Two men rounded the corner, throwing bright torchlight into her cell. For a moment, Ana could only stare at them.
Lieutenant Henryk saluted. Shame heated his cheeks—their thoughts both inevitably turned to when he had tried to arrest her earlier in the evening—but he kept his gaze firmly on hers.
And next to him…next to him was—
“Hello, Witch,” Ramson said softly. His face was bruising in various places, and his shirt was torn open at the collar. Someone had hastily bandaged his chest, but blood was already soaking through the gauze.
She remembered the Throneroom, the way he had burst in, the devastation on his face. The shadow of that grief still clouded his eyes. He looked so fragile.
Ana’s throat ached, but she forced herself to stay where she was. “Hello, con man,” she whispered.
Ramson looked as though he were about to say something else, but Kapitan Markov cut across him. “You’ll address her as Empress,” the old guard said sternly.
Ana noticed that Ramson stood a bit straighter. “Yes, sir.”
Among them, there was one person still missing. “Linn,” Ana said, looking at Ramson. “Where is she?”
“She was fighting the Whitecloaks when I left her,” Ramson said. “She gave me a pouch and told me to hand it to you—said it was evidence. Kapitan, did you happen to take any prisoners from last night?”
Desperation twined around Ana when the kapitan slowly shook his head. “Please, Kapitan,” Ana whispered. “She’s my friend. Will you ask your guards to search for a Kemeiran girl?”
“I will, Kolst Imperatorya,” Markov said gravely, “but I do not think you can stay here for the results of my search.”
The implication of his words left her breathless with dread. “Morganya,” Ana said quietly. “What happened? What has the Imperial Council decided?”
Markov hesitated. “There is no…Imperial Council anymore,” he said at last. “Morganya has seized complete control of the Court and dismissed the Council. The remaining Councilmembers have pledged their loyalties to her.”
The inevitable truth loomed like a shadow. Ana was back where she had started, with no army, no power, and no title. “I’ve lost.” The words numbed her lips.
“No, Kolst Imperatorya!” Henryk’s fists were clenched. “A few of the Councilmembers believe Morganya committed treason and usurped the throne. You need to go back. Announce that you are alive, sentence Morganya, and take back the Court.”
“Do you really think that matters?” Ramson spoke suddenly, his anger a quiet undercurrent. “If Ana goes back now, she’ll be killed. Pardon me,” he added. “The Princess. The Heir. The Empress. Whatever you want to call her—it doesn’t matter. This is a coup, and Morganya has solidified her power already; the majority of the Cyrilian Court sides with her. We’ve been outmaneuvered. But there is one advantage we hold over her— everyone believes Ana is dead.”
He was right, Ana realized. This was a war that Ana could not win with brazenness and the strength of her Affinity. This was a long game, and Ana needed to outscheme, outwit, and outmaneuver Morganya.
Ana held a hand up, and the three men fell silent, their attention on her. “I must leave,” Ana said. “But I will not disappear. Morganya plans mass murder and a reign of terror. She must be stopped.” Yuri’s defiant face appeared in her mind’s eye, his hair as bright as fire. “I have a small group of allies in the south of the Empire. I will travel there and begin my campaign. I will gather support; I will gather an army. And once I am ready to prove to this empire—to this world—that I am worthy of being heir…I will return.”
Markov gave a slow nod. “How you have grown, Little Tigress,” he murmured.
“Kapitan, Lieutenant,” Ana continued. “If you support me, then I need you to stay here. If I am to win, and if I am to return, then I need allies close to my enemy. I need you to be my eyes and ears within the Palace, within the Imperial Court. Can you do that?”
Henryk gave her a sharp salute. There were tears in his eyes. “We will not fail you, Kolst Imperatorya.”
“You must go,” Markov said, and Ana could tell how much of an effort it took for him to say those words to her.
Ana met his eyes. “I will return, Kapitan,” she whispered. “And I will see you again.”
Guided by Henryk’s torchlight, they made their way to the secret passageway in the back of the dungeons. The narrow cell door stood ajar from their earlier entry.