That got Kestrel’s head to snap up, but it also put Elora on edge. That was precisely the sort of thought that could get her thrown back into the dungeons.
She pretended to examine the extravagant engagement ring she now wore on her finger, but angled her hand so that she could look down the pathway to see if anyone else was nearby. Only when she found them alone did her stomach stop clenching. Speaking so brazenly