She has nothing.
“She is a member of the Enduar Court,” I finally say.
Castien frowns. Thorne shifts uncomfortably against the wall.
“Were you working with Mrath?” Thorne presses, despite the annoyed look from his companion. “Or were you a lone wolf throwing itself at the gate? Which faction held your leash?”
“I answer for myself,” I growl. “No leash but my own. Unlike you, Thorne. You go from being one sibling’s pet to another.”
Something hard crashes into the side of my head—so sudden and sharp that the world whites out. Pain detonates behind my eyes, exploding like firebursts inside my skull. I taste metal, hot and wet, and realize I’ve bitten a chunk clean out of the inside of my cheek. My vision doubles, the walls bend.
The next blow follows before I can breathe. Thorne’s gauntleted hand fuses with the sound of my skull striking stone. Stars bloom—cold, violent stars that swim through my sight. My ears ring with the high, hissing tone of steel on bone.
When I come back to the world, I’m half slumped forward, blood dripping down my temple and into my mouth. Castien has straightened, and now he watches me with a long, slow attentiveness.
“How long were you spying on the consort?” he asks.
“I didn’t spy,” I grit out.
“Another lie,” Thorne quips. “Then how did you know when to find her? Was she meeting with you secretly at night?”
A cold, involuntary laugh escapes my throat. Thorne was the one who told me exactly where her rooms are. What game is he playing? Should I reveal that truth in front of the Living Shadow? Would that get Thorne killed?
I decide he might have something left to offer, so I only say, “I tortured a guard until he told me, then killed him.”
Thorne’s smile is cruel and thin. The back of his hand cracksacross my face. I don’t fall, but my head whips sideways, blood spraying across the floor.
“Brute,” he says quietly. “Again, we ask you, Enduar. To whom do you answer? Was this the work of your king? Of Mrath?”
I look up at him through the blur of red dripping into my eye. “You do not know?”
Thorne’s jaw ticks. He picks up the sword again, then stops when Castien lifts a hand.
“Enough,” the Living Shadow says softly. His voice slides through the room like smoke. “The king called upon me to ask the questions.”
Thorne glares, but lowers the blade slightly. Castien’s eyes are black and bottomless.
“You came for her,” he says. “Did she call for you?”
I shake my head, trying to keep my breathing steady. “No,” I say.
“I don’t believe you,” Castien says, almost amused. “You drew your blade in the middle of a sacred rite. You would have killed our sovereign for a woman who isn’t even one of your own kind.”
I bare my teeth, a low sound in my throat. “She had nothing to do with this.”
Thorne takes a slow step forward. “She lived in your court, and you are in love with her. You are saying she has no loyalty to you?”
I think of the night she left on Thorne’s boat. I think of how much I hated that she felt it was her job to fix the mistakes made so that Enduvida could be safe. I hated that I lied to her.
“No.”
“Was she speaking to you through some magical bond?”
“No.”
“Was she feeding you information about the Dominion?”
“No!”