Page 136 of The Gilded Cage

With his hands still tied behind his back, Tipp rose on wobbly legs, his lips trembling as the betrayal hit him.

“Tipp,” Kiva whispered.

“You’re aC-Corentine?” he rasped. “As in T-Torvin Corentine? And — AndT-TildaCorentine?”

Still whispering, Kiva said, “Tilda was my mother.”

Tipp gaped. “The Rebel Queen w-was yourmother?But — what d-does thatm-mean?”

“It means the whole time you thought she was cozying up to your friends at the palace, she was actually plotting their ruin.”

“Zuleeka,”Kiva snapped.“Shut up!”She then hurried to tell Tipp, “It’s not like that. That’s not the whole story.”

But the damage was done. There was no taking back what Tipp had seen, what Zuleeka had said, and Kiva didn’t have the first clue how to prove she wasn’t the villain.

Because that was certainly how Tipp was looking at her, his eyes filling with tears.

“I can explain,” Kiva said, her voice — and her heart — breaking at the look on his face.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time for that right now,” Zuleeka said. And in one quick move, she lunged forward and slammed the hilt of her sword against the back of Tipp’s head.

Kiva caught him before he could crumple to the ground, her gaze furious as she looked at her sister and shrieked,“What the hell?”

“He’s a liability,” Zuleeka said unapologetically.

“He’s an eleven-year-old boy!”

“Exactly,” Zuleeka said. “Until we figure out what to do with him, he’ll need to stay with us. With the rebels. We can’t have him telling your royal friends about you, can we?”

Kiva was so enraged that she couldn’t form words, and instead she reached for her magic again, wanting to heal Tipp’s concussion — hissecondconcussion — but Zuleeka touched her arm, breaking her focus.

“Don’t,” she said. “It’ll be easier to move him like this.”

“He’s not going anywhere with you,” Kiva spat.

“Think,Kiva,” Zuleeka said, losing patience. “If he goes back to the palace, do you really believe he’ll keep his mouth shut? You trust him that much?”

“Yes,”Kiva said without hesitating.

But then she recalled the way he’d looked at her, and the doubts began to creep in.

Caldon had discovered her identity before he’d ever really known her, so he’d never felt betrayed, since he’d been aware all along. Tipp, however ... Kiva had kept her secret from him for three years. And worse, he now knew she’d been planning to hurt the Vallentis family — people he loved enough to paint them into his family portrait. If made to choose, Kiva wasn’t sure what Tipp would do, not while he was so upset.

“I can see you’re working this out, sister,” Zuleeka said, her voice gentling. “Don’t worry, he’ll be safe. And tomorrow you can explain everything and see where his loyalties lie.”

“Tomorrow?” Kiva croaked.

“The masquerade starts in less than an hour. We intercepted the Mirravens’ messages, so no one at the palace knows what happened today, but if you don’t want your prince to start wondering where you are, you need to get back to the palace.”

“I’m not going to a stupid party while Tipp —”

“I suggest you avoid mentioning any of this to Jaren,” Zuleeka spoke over Kiva. “I imagine you’d have a hard time explaining how you escaped. And it’s best if he doesn’t know our northern friends are in town.Werein town,” she corrected, looking at the bodies lying around them. “They’ve been dealt with, so any immediate threat to him has passed.”

Her words caught Kiva’s attention enough that she stopped arguing and demanded, “What did Mother promise King Navok? The men who abducted us said you have to pay her debt — that it’s overdue.”

Zuleeka looked to where Rhess remained crouched over the still-masked Torell, heedless of the bloody carnage surrounding them. “It’s none of your concern.”

“It damn well is,” Kiva ground out.

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