game I didn’t understand.

“Betrayer over there brought you the book and the person to fix it. How fortuitous for you all.” I glared at him. He must have had Kit wait until I was out of the city to pick me up, or he would have broken the oath. The smoke that had consumed me and nearly choked me was him making sure I was subdued enough to be placed in the cage.

“I’m very thorough like that. But just so you know, Riders can’t be oath-bound. I was just giving you a head start before I captured you.” His voice was barely a murmur.

I smiled sweetly at him; it was time to make my own deal. Time to stop hiding, when being a Shadow had only kept me in the dark. My cousins were lost to me; my parents murdered; my brother held in the Northland prison, his mind scrambled. What would all these powerful people need with one codex? No one knew what was written inside.

In that room, surrounded by leaders, Kit’s and perhaps even Aster’s warnings became clear. The child who had been scared and hidden away didn’t exist anymore. If I were going to make a bargain, I needed to make it in good faith. After all, it was what the ‘memory’ night of Yule demanded. To remember who you were. To remember the queen I was once destined to be.

I straightened my shoulders, ignoring the stabbing pain as the wounds on my neck tightened. The blood that ran over my dress was my own, but it had not been the only blood that I had spilled. My gaze locked onto Bronwen. For the first time, I understood her amusement, for it was only I who saw myself as her inferior. That was her actual test, and I wondered how much the Seer behind her had seen of me and my journey… of my plans.

“I’ll not be marrying anyone or pledging to any worlds in the bid to gain a safety you can’t secure.” Reaching down, I tugged at the anklet. Until I remembered Morlan’s words about how the thing could be removed. Her or Skyworld fire.

The gold bit into the pad of my finger.

“Don’t…” Torran froze.

“Oh… she really should.” Kit sprang up and headed over to me, but Torran placed a hand on his shoulder. “Shall I help?”

Torran glared at him. “No. If that comes off…” He grabbed Kit’s wrist as he started to pull off his glove. “Don’t you dare… She’ll become some sort of symbol for the rebels. Someone to follow, and that could start another war. Our mandate is to stop the wars.”

“Or what? I’m quite sure Zeph is currently doing exactly this to her cousin.”

I snapped my gaze to him. “What?” Blood smeared over my ankle, and my fingers heated with pain.

“I heard you say your name,” said Kit, “by pure chance as I was walking past the door. And put it all together.” So he’d been eavesdropping. “Shame that you’ve been hiding, looking like that.” His hand waved in my direction. “I’m guessing that your cousins were also in Craven City, and one of them is who Zeph flew away with?” When I didn’t answer, he nodded. “If Zeph didn’t know who she was, he will when he takes the anklet off. You know it suppresses power, and the Wilds collect powerful witches…”

The sinking knowledge that Ember was in more trouble than I could have imagined settled over me. I had to get to her as quickly as possible.

Kit was studying me. Our eyes met, and for one wild moment, I grasped what was needed. “Take this off me. Now. Fire magic can rid me of it. Do it for Lex and for those months you spent with us after the bonding fever broke. Do it for the oath I know you made to keep my cousins and me safe… The one I’ve no idea how you all broke.”