“I’m glad you stopped covering your scar,” he said.

I was so surprised I nearly choked myself. “Why?”

“Because it’s a part of you. The most important part, you might say. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”

He had seen my memory of that day, I remembered. It had certainly been a turning point in my life, as much as coming to Ilara had been. “I was never ashamed of it,” I said quietly. “I was raised to be ashamed of it because it meant I could never be chosen to marry you. But I always knew my mother was wrong.”

“Tell me,” he said, leaning forward on his elbows. “If your mother was so horrible to you, why did you sacrifice yourself for her freedom? I would think you’d be glad that all those people who treated you badly in Varenia were finally being punished. I know I would.”

“They weren’t being punished for being cruel to me.” My eyes found his. “Were they?”

He held my gaze for a moment. “Why do you love it so much?”

“What? Varenia?”

He nodded. “I’ve always wondered why Talia longed to return there.”

“I can’t speak for Talia. Perhaps she missed her family, or simply the familiarity of home. It couldn’t be more different from New Castle.”

Ceren seemed to genuinely consider this. “You went back, though.”

“For my family, not for me.”

“So you don’t feel any affinity for your home?”

“Of course I do,” I said, bristling. “It’s vibrant and lively and unlike anywhere else I’ve been. Our houses are painted in the brightest colors, and the water...” A wistful smile curled my lips simply from imagining it. “It’s so blue. I haven’t seen that color anywhere. Except...” I trailed off and stuffed a bite of food in my mouth. Ceren didn’t want to hear about his brother’s eyes.

“I have to admit, it was more beautiful than I expected,” he said. “I would like to see it again, under different circumstances.”

I glanced up from my plate. “Really? I would have thought you’d despise it. It’s small and simple, not to mention sunny and warm and in the middle of a massive expanse of water.”

He answered with a low chuckle. For a few minutes, we sat in silence, and then he abruptly pushed his chair back from the table. “Why don’t I take you to see your father?”

“Now? In the middle of dinner?”

He stepped behind my chair and lowered his face until it was next to mine. “Look around you, Nor.”

I turned to the nearest noble. He was staring into the air in front of him, his fork hovering midway to his mouth. I blinked and looked around. Everyone was frozen, as if time had stopped and Ceren and I were the only ones unaffected by it.

“What did you do to them?”

“Nothing. I’m just giving us a moment to make a graceful exit.”

“This isn’t right,” I said as he helped me up from my chair.

He linked his arm through mine. “Do they look upset to you? Think of them as taking a brief catnap.”

“It’s not a nap,” I hissed as we crossed the dining hall to the corridor. Just as we reached the door, the silent room erupted in chatter. I glanced behind me to see the royals resuming their meal as if nothing had happened.

As we made our way deeper into the mountain via the many twisting tunnels of New Castle, my fear began to build. I was going to see Father, I reminded myself. I needed to focus on how I could get him out, should the chance present itself.

“You’re shivering,” Ceren said as we entered the final tunnel. “I should have provided you with a wrap.”

“You did quite enough,” I said, referring to the gown. “Where did you get this, anyhow? There’s no way your mother wore a dress this color.”

“Of course not. I had it made before you left. I thought it would look nice with the coral crown.”

He had actually expected me to accept his proposal, I realized. How could he have possibly thought I’d say yes? I looked up and studied his profile. His nose was a little longer than Talin’s, his cheekbones slightly more pronounced, but if I dipped Ceren in bronze, it would be a very similar silhouette. “What happened to the crown?” I asked.

“Hmm? Oh, I’m afraid it sustained a bit of damage in our little skirmish.”

“What will your queen wear, when you choose one?”

His lip curled in a sneer. “I find myself put off by the idea of marriage of late.”

“If you win this war, you’ll have to start a family. The throne will need an heir.”

He stiffened, and I was glad to know I still had the ability to rile him. That meant he still cared what I thought, and I might be able to use that to my advantage at some point. “I’ll worry about that when the time comes. What is Talia’s plan, anyhow? A siege? She must know I have enough stores in this mountain to last for years.”

Talia had never said anything about a siege. I assumed she would attack the mountain, eliminating the troops at its base before beginning an ascent. “I don’t know her plan,” I admitted. “She wasn’t exactly forthcoming with me.”

“No, Talia has never been welcoming to anyone who wasn’t a blood relative.”

Talin had seen a side of Talia that I would never see, I knew. But the way she distanced herself from everyone but her children would make it much harder for people to respect her as a ruler, even as just a proxy ruler until Zoi came of age. “What is your plan? To stay in the mountain and rule from here? Continue to grow your army until you can defeat Talia’s?”

“That will depend on some things,” he said noncommittally.

We had reached the tunnel leading to the dungeons. Ceren gestured for me to proceed, as the tunnel was too narrow to walk side by side. Turning my back on Ceren felt like turning my back on a shark, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

“I’ll wait here for you,” Ceren said, stopping when we reached the first set of guards.

“Why?” I asked, surprised and not particularly thrilled at the idea of going into the dungeon alone.

“To give you privacy. But try to remember, your father spent all of his time either sleeping or diving. He doesn’t know anything that can help Talia or her cause. If I were you, I’d just enjoy the time together.”

I ignored him and hurried down the corridor lit with foxfire torches. They cast green light against the walls of the tunnel, and the shadows of the guards loomed like giants as I made my way past them. Finally, I reached the part of the dungeon where the prisoners were kept in small cells.