Above, the sun dipped beneath the palace roofs, the jaw-shaped finials casting long shadows across the tiles. Dusk crept in over the horizon. They needed to depart for the Black Salt Cliffs soon. With little time before the ceremony, Imeria didn’t visit Luntok’s chambers. Nor did she go upstairs to dress. Instead, she headed for the winding staircase that led down to the prison hold.

The staircase emptied onto a long, narrow corridor lined with cells, each of them filled with the Gatdulas’ closest allies. Duja was being kept in the largest cell all the way at the end. Cool sweat dripped down Imeria’s spine as she swept through the corridor. She stopped at Duja’s door. Imeria kept the key to the queen’s cell in her pocket because she didn’t trust any of the guards with it. Through the barred window, Imeria spied the outline of Duja’s sleeping body on the cot at the back of the cell. It was the first time Imeria laid eyes on her since the coup.

Her hand hovered over the doorknob. She couldn’t bring herself to open it.

“Imeria Kulaw,” a familiar voice rang out. “Have you come to flaunt your victory?”

Imeria whipped around. The king was being held in the cell diagonally across from Duja’s. His face peered out from between the thick metal bars. His tone had been jovial, but his gaze was hard.

“Hari Aki,” she said, raising her chin. “How do you find your new accommodations?”

“I must say, I prefer my old chambers.” The king held her gaze, his fingers curling around the bars. “But I’m pleased to see you, Imeria. I was wondering when you would grace us with your presence.”

Imeria didn’t like the knowing way he was looking at her. “I couldn’t deny my old friends a visit,” she said curtly, turning to leave.

“She loved you too, you know,” Hari Aki said.

Imeria froze. She let out a shallow breath. “What did you just say?”

“Duja,” he whispered. “You know it’s true.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “It was never love,” she spat. “If she loved me, she never would have⁠—”

“A mistake,” he said. “It was all a terrible mistake. You must forgive her, Imeria. Please. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Imeria shook her head furiously. “You don’t know of what you speak.”

“But I do,” Aki protested. “I was the one who stood by Duja’s side all these years. I saw how she wept after she banished you from the palace. The decision to push you into another man’s arms destroyed her. She regretted it every day.”

“No,” Imeria spat. “Duja never⁠—”

“Duja never told me how she truly felt for you,” he said, his mouth twisting into a bitter frown. “Because that feeling never went away.”