“You did not slip and hit your head on the marble, Ren. You have no bruising anywhere, no sore spots.” Ren should have known Mama’s head rub last night—“to help you sleep”—was a trick. “So either you fell asleep and nearly drowned through sheer ignorance, or there’s more to this story than you’re telling me.”

Sometimes Ren wished her mother wasn’t so perceptive.

She couldn’t tell her everything. Not about the Eastern rebels or the fact that she smuggled them information that led to Burnt Bay. The less Mama knew, the safer she was.

But she knew her mother wouldn’t let up without some kind of explanation. And much as Ren hated to frighten Mama, she couldn’t carry this burden alone anymore. Not all of it.

Zofi’s advice echoed in her mind. We don’t need to tell anyone why we need help, but we can ask them to watch our backs.

“I’m being threatened,” Ren murmured.

“By whom?” Mama surged from her chair. “Have you spoken to your father? You should have an extra guard—were you attacked in those baths?”

“It’s… complicated.”

Mama froze. “Have you told your father?” she repeated, slower now.

“I just said it’s complicated, Mama—”

“Florencia.” Uh-oh. Her full name never preceded anything good. “You are the daughter of a king. Your life is no longer yours entirely. You have a duty to protect yourself.”

“I’m using a shield tithe, Mama. Zofi taught us—”

“One tithe performed by a foreign girl we barely know is supposed to reassure me?”

“Don’t talk about her like that,” Ren snapped. “She’s my sister. So is Akeylah—I’d be dead right now if not for her. You need to stop talking about them like their only defining characteristics are their origins. They’re just like you and me, Mama. They’re family.”

“We are family, Ren.” Mama reached for her hand, but Ren drew back. Hurt flashed across her mother’s face. “You’ve only known these girls for less than a month. You don’t know their backgrounds or how they were raised. Those things are important. That’s what makes a person who they are. So if you’re being threatened, attacked, you need to rely on the family you know. The family you’ve had since the day you were born.”

Family. She recalled Danton’s warning about that. Family either strengthens or kills you, he used to quote at her. Nothing in between.

Danton might be the most poisonous viper Ren had ever encountered, but he wasn’t wrong. This true heir was a blood relative. Someone with connections, spies—someone well-placed enough to not only have learned about Ren’s treason, but also whatever crimes her sisters had committed far away from Kolonya City. The heir must have eyes and ears everywhere.