“The entrance to the cave that houses the river has been buried over the years by the blowing sands,” he continued. “The one time I set out to find it, I nearly died on the three-day journey, but when I dug down into the cave, you know what I saw? More water than I could imagine. That river isn’t dry anymore. It’s flowing with as much force as a sandstorm.”

“If you know there’s a river,” I said, “why not just bypass the wells and take water from it?” It would be the simpler solution.

“Even if you had enough water for the trip and to sustain you while you dig, the hole fills in every time the wind blows. We’re afraid if we dig the wrong way, the channel will cave in and cut off the water.” He sounded so sure of himself, like he’d gone over it again and again in his mind. And maybe he had, but that still didn’t mean he was right about everything.

“Just because you’ve seen this river doesn’t mean my father controls it.”

“We have sources throughout Achra,” he said. “They’ve heard your father and Rodric whispering, wondering how little water the people could survive on, how long until they revealed our location.”

“Of course my father and Rodric wonder about those things. That doesn’t prove they control anything.” My father and I always used to talk about our people, the water levels, the caravans—everything I needed to know to be queen. But that was before Rodric showed up.

“My source told me they’d overheard Rodric say he was going to drop the water levels after one of our raids. We know those controls exist.”

I scoffed. If I didn’t know about these supposed water controls, I didn’t see why Rodric would.

Except that he and my father were as thick as thieves.

I shook the thought away. It still didn’t make sense. The lagoon didn’t have any water controls, and I couldn’t think of anywhere else in the palace that would either.

I gave Cion credit for wanting to help the people, but more than likely, this water control idea was something dreamed up by Rodric as a way to tempt the Desert Boys to try another attack on the palace—and this source was probably in on it too.

“Who told you these things?” I questioned.

“Not even Rodric could torture that out of me.”

I rolled my eyes. He was impossible to get information from. Could it be one of the guards? A cook? There were hundreds of possibilities.

“My friend will find where your father controls the wells. Then we’ll go in and change the levels in our favor.”

I sighed. I still didn’t believe those controls existed. This was Cion, the snake of the desert. He’d say—and apparently believe—anything to get more water. And there was clearly nothing I could do to convince him those controls didn’t exist. But as long as he believed in the water system, I had an advantage.