CHAPTER TWO Sev 
I woke suddenly, surfacing from a pool of murky, dreamless sleep into—darkness.
I was lying on a cold stone floor. What little light there was fell in through a sliver of a window high up the wall and gave no hint as to the time of day. It was deadly quiet. I tried to remain calm as I took stock of the situation, but my heart was racing. I was alive and mostly uninjured, though there was a sharp pain in the back of my head as I shifted. I reached up gingerly to touch the area, and my fingers came away sticky.
What—? Memory flooded through me. Maren. Lumina. The Aurati handing me over to the soldiers, who had called down Talons to transport me to—
Gedarin. The heart of the empire.
This dungeon had no identifying features, but the emperor would not chance losing me now that he had me in his grasp. And the emperor almost never left his court in Irrad these days. Which meant that he must be there now, and, therefore, so was I.
I forced my breathing into a controlled rhythm. Irrad, the capital of Gedarin. I’d been here once, a long time ago—before my father’s death, my brother’s treason, my mother—I shook off those thoughts. I’d been a child, but there were details still stamped into my memories. The way footsteps echoed on the floor of the receiving chamber. The endless hallways of burnt black stone, the eerily white walls. The smell of the Flame’s coffee in the morning, dark and bitter. I’d hated the place even then. And it would likely be the last city I ever set foot in.
I pushed myself to a sitting position and then slowly got to my feet, grimacing as aches and bruises made themselves known. I stretched, trying to ignore the pounding in my head. There was a mat against the wall that stank of decay, and a bucket in the corner for relieving myself. I should have counted myself lucky. Prisoners enjoying the emperor’s hospitality weren’t even guaranteed a room free of carnivorous beasts, and at least I had that luxury.
The front of the cell was a wall of iron bars, through which I could see the hallway and into the cells opposite mine. Every last one was empty.
It couldn’t be a coincidence that there was no one else here. The emperor of Zefed was a vengeful tyrant. There was no world in which his dungeons were unpopulated—unless he had moved his prisoners to keep me solitary… or executed them.
It was disheartening that both scenarios seemed equally likely.
So there was no one here, and nothing to do but wait.
I sat down on the mat and quickly concluded that the floor was the better option, despite the damp. So I lay on my back and began to count the stones in the ceiling. Somewhere above me was the sky, the sun, the world. I thought of Maren. Had she succeeded in her quest to save Kaia? She’d looked so frightened the last time I’d seen her, following the Aurati Prophet, but so resolute. And me? I had fallen directly into the trap that had been set for me. I shouldn’t have—
Shouldn’t have what? Trusted Maren? Following her lead was what had brought me here, but what else could I have done? What other path could I possibly have taken, from the moment I had grasped her hand and run with her through the streets of Deletev? What other choice could I have made from the moment I had seen her with the dragon kit, from the moment she had smiled at me for the first time, sunlight filtering through her hair?
My breath hitched, and I tried to think of something—anything—else. Dwelling on my past actions would accomplish nothing. Besides, my head was starting to throb with pain, and despite my best efforts, my eyes drifted closed.
When I woke again, I found that a bowl had been pushed through the bars while I’d slept. Though it was disappointing not to have seen the guard, my stomach rumbled at the prospect of food. I picked up the bowl—watery rice, a scoop of unseasoned vegetables floating on top of the broth. The thought of poison flickered through my mind, but I dismissed it quickly. The Flame of the West wouldn’t kill me quietly, poisoning me somewhere deep in the bowels of his empire. He had captured the shadow prince of Ruzi, the bane of his existence. He would put my execution on display. The only question was when.
So I ate, and then I slept some more, on and off. I saw the guard who delivered my next meal, a tall man who had doubtless been chosen for his uncanny impersonation of a stone statue. I didn’t even attempt to talk to him.
My legs cramped if I sat too long in one position, so I stretched them out one at a time. I traced the grooves between the stones with my fingertips. A strange, numbing calmness settled over me like a mantle, shielding me from the fear I knew was waiting. Now what I felt most was regret. I was beyond the reach of anyone who could possibly help me. I would never avenge my mother. I would never tell Maren the depth of my feelings for her, or see the dragon kit grow. The Flame of the West had me now, and I could see nothing in my future but death.
