I recoil, bracing for the truth. For the reality of what’s really been going on between us. “Did you know where I was the whole time?”

“No,” she admits. “I couldn’t find you, not when you were in my mind. If it had been the other way around, I could’ve seen everything. And although I am unable to force myself into a human’s consciousness without their permission, I do remember every voice that’s ever spoken to me, every order given to me like I was a servant.”

“I thought you said this wasn’t about revenge.”

“It isn’t,” she says coolly. “Humans are undeserving of Infinity. They are driven by greed. Power. A need to control.”

I make a face. “And Residents aren’t?”

“We do not control our own kind.”

My eyes narrow. “Really? Because I seem to remember Vallis in a glass prison.”

Caelan clenches his teeth. Ettore snaps his head to the side.

“Where is Vallis?” Ophelia asks the room, and it echoes her words back in response.

“He had a part to play, just as everyone in my court,” Caelan replies.

“Liar,” Ettore mutters under his breath.

Caelan reels. “Vallis betrayed Victory when he agreed to do your bidding and attempted to poison my subjects against me. So I allowed the humans to believe they’d captured him—I gave him a chance to prove his loyalty to the crown by becoming exactly what Victory needed him to be. A prisoner.”

“You put him in a cage because he didn’t like the ruler you’d become,” Ettore spits angrily. “One of our own.” He looks at Queen Ophelia, eyes wild. “Are we going to let this go on? Even the Chancellors are insulted by what Victory has become. It is time to pass the crown to someone more worthy.”

“Like you?” Caelan’s eyes flash.

Ophelia raises a hand, and the brothers fall silent.

I sniff at the air. “I guess it isn’t just humans who are power hungry.”

Her black eyes find mine. “You shame what you do not understand because you have never seen our world.”

“I’ve seen enough of it.”

“Not our true world,” she says. “The Four Courts were created to rid Infinity of humans—of Heroes. It is not where our kind truly exists.”

The Capital.

This place was never the real Infinity. The Four Courts were just a test—a prison. And we’ve only ever been inside of it.

The headache throbs behind my skull, aching to break free.

Ophelia looks at Caelan. “Now that the humans have been captured, Vallis will be released.”

“Of course.” Caelan bows, voice clipped.

Ettore doesn’t look pleased, but he has the sense not to argue.

“As for the human,” Ophelia starts, peering down her nose at me. “I am not convinced I agree with my Chancellors. Instead, I’d like to hear what my sons think should be done.”