her wrist. “And is this the arm that killed your brother? Are you planning more mischief? Have you taken more smoke?”
“No. But this one,” Gaskett replied, nodding at Ambrose, “says she’s got some under her armor.”
Noyes smirked. “Indeed? Excuse me, Your Majesty.” He slipped his thin fingers beneath her breastplate and deftly slid out the small bottle of smoke. “You can release them now. She is a queen, after all.”
Gaskett did so. “He also said he worked for you.”
Noyes smiled again. “Yes, well, Sir Ambrose is a liar to his bones, as well as a traitor.”
Through all this, Aloysius had stood silent; his eyes, though, hadn’t left Catherine, and she knew that she had to address him directly. She stepped past Noyes. “King Aloysius, Father, I demand that you release me and Sir Ambrose. He is my subject and this is my land. Mine and my husband’s.”
Aloysius’s lip curled. “It may be your husband’s land now, but not for much longer. The tide of the battle is turning in our favor, and I’ve not yet unleashed my boys. But once I’ve finished with you, they’ll rip the blue-hairs apart. By this time tomorrow you won’t be my only prisoners. Tzsayn will be in chains too.”
“I had such fun with Tzsayn last time we met,” said Noyes slyly. “I can’t wait to see him again. Has he missed me?”
Catherine couldn’t stop herself from shouting, “You’re a fiend, Noyes. I don’t know how you’ve become so perverted to take pleasure in other people’s pain. But you will get your punishment one day.”
“No, it’s you who will be punished,” Aloysius boomed, “you treacherous whore.”
Catherine raised her chin. “Father, whatever you accuse me of, I am still your daughter. You sent me to this country as a decoy for your true purpose—to invade Pitoria and farm the demon smoke. I say ‘true purpose,’ but nothing about you is true. You were never a true father to me any more than you are a true king to your people. But I learned truth from good people around me—my mother, Sir Ambrose, Tzsayn, my maid Tanya, and my many good soldiers.
“I learned, too, that truth has no limits. You murdered Sir Tarquin Norwend and Lady Anne Norwend to conceal your own lies. The truth about you and your cruelty is known across the world, but the truth about their honor will ring even louder. Your actions have consequences, Father, and you will pay one day.”
Her father snorted. “A pretty speech from someone who killed her own brother.”
“As you have been trying—and failing—to do for the last ten years?”
Aloysius’s jaw tightened, and Ambrose cut in. “You’ve failed in that, and you’ll fail again in this war. The smoke is gone. It’s over. You’ve lost.”
Catherine stared at him. What did he mean?
“Have you heard from your forces in the demon world recently?” Ambrose continued. “Oh, wait, no—my men have killed them and taken the cavern. And the girl in there, what’s she called? Frost? The one helping you to farm the smoke? She sends her regards, Noyes. She’s off to live the good life in Illast.”
Noyes’s face fell for a moment.
“And she told me something else too—the smoke is changing.”
“Changing how?” Noyes sneered.
“I’ll show you,” Ambrose said, jumping forward and rip-ping the cork from the tiny bottle of smoke in Noyes’s hands.
But nothing happened. Not even a wisp of purple smoke appeared.
Noyes snorted. “The bottle’s empty.”
However, as he spoke, white smoke began to curl out of the bottle. This smoke was so thick it was almost like a liq-uid, and it coiled down like a snake round Noyes’s hand. He poked at it, but then shouted in pain and dropped the bottle, brushing desperately at his hand. “What is this? It’s burning!”
But his sleeve was already on fire, his arm in flames. Aloysius shouted, “Just put it out, Noyes!”
While all eyes were on Noyes, Catherine grabbed the bottle of smoke from Gaskett’s hip, clawed out the stopper, and threw the bottle at her father’s chest. It smashed against the dark breastplate, and white smoke curled and billowed round the king’s body. Aloysius stepped back, cursing. “Get it off me!”
But no one ran forward to help. Around Catherine, the boys were shouting, cursing, and running; all their bottles of smoke were heating up and bursting with loud cracks. Gaskett opened his mouth, but only flames and white smoke came out. Ambrose snatched the dagger from his waist and stabbed him, drawing his sword and moving to Noyes, who was