What a pathetic waste.
The next time I woke, the emperor was standing on the other side of the bars.
There was nothing to be gained by feigning sleep—he’d only kick me awake. I sat up. For a moment we stared at each other, the torchlight from the hall illuminating our faces. He was about my height but more solidly built, his black hair hanging in a straight curtain down his back. He was a few years older than my brother, Callum, which put him in his midthirties. Rafael, emperor of Zefed, Flame of the West. The last time I’d seen him, he had newly inherited the throne, and my family had been just one of the other four royal families of Zefed.
He wasn’t dressed in court attire—the only signs of his position were the circlet of gold he wore and the three guards that flanked him. I longed to rip that circlet from his head, to squeeze his throat until his face mottled purple and his legs gave out. To take the sword from his belt and—
“Vesper Severin Avidal. The shadow prince of Ruzi, before me at last.” His voice was rich and melodious. A deception, like the rest of him.
I flinched at the sound of my full royal name. I hadn’t used it since leaving Ruzi, and hearing the emperor speak it was almost unbearable.
I rose to my feet, my limbs shaking as I approached the bars. For the last ten years this day had haunted me, no matter the lengths I’d gone to escape it. I had dreamed of every scenario, imagined the weight of the sword in my hand, the dragon I would ride, the look on his face as I cut him down—but now the day was here, and I was no avenger, alight with fury. It was over.
Still, I would not give him the satisfaction of seeing me cower.
“Come to kill me?” I said.
“You’ve been a thorn in my side for too long,” he said, his gaze cold. “The little prince of Ruzi. The rest of your family was so easy to dispose of, but you’ve managed to elude me for years. So you can imagine my surprise when I learned that you’d gone to Lumina. Were you trying to get yourself captured?”
When I didn’t answer, he continued. “I should kill you, but I find myself curious. I know you’ve been running around my empire with the Dragons—such a grandiose name for such a pitiful band of traitors. So now that you’re finally enjoying my hospitality, it’s time you and I had a chat about your… friends.”
The emperor nodded to the guards, who unlocked the bars and entered the cell. Two of them grabbed me by the arms, pinning me between them as the emperor came to stand over me.
“What makes you think I’ll tell you anything?” I spat.
Rafael grinned, his teeth glinting in the dim light. “You may be the shadow prince of Ruzi, but within these walls you are nothing.”
He raised his hand, beckoning to someone behind him in the hall. I hadn’t noticed her before—a woman wearing healer’s robes.
Oh no.
“I’ll make this easy for you,” Rafael said. “If you lie to me, I will break your fingers, one by one. After that, we’ll start cutting them off. If you tell the truth, you get to keep them. Do we have an understanding?”
What an enticing offer. I managed to shrug under the weight of the guards’ hands on my shoulders. “Seems like I don’t have much of a choice.”
The healer handed an open vial to the emperor, who passed it to the third guard. I smelled the metallic slick of Brika’s kiss, the truth serum used for interrogation back at the dragon fortress. My pulse quickened. I had practiced counteracting the serum, but that had been droplets in water, not an entire vial of it.
The guard pinched my nostrils shut with one gloved hand and pressed the vial against my lips with the other. I considered resisting, but to what end? They would break my fingers and drug me anyway. Resigned, I opened my mouth and drank. The viscous liquid slid slowly down my throat, and I shuddered as I swallowed, my vision starting to swim.
My head lolled back, and I sank to my knees. With my eyes closed, the world sounded like I was listening to it from underwater. The healer’s voice drifted by, out of focus.
Fingers snapped in front of my face. “Open your eyes.”
I slowly complied. The light was glaring at first, but it dimmed as I blinked. They were still here, around me. I could feel the guards’ hands holding me down. My fingers were tingling, my breath echoing in my head.
“Vesper. Who is the girl who traveled with you to Lumina?”
Maren. So easy to let the name slip, but something held me back—fear. Why did the emperor care more about Maren than about the Dragons? How much did he know? If he was asking her name, perhaps he wasn’t aware of the kit, or Maren’s abilities. I had to keep her safe.
