“Your sisters are proving bigger liabilities by the day. What if Ren is guilty, just like Zofi may be? Think about all the soldiers who died in Burnt Bay. And think about Kolonya—without Zofi or Florencia as options, you’re the only heir. The only leader left. You can’t make yourself into a criminal just like your siblings.”

I already am. Akeylah bit back the retort. She understood where Rozalind was coming from. First Zofi was accused of murder, now this?

Growing up on the shore, Akeylah had seen ships sink. She could imagine what Burnt Bay must have looked like after that attack. If Ren really did supply the rebellion with battle plans, then her sister had blood on her hands. A lot of it. But Akeylah understood how that felt. No executioner’s noose could strangle you tighter than guilt.

No hangman could bring those soldiers back from their graves either.

“We’ve all done things we regret,” Akeylah whispered. “Me more than anyone.”

“I cannot believe that.” Rozalind dropped Akeylah’s hands to cross her arms instead.

Akeylah hesitated. Studied the queen’s expression. She might lose Rozalind once and for all if she told her this. Rozalind may hate her, may never look at her the same way again. But Rozalind believed Akeylah was innocent. That wasn’t true.

Akeylah couldn’t let her sisters take this fall. If Ren went down for her crimes, Akeylah would be next.

“I’m the reason my father is dying, Rozalind.” She said it louder than she meant—too loud. She checked over her shoulder, but the doors were still shut, no sounds of life beyond.

The queen shook her head. “You mustn’t blame yourself, Akeylah. Your father is ill—”

“No, he isn’t. He’s cursed. I cursed him.” It was easier to say this time. Ever since telling her sisters the truth. “Look.” She yanked on the trousers she’d donned. Drew them down far enough to reveal the bright, damning blue scar on her thigh.

The reason she’d never gone further than kisses with Rozalind. The reason she’d hidden from the maids ever since she arrived in the Keep. The reason she couldn’t let Ren swing for her crime. Not when Akeylah had done something just as terrible, perhaps more so.

The queen’s lips parted. She stared at the scar. Took a step backward.

Akeylah’s heart wrenched. Now I lose her, too.

“Why?” Rozalind finally managed, the word barely a breath.

“I didn’t know who I was.” Akeylah retied the trousers around her waist. “My stepfather beat me, almost killed me more than once. I thought it was him I was cursing.”

For a moment, Rozalind shut her eyes and inhaled sharply. When she opened them again, her expression seemed carefully controlled, almost blank. “So it was… an accident.”