He could play the benevolent king when he needed to, like now, when he wanted to turn everyone against the Desert Boys. Because there was no way the Desert Boys had emptied that much of the well. I’d been there not days before. The water had been so high it hadn’t taken me long at all to climb out.

Even if Yeri had been at the well where I’d caused the riot, my actions could have lessened the supply, but they wouldn’t have depleted this well. Nothing would’ve. Not that fast. Not even the drought.

The one and only time the wells had gone dry was at the very start of the drought, before I was even born. But all the records said the water levels had decreased slowly, that there had been a noticeable decline over several weeks as the wells refilled less and less each night.

The only ways the wells would drop that drastically would be if the drought had reached a terrifying new level or if Cion was right about there being water controls.

My father didn’t look worried about there not being enough water. He wasn’t telling people to conserve and prepare in case the wells went dry. In fact, the more I thought about it, he was never worried about us having enough water in the palace.

No, he’d once again blamed the lack of water on the Desert Boys. Because he wanted the people to turn against them. But in order to do that, he needed to ensure the water levels would be low enough to be convincing—low enough to control these people.

Which meant Cion had to be right about the controls. About everything.

Rage blinded me as I started to elbow through the crowd. This was going to end here.

But I stopped when I heard my name.

“The Desert Boys haven’t just taken our water,” my father continued. “They’ve also taken Princess Kateri.”

A gasp went up from the crowd.

“If you see her, alert the guards immediately. And know this . . .” He paused and eyed the crowd.

I was far enough back it would be hard to see me. Still, I ducked my head when my father’s eyes passed over me—though I had nothing to worry about. His eyes held no recognition. I was one of them now, part of the masses, covered in dirt with lips chapped by thirst.

It was obvious now why he always insisted we wear white. He gleamed like a beacon atop the well amongst the seas of muted browns and tans around him.

Untouchable.

“If it’s discovered that any of you are concealing her or helping them,” he finally continued, “my captain of the guard will deal with you.”

He threw back his shoulders. “Rest assured my captain of the guard and his men are doing all they can to recover her. She will be found. And if you’re the one to find her and bring her to us, you will be rewarded.”