“No one,” I said, the words muffled to my ears. “Picked her up on the road in Eronne.” I ground out the lie, every word so heavy, it required extraordinary effort to push past my lips.
The emperor snorted and looked to one of the guards. There was a snapping sound and my hand was on fire—I cried out, my vision blurring as I fell forward. The guards pulled me back upright.
I didn’t want to look but couldn’t stop my head from turning. My finger was still attached, but it was bent back at an unnatural angle. Tera’s bones, the guard had broken my finger. I swallowed hard, trying to focus. “Is that all?” I taunted, hoping to sound braver than I felt.
Rafael just laughed. “Don’t test me again, Vesper. Now tell me, what’s the girl’s name?”
I breathed out slowly, pretended to weigh the punishment in my head. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I opened my mouth, preparing to lie. “Senna,” I said, managing not to choke on the name.
“What do you know of her?”
Sweat was dripping into my eyes now, trickling down my chest, despite the damp, cold air of the cell. “Barely anything.” My heart was beating faster, faster, faster—how much longer could I withstand the serum?
“You’re lying,” he said. “You two were spotted together outside of Deletev. I know all about the girl Maren—how she arrived at the dragon fortress and how she left.”
No. The pain in my hand intensified, and my ears started ringing. If he knew that, he must know where she came from. Ilvera wasn’t safe—did Maren know?
I swallowed down the bile coming up in my throat. “I don’t understand. Why are you asking me questions to which you know the answers?”
Rafael brushed the question aside. “Was she working with you from the beginning?”
He knew I had lied already, so what answer would be safest?
“She was my partner.” The words flowed without hesitation—technically, it wasn’t a lie. We had indeed been partners… after escaping the dragon fortress. And if he thought that Maren had only been my accomplice, then perhaps he wouldn’t look further into what she had undertaken by herself.
Maren. Her hands on my skin. The fierceness of her expression as she faced down the Talons. The tenderness she had shown when she spoke about Kaia. The way she laughed when she gave herself permission to.
Rafael loomed over me. “Is she an Aurat?”
“No. I don’t think so,” I said.
“Then who told you about the dragon?”
My eyebrows furrowed in unfeigned confusion. “What dragon?”
He couldn’t be asking about the kit. The source of the dragon egg was obvious.
Another lance of fire—another broken finger. I shouted in pain. Rafael grabbed my face in one hand and forced my head up. “Look at me,” he snapped. “How did you know about the dragon?”
“I don’t know what dragon you’re talking about,” I said wearily.
It was the unvarnished truth, and the words came so easily that he must have believed me. He stepped back and nodded to the guards. They dropped me to the floor, and I hissed in pain as I fell forward onto my injured hand.
The emperor crouched before me and yanked me up by my shirt so that I could see nothing but his face, twisted with rage. “You are only as valuable to me as the information you provide. If you expect to stay alive, you’ll cooperate the next time we meet.”
Then he was gone. Two guards followed in his wake—the third remained standing above me. The healer knelt by my side. “This will hurt. Here—bite down.” She handed me a leather strap.
I wanted to joke but couldn’t catch my breath. Instead I put the strap between my teeth and bit as she took my injured hand and did something that sent white pain searing across my brain—
The healer was the only other person left in the cell when I came to my senses again. She had set my fingers and splinted them against the others while I was insensible. She must have done something else, too—given me medicine, or performed an incantation—because the pain had lessened somewhat, though I expected it would soon return in full force. Now she was occupied with packing away her supplies.
“What dragon is he talking about?” I asked, my voice sounding hoarse. I pushed myself into a seated position with some difficulty.
She barely looked at me. “Try to get some rest.”
“But—”
“Take care of those fingers,” she said firmly, cutting me off. “You’ll need your strength.”
How ridiculous, that she was advising me on best healing practices here, in the emperor’s dungeon. I laughed mirthlessly as she left the cell, then leaned back against the wall, reviewing the interrogation in my mind. Something had happened with a dragon, or to a dragon—that much was clear. And there had been a strange, desperate undertone to his questions. Fear, I realized. The Flame of the West was afraid.
I smiled. Perhaps there was something to hope for after all.