Ashared saw the change in her and hesitated, but it was too late. “I don’t think Amaruk will let you hurt Ashkii, but I’m sure he won’t have similar objections toward Sevii. At the time of the attack, she wasn’t a part of his pack. He has no obligations to her. He will hand her over to you to cool your anger.” He paused. “I would like to ask you to give Sevii a second chance.”
Lannahi stared at him, unsure if she hadn’t misheard. “You want me to forgive Sevii?” she asked incredulously. “If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have nearly drowned and frozen to death.”
Ashared tensed but said gently, “She’s a child, Lannahi. She was manipulated and taken advantage of. If it wasn’t for Ashkii, it wouldn’t have occurred to her to attack you.”
“This child knowingly and willfully decided to use her power against me—to try to kill me. Do you really think I will let this go?”
“No. Punish her. But don’t kill or banish her.”
Silence fell in the chamber, but in her mind, Lannahi heard the thundering crack of ice.
Abyss opening underfoot. Splash of water. Ice on her skin. Ice inside her lungs.
Lannahi tightened her fingers on the fabric of her dress. “I could have died,” she repeated, her tone angry.
Ashared’s gaze softened. “But you didn’t.”
Lannahi clenched her jaw. She hadn’t died because he had helped her.
She owed him her life. Did she really think paying off such a debt would be easy?
“Why are you interceding?” she asked, trying to compose herself.
“She’s a child,” Ashared repeated. “An orphan who wants to belong to a group and a mixed-blood who doesn’t belong anywhere. A bastard who in the eyes of the purebloods will always occupy the lowest place in the hierarchy.” Ashared gazed out the window. “This is how Sevii feels among the landshapers, and Ashkii played on her feelings like you play the harp. Sevii is just learning about her powers and instincts. The wolf in her wants to belong to a pack and the orphan is desperate enough to be tempted. She doesn’t know that life among wolves isn’t so different from life among landshapers.”
Ashared looked her in the eye. “Sevii listens to a child’s instinct, and it tells her to look for someone to follow. She didn’t have a father who would have told her that one day she would start her own pack, nor a mother who would have raised her to be a queen. She had no one to teach her the pride that would give her the strength to go her own way.”
Lannahi suddenly discovered that she struggled not to look away. “She made her choice. She gave up on her life in Goldfrost. Why should I let her return?”
“Sevii has been here for only a short time. Lizaar and Mahhir don’t force the mixed-blood to establish separate settlements. They let them live in the city, and Roshanak brought her here to show her that it’s possible to live differently. She hasn’t had time to get accustomed to her new life—”
“Because of me,” Lannahi finished.
“The last month hasn’t been the best time for a young girl to adapt,” the man admitted. “But I believe that when things calm down, Sevii could like it here.”
Lannahi felt a tightness in her chest. Ashared didn’t say it directly, but his words made it clear that he thought she made a decent queen.
“That still doesn’t explain whyyouwant to help her,” she remarked.
“Because I can’t stand watching.” Seeing her surprise, he smiled fleetingly. “Looking at puppies like her hurts me because I see myself in them. If my father had abandoned me like my mother did…”
The knot in her chest grew. “Who is your father?” she asked.
Ashared hesitated, sensing her tension, but answered, “It’s Nahid, brother of Lizaar’s father.”
Lannahi swallowed. “You said you grew up in the same village as Ledaii,” she said, trying to control the chaos inside her.
“I lived in the village. I saw my father several times a week. I moved to Winterfort only when I was eighteen.” He hesitated. “This isn’t common knowledge because his family doesn’t want to turn off conservative allies. Most fae think I’m just one of the orphans he let learn fencing at his school, and that’s how we behave in public.”
“Why did your father ask you to become the captain of the Palace Guard?”
He didn’t answer right away, and Lannahi realized that the debt of gratitude he’d mentioned when she’d first asked him the question was just a clever rhetorical figure that wasn’t a lie but also wasn’t the whole truth.
“It was my idea,” he began cautiously, apparently aware of the previous time he’d balanced on the verge of a lie. “When we first met, you didn’t seem power-hungry to me. I hoped that my first impression was correct… I hoped that we could come to an understanding.”
Ashared surveyed her face, but before he could read the truth from her soul, Lannahi leaped to her feet. “They are waiting for me in the throne room,” she informed him politely.
Ashared stood but didn’t seem convinced by her excuse. “Lannahi…”
