"Which son?" Isidor retorted.

Kain winced. The ever-present urge to remind Isidor that there was a time and a place for snark swept through him. This clearly wasn't it.

Much to his surprise, Kostantia's gaze shifted to the witch without insult or pain. If anything, her eyes reflected simple weariness. Silence took the hall as she studied him for a long moment, before releasing a soft breath that seemed knotted with unspoken emotion.

"Both."

"That's..." Kain began, before hesitation stole his thoughts.

What she wanted from them was obvious. It contained the missing pieces behind her "kind" actions since their arrival.

The queen mother hadn't pushed them into uncovering royal secrets for their benefit. She had no reason to be invested in their lives.

No, it had been for her own peace of mind. Which meant she would want the full story--something they didn't have time to share. She was alone, however. What rule--beyond returning a favor in kind--said they had to answer?

As if reading his slowly building plan, Kostantia's attention shifted to Kain.

"I will not require you to stay and share the details with me," she informed them. Her voice was soft, lacking any inflection that might have helped him detangle her hidden thoughts. "However, I promise you will not like the results if you do. I can shout quite loudly--and killing me before I can call...well, the people have always liked me more than Alekos. But, chance their wrath if you must."

Tension gripped his shoulders. The warning anchored his gut with complicated weights. Her meaning was clear.

Until that moment, Kostantia had been spoken quietly despite the lack of other life within the annex. But who was to say that what they saw was truly the case? Would someone of her status wander so far from the main building without a guard? There was every chance that if she screamed, they would discover where all the missing knights had disappeared to. And, if they silenced her before it could happen...

It would be worse than if they'd killed the guard.

"You're threatening us?" Rhode asked.

The sound of Rhode's bell-like voice seemed to immediately soften the queen mother's countenance. Recognition, amongst other emotions, flooded her face.

"Only if necessary," she replied, then paused. "I have no desire to harm you, Asha, but I will if I must. As is the duty of a queen."

Rhode flinched. "I don't go by that."

"...forgive me, I had forgotten what was said before. The shock of seeing you, like this, sent me back in time."

When Rhode didn't respond, instead letting her expression fall blank, Kain cleared his throat.

"She didn't kill Akaikos."

A chill settled over the hall like a blanket as the queen mother studied Kain--as if searching for a lie in his words--before releasing a soft sigh. Her eyes closed. One of her hands twisted into the skirt of her intricate gown as the other lifted a fan, spreading it over her pursed lips.

"And I assume you have a different accusation if you speak so confidently," she paused, but not long enough for Kain to respond before pushing forward. "What did you find in the archive, Kain Okeanos? No--Kain Noumae."

He almost flinched at the sound of that name on her lips.

It was odd--he'd spent most of his life as Kain Noumae. Okeanos had been a title he didn't dare touch, not while exiled to the sea. But, never had he felt the weight of it until that moment.

"And swear on that name you speak nothing but truths."

Kain of Umae. Kostantia wanted him to swear on a god--using the surname of his mother. It was a title of sorts--given only to orphans who had been abandoned on the temple's doorstep, or priests that had given their lives to the god. It was a vow only the truly foolish would break, less they be cursed. He clenched his fists.

"I am not sure what evidence you thought we would find, but--"

"The vow, prince."

"...I swear on my name that all the information I share on this matter is the truth."

Kostantia's brow raised--at his wording, perhaps--but she didn't protest again. Her fan tipped in an obvious sign for Kain to continue. He drew in a breath.

"As I was saying, I am not sure what you thought we would discover, but what we did find was clear. Alekos met with assassins shortly before Akaikos' death."

Mara drew in a sharp breath, telling Kain it was a detail she hadn't known. Kostantia, however, didn't react beyond the subtle whitening of her curled knuckles.

"And is that why his body was found tonight?" she questioned.

Her attention shifted to Rhode. Kain grimaced. He hadn't considered that aspect of this disaster. If Rhode's identity came out under these circumstances, no amount of argument would be able to shake her free of suspicion that she was involved. Alekos had cost her everything, after all.

"No," Mara interjected. Her voice shook, but she didn't seem to hesitate as she stepped forward. "That--It wasn't Kain. Or--" her eyes cut to Rhode, revealing that the secrets buried in their conversations hadn't escaped the duchess' notice. "--anyone else in his party. That was me."

Kostantia's gaze sharpened. "I could execute you without trouble, Duchess Mara. You do not come with the weight of a kingdom behind you, not when your husband's body lays next to my son. So, think carefully. Is this the story you want to tell? Is it the truth, or--"

"He sold Eol to Zuher," Mara interrupted.

For a moment, no one breathed as her blunt truth shattered the earth beneath their feet. Alekos had placed Eol in the hands of Zuher?

For what reason? Greed? Pride?

"We traveled here not because of the expiring treaty, but so he could help Kyril condemn Aeolis to the same fate. If allowed to continue as they were, the largest countries left free of the empire would have numbered one by the end of the year."

Her words burrowed into Kain's chest like thorns as silence stole the hall. The worst detail--the one seizing his mind in a stranglehold--was that he didn't doubt her. Not even for a second.

It explained too much for it to be a lie.

The flair of the banquet. His stubbornness over the matter regarding their party. Why he had held them there instead of dismissing the duke's words. Even the nationality of the assassins that had killed Akaikos and framed Asha.

Gods, Rhode. Kain's eyes settled on her, taking in how, in that second, her expression betrayed nothing. No shock. No betrayal.

Just...nothing.

If Mara was right--if the information they had uncovered was true--that would mean that the reason imperial assassins were used to eliminate the former king, dethrone Asha, and deal with their newborn, could all be contributed to the whims of one man.

The Reotakian emperor, Zuher--Asha's father.

Worst, history said Zuher was the one to send Asha to Eol in the first place as an offer of peace. That meant, from the very beginning, or perhaps somewhere along the way, he had likely intended to sacrifice his daughter in order to silently take a country.

"I assume you have evidence to set behind such bold speculation," Kostantia stated.

Kain half expected Mara to wilt beneath the weight of all the eyes settled on her in that moment. But, instead, she pushed her shoulders back and clasped her hands before her stomach. The faux confidence that fed her posture brought a sense of familiarity to her features. In that single second, she resembled Iliana.

"I would not have done what I did without safeguards," Mara said. "I...may have underestimated my body's function and the impact it might have on my mind, but I did not step into this city without proper preparation for everything to come."

"Where is it, then?"

Mara hesitated, before pursing her lips. "I can have it sent to you after we leave."

Kostantia narrowed her eyes. Her fan snapped shut, revealing her thin lips. The tip of it settled against her chin, as if betraying the careful consideration laying behind her insulted posture.

"You had an accomplice."

An accomplice?

Melitta's words from before flooded Kain's mind. Mara wasn't stupid. She would have thought of a way out of this all.

"I-I did. The evidence was both their payment and my security. So, it is not in my possession at the moment."

If Mara wasn't alone, if there were others at her side, why had she come to them? Irritation scalded Kain's veins, almost surprising him with the sudden heat of it all.

Had it been panic? Shock?

What had driven her to drag them into this mess, condemning them as king-killers before an entire nation?

Kostantia's gaze seemed to shift over them all, weighing each of their faces. Her fan flicked open once again, hiding her expression as her pale finger tapped the outer fabric. Kain's heart twisted into complex knots, each more emotionally frustrating than the next.

He wanted to get them out of there.

He wanted to demand answers.

He wanted to shout for Kostantia to make a decision.

But, he didn't. Logic strangled the unfamiliar anger tensing his frame. If he listened to anxiety and frustration, it would only alienate the hurting queen. As it was, as he seconds ticked by, her expression slowly fell into something unreadable, yet tired.

"Then, send it to me," she said. Her back turned to them, head tilting towards the towering portrait she'd been studying upon their arrival. "I...would like an end to all of this."

"I will."

"...you will find an exit if you go left, and cut through the tea room, into the back gardens," the queen mother continued after a moment. Her voice fell to a soft, almost whispering tone. "If you came this way, I assume Ash--Rhode must have told you of the back passage. It is your best bet to go unnoticed. Only children of the sun are able to open the bloodstone."

She was letting them go? Just like that?

Kain hesitated. Melitta grabbed his sleeve, startling him. His attention had been so monopolized by the complicated mess playing out before him, he hadn't noticed her and Callias stepping up next to him. Her expression, like the others, was complicated, whereas Callias had taken to rubbing his pale forehead. Was the song still affecting him?

"We should go," Melitta murmured. "She may change her mind. And we've no idea how much information Alekos has shared amongst the few he trusts. Just because it is a royal secret doesn't mean a blood traitor would see it the same."

She was right.

"Thank you," he told Kostantia. "And...I'm sorry it ended this way. I hope you find the answers you're looking for in what she sends."

The queen mother didn't reply beyond the faintest fall of her shoulders. Kain forced himself to step towards the door she'd pointed them towards. Just as his hand fell on the handle, however, Kostantia's voice rang out one more time.

"Asha."

He looked back and realized Rhode hadn't budged from her previous spot. Her eyes were settled on Kostantia, who had half-turned to face her in turn.

"I'm no--" Rhode began, then bit her lip. "Why is all of this here? You may know now that what happened wasn't me. But, you couldn't have known then. Not when everyone else believed the story, when the evidence pointed to Alekos' truth. You are the one who put it here, aren't you?"

Kostantia studied her silently, before a sad, almost affectionate smile graced her weary face.

"Because, you were my family.

"I left Nubella for a political marriage at my father's behest. My husband didn't love me, but I did what I was supposed to and bore him sons. I found solace there, in the small family we became. And then you joined us--becoming the daughter I never had and treating me as the mother you'd never known.

"When they called me to view his body before it was to be burned, when they told me that you had killed my son and grandson, all I could see were the tears of joy you'd shed upon revealing to me about your suspected pregnancy.

"Do you remember, Asha, how you told me before Akai? How I held your hand as a witch was called?" Kostantia's voice broke and her eyes quickly turned back to the portrait. Her hand rose to touch Akaikos' boots.

"The girl I raised from sixteen years of age wouldn't have killed her child. The reason I kept your pictures and refused to let them burn your things...was because I never doubted you."

Something shattered in Rhode's face. Her hands curled into tight fists at her side, tears pooling in her forested eyes.

"That's--"

"So, you should go," Kostantia interrupted, dropping her hand. "Before I have to stand before the public for a second time and attempt to convince them not to kill you. For I am not confident they would listen. And I do not think I could live through another death.

"Run, Rhode."

As Rhode tore herself away, allowing their group to flee into the hall and beyond, a realization settled heavily into Kain's bones.

Melitta was right.

When all of this was over--Mara would have to give them answers. And no matter what those answers were...

It wouldn't match the price they'd paid to help her run. 

A/N: I hope you guys are ready for next week. I'm so excited.