Page 177 of Fearless

Kai’s expression grows worried. “And how will you do that?”

Kitt rounds the desk slowly. His features morph into something so terrifyingly calm, I nearly flinch. “We have already begun, Brother.”

The look in his eyes worries me more than his words. I swallow thickly. My voice is quiet. “What did you do, Kitt?”

“No.” He clicks his tongue. “What didyoudo, Paedyn? You became queen and made the surrounding kingdoms open their borders to us.You, a relatable Ordinary, had them lowering their guards against us.”

“And why,” Kai breathes, “would that be a problem,Brother?”

“You know, I’m used to being overlooked.” The king mutters distantly before beginning to pace. “Kind, caring Kitt, after all. But I really thought that you”—his piercing gaze cuts through me—“would suspect more from me. You thoughtsavingIlya was the best I could do?” He grins sharply. “No, I’m liberating every kingdom.”

“Kitt…,” I begin slowly.

“See, I don’t care whether the Ordinaries live or die—obsessing over their existence is what ruined Father,” Kitt explains eagerly. And for the first time, I see a trail of dark veins creeping from his hairline. “But Elites should not be confined to this city; they should populate every kingdom. And when I rule over every realm on our maps”—Kitt smiles, and it is chilling—“I’ll have earned Father’s favor.”

Kai steps hesitantly toward his brother. “What are you saying, Kitt? Was uniting Ilya just some… ploy?”

“Not at all,” Kitt says, sounding almost offended. He coughs into that handkerchief again, splattering it with something ominously dark. “It was needed for the kingdoms to open their borders and begin trade with us.”

My heart pounds. Each rapid beat of it brings me closer to discovering yet another truth to tear at the fraying seams of my life. “You’re not opening trade to exchange resources, are you?”

The question is hushed, and I fear the answer.

“Of course I am.” Kitt’s voice is even. “So I can exchange resources laced with the Plague.”

Air flees my lungs.

I’m still struggling to breathe when Kai shakes his head. “You’re not thinking straight, Kitt. What are you—?”

“I was waiting to tell you, Brother,” the king admits. “I wanted all thedistractionsout of the way, but now will have to do. Ilya needs food and land, yes, but that is not what is important here.” He hurries on before Kai can object. “What I found in Father’s letter was so much more than his pathetic plan for an Elite kingdom. I found the truth.”

I stand there, paralyzed by his words.

“The Plague didn’t just happen to Ilya.” Kitt grins. “It was madeforIlya.”

The sudden ringing in my ears nearly blots out the king’s hurried explanation. “A century ago, when Ilya was weak and on the verge of being conquered, Scholars thought they concocted a substance meant to strengthen our troops against attack. Favian Azer—funny how I could never remember his name during my tutoring—was at the end of his rule when the Plague began. Perhaps the spread of this virus was accidental, or more likely, Favian unleashed it on the kingdom.” Kitt rasps out another cough. “You know us Azers and our hunger for power. Either way, what started as something meant to offer our armies a defense turned into a kingdom-wide Plague.” The king’s gaze sweeps to mine. “But it failed to strengthen us all.”

“That can’t be right,” I sputter, skin prickling beneath his stare. “How could we not know the Plague was man-made?”

“You’re the Psychic, Paedyn,” Kitt muses. “Take a look around and observe. Why do you think we even have a fever season? Why Elites, the strongest among us, exhaust ourselves when using too much power? Whythere is a dying queen in the west tower, unable to be saved from the grief slowly stealing away her life? Why the Healers couldn’t prevent my mother from dying because ofyourbirth.” His words sting, but he doesn’t stop. “The signs were always right in front of us. Because the Plague wasn’t right. Wasn’t ready. There were never meant to be Ordinaries left on the other side of it. And my father spent his life trying to right that wrong.”

“They should have died with the Plague but instead they plague us. I’ve planned for this day a long time, waiting until I could rid myself of this Resistance.”

My head spins as Edric Azer’s voice rings through it. His spewed admissions beside the Bowl come flooding back, now suddenly clear.

“Don’t worry, Paedyn, I didn’t just kill your father simply due to some gossip…”

I’m panting beneath the crushing weight of realization.

“I killed him to ensure my Elite society remained.”

This was my father’s doom—the truth of our Plague.

Calum was right. It wasn’t Adam Gray’s involvement with the Resistance that cost him his life. It was the secret he was smart enough to figure out.

Images flash before my mind; evidence in plain sight. My father frustrated with his own power and its inability to save a sick child. Scribbled notes in his journal documenting a fever patient he couldn’t cure. Elites slowly weakening over time. The death he could not spare Alice from.

“I’m a damn Healer and I couldn’t even save her….”

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