“This is all my fault. I should never have allowed any of this to happen.”

“It wouldn’t have changed anything if you’d stayed. My father is the one who needs to stand up to Ilara, and he won’t.”

I shook my head. “You don’t understand. It’s not the king.” I took a deep breath, prepared to tell Sami everything I’d learned in my weeks away as quickly as possible, when he placed a hand on my arm.

“I already know.”

I released my breath. “What?”

“I already know that Prince Ceren is the one using the pearls. My father told me everything.”

“Wait, your father? What are you talking about?”

Sami stood and began to pace the tent. “When the emissary came to Varenia, he tried to warn my father about Prince Ceren. He told him Ceren was the one devaluing the pearls, giving us less for them not only so we would be forced to harvest more pearls just to make enough money to survive, but also because the king’s coffers were getting low.”

All this time, I’d wondered if I could trust Talin, and he had been trying to help the Varenians all along. “He wasn’t an emissary, Sami. He’s Ceren’s half brother, and he has as much claim to the crown as Ceren if the king dies before Ceren’s twenty-first birthday. The king is dying, and Ceren is afraid he will meet the same fate. He eats the pearls, Sami, to try to escape from whatever hold the mountain has over him.”

Sami’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “He eats the pearls? I don’t understand half of what you’re saying, Nor.”

“Just listen. He’s created a device that enables people to breathe underwater for extended periods of time. He’s planning to force all the Varenians to dive for him.”

He stared at me, horrified. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes. He’s the one who cut off my family’s water supply, and he’s threatened to do it to all of Varenia. If your father doesn’t believe me, he’s going to find out for himself soon enough.”

“Gods, Nor. This is so much more horrible than I’d feared.”

“It gets worse. The last Varenian queen is dead.”

“What do you mean, dead? She’s still so young.”

She was, I realized. My mother’s age. “She was murdered years ago, most likely by Ceren. I don’t think there’s anything he won’t do to become king. And if he does, you need to make sure the Varenians are prepared. Talk to Elder Nemea. She’s on our side. If you can convince her, perhaps she can persuade the rest of the elders. Your father can’t refuse the will of the entire council.”

“I’ll try, but you know how my father is. He won’t listen to anyone.”

I took Sami’s hands in mine and squeezed them. “Then make him.”

“I swear to you, Nor, I will do everything I can.” He sat down again. “And what about you? If the king dies before Ceren’s birthday, what will happen?”

“I don’t know. I assume Talin will challenge him.”

“No, what will happen to you?”

I wiped my sweaty palms on my thighs. If Ceren won, he would marry me, I assumed, to strengthen his lineage. And if Talin won? What would become of me then?

“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “Just please take care of Zadie. And talk to the elders.”

“I will.” He studied me for a moment. “You look well, Nor. You look beautiful, actually.”

I met Sami’s warm brown eyes. I didn’t feel awkward around him the way I had after the ceremony. Instead, I felt the same brotherly love for him I’d always felt, before everything fell apart. “Thank you, Sami. I miss Varenia more than I can say, but I’ll be all right. Will you give my love to Zadie? Tell her that I’m healthy and happy.”

He eyed me skeptically, but he nodded. We both turned as the tent flap lifted and the kite seller ducked his head inside.

“What is it?” Sami asked.

“There are soldiers outside, and they’re looking for the girl.” He gestured toward me.

Sami’s eyes darted to mine. That greedy jewelry seller had probably told them where I was. “Stay in here,” I told him. “Don’t leave until the men are gone.”

“I love you, Nor. Be careful.”

“I love you, too,” I said, doing my best to keep my voice from breaking. As I walked to the flap, the kite seller pulled a red kite from the wall of the tent and handed it to me.

“They’ll wonder what you were doing in here,” he explained.

“I can’t pay for it. I’m sorry.”

“Consider it a gift.”

I touched his arm for a moment. “Thank you.”

I stepped out of the tent and blinked against the bright sunlight. Suddenly a man’s gloved hand closed around my arm and yanked me back into the aisle, where two other soldiers waited.

“What are you running from, girl?” Riv demanded, his putrid breath wafting into my face.

I struggled against his grip. “I wasn’t running from anyone. I came to buy a kite.”

“It looks like you forgot your escort in the process.”

I gritted my teeth and glared at him. “I don’t need an escort. And you have no right to touch me.”

Riv laughed at his friends. “Cheeky little bitch, isn’t she?”

The blade of Talin’s knife was against Riv’s throat before he could say another word. “You forget you’re speaking to a lady, and your future queen.”

Riv’s hand released me immediately, and I stumbled over to Ceren’s guards.

“Is everything all right, my lady?” Talin asked, his knife still pressed to Riv’s neck.

“I was just getting this for Prince Ceren,” I said, holding up the kite bearing the Ilarean crest. “Were you looking for me?”

Talin shot me a look as pointed as his blade, but he released Riv with a shove and took my arm. “Come with me,” he said, dragging me back down the aisle. When we reached an unmarked silk tent, he pulled me inside, waving his knife at a man selling what looked to be Varenian pearls to another man.

“You can’t come in here,” the merchant shrieked, but he cowered when he saw the Ilarean crest on Talin’s armor. The port was considered neutral territory, but the traders who came to the floating market weren’t supposed to trade the pearls to anyone but Ilareans.

“Leave now, and I won’t report you to King Xyrus. Selling Varenian pearls to a Galethian is illegal, as you well know,” Talin said.