“I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness but?—”
Kestrel cut him off. “Maybe you can earn it.”
His expression slackened, eyes widening with shock and then eagerness. “Earn it how?”
Kestrel bit her lip. She couldn’t remember a time she had been so bold to demand something from someone. But she was desperate. And so was he.
“My father. Thom—or Darius, as you call him. I want to speak to him.”
Leighton exhaled deeply, dragging a hand through his flaxen locks. “I don’t know if you can. We keep the dungeons locked tight for a reason. We can’t just have anyone coming in and out.”
“Then I want to know what’s going on with him. When his trial is. What his sentence will be.” Before he could deny her, she added, “Leighton, please. He is the only family I’ve ever known. I have to help him, and I know you understand what it’s like to want to help your family.”
If a protest had been readied in his throat, that more than anything else was what made him swallow it.
“I understand completely.” Leighton gave a nervous glance down either side of the hallway before leaning closer, his voice a quiet whisper. “I will see what I can learn from the queen later, and let you know tomorrow after your studies. That is, if you’re alright with us meeting like this again?”
Her immediate inclination was to say yes. But that felt wrong. Not wholly the truth.
“You know, my magic and what you planned to do with me isn’t the only thing you lied to me about.” She paused, letting him consider. But Leighton’s brow only furrowed. “You’re engaged?”
He didn’t even look guilty about it, just weary. Maybe even a little annoyed. “Oh, that. It’s not by choice, I can assure you.”
Kestrel wanted to tell him she didn’t think he could assure her of anything, but instead just nodded. Pretended like it hadn’t stung to hear the words from someone else. Besides, this had been an easier truth to swallow; Kestrel knew from the books she read that arranged marriages were not uncommon among royalty. But she wanted to hear him explain it. Wanted him to try, anyway.
“Why are you marrying her then?”
“I have to. For the good of the kingdoms.” When she didn’t say anything, he added with a sigh, “It’s complicated.”
It wasn’t the reply she wanted. It was hardly a reply at all. Another answer shrouded in vague detail that didn’t tell her much of anything other than to let her know that Leighton was still hiding things from her, still unwilling to be open and honest. Of course the engagement was complicated, considering the two of them had interacted with one another the same passive way a cloud engages with the ground. Not to mention, the woman had been inshackles.
But Kestrel could tell Leighton didn’t want to talk about Elora, so she changed her line of questioning.
“The queen, is she a good person? Someone I can trust?”
Finally, Leighton’s glacial eyes meet hers again. “I don’t know if I’m the right person to be asking.”
“You’re the only person I have to ask.” When he didn’t respond immediately, Kestrel stepped closer. She reached for him, desperate to pin him in place before he could retreat into his mind or wherever it was he kept drifting off to, but the idea of touching him lit a fuse of fear inside her and she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead, her hands hovered in the space between them, upturned and pleading. “Please. I don’t have the best luck with knowing who to trust. And if I’m going to be working with her, I’d like to know who she is.”
Finally succumbing to one of her lines of questioning, Leighton shook his head and sighed.
“When my father was cursed, it was just Signe and us. For many years, I was resentful toward her. I was just a young boy, and I didn’t understand why the curse had mangled our father into something so unrecognizable, while she had remained nearly unchanged. For a long time, I even blamed her—many of the Ironblood did. She came from Skogar, just like the Corrupt Queen, so many of our people thought she could’ve played a hand in the curse. I believed those rumors too, at first. And it only served to condemn her more that her version of the curse was just a mild inconvenience on her life, unlike all the other monarchs.
“I’m sure you can imagine, it caused a significant amount of strife, both within our kingdom and between her and my brothers. No one believed her innocence.”
“Do you still believe she played a part?”
“No,” he said firmly. “But the damage is done. Back then, I hadn’t thought about how much she had lost that day as well. Hadn’t thought about her struggles and challenges. She’d already left her own lands to marry a king and start a new life, but that king wound up turning into a monster. Her sister was demonized for the damage caused by her magic, and Signe was too.
“I think she’s done the best that she could, given the very difficult hand that she was dealt. She and I have no real relationship, but that doesn’t mean things won’t be different between the two of you. You get a fresh start with her. And who knows, perhaps each of you are the family you’ve always wanted.”
Kestrel’s insides warmed at the thought. For the first time since entering the Irongate castle, she felt hope. She wanted to give Queen Signe the benefit of the doubt. Morethan anything.
“Anyway, I ought to let you get some rest. And I’m expected to dine with my betrothed.” Leighton bowed, prepared to leave.
Kestrel reached out, grabbing his shoulder. She had just one more question. “Why don’t you like her? Princess Elora. She’s…quite beautiful?”
It was the wrong thing to say.
