More messages. Was he even meant to know them? Or did not knowing them signal to her clues to the Vagrant’s identity and purpose? He was starting to think it was a criminal offense to state one’s actual opinion. Allies, he had said they needed allies, she implied Thanet’s allegiances had never been broken. Which meant what exactly?

That he’d never been part of that initial allegiance.

“I would give much to have fought in those first dark days,” Cyrus said truthfully. “I wasn’t ready, but I am now. Put the burdens of freedom on my shoulders. I am strong enough to carry them.”

“He’s shown himself capable,” Clarissa chipped in. “He’s killed paragons, and the Usurper King!”

“A king died, and another replaced him, one arguably worse,” Kaia said.

Damn it, now what did that mean? Was this what his parents had to do when they attended their dances and gatherings? Heavens help him, was this the future awaiting him should he retake his throne? Maybe it would be better to let it all burn, or declare someone else king and queen. If only he didn’t have to wear this mask. The alcohol Kaia drank was starting to look awfully appealing.

“Is that what you think I want?” he asked. “To become a king?”

“Do you not wear a crown?”

There was no right answer; he was learning that now. With every twist of the tongue, she forced him to either confess more and more truth, or flee the conversation completely.

“I struggle to understand this animosity,” he said, desperately hoping honesty might get him somewhere, anywhere, that his attempts at subtlety had failed.

“Because I struggle to understand you, Vagrant,” she said. “I would see my island regain its independence, but you? Something drives you. A want, a need of some sort, for only the sick and deranged kill for the pleasure of killing. What is it?”

He’d stumbled once; he couldn’t do so again. To admit what he wanted, to claim the throne, would either give away his identity or mark him as an opportunist seeking advantage over the chaos. What was left?

“I would ask for trust,” he said, echoing Thorda’s request in winning Kaia over. “Trust in my blades, and trust in my resolve. Give me that trust, and I will repay it a thousandfold.”

“Forgive me, Vagrant, but I have no patience for games of masks and mirrors. Trust, you ask of me. Trust, in a man whose name I do not know, and whose face I cannot see. My loyalty is to Thanet, and her people. It is not to a slippery name, and a mask brought here by boat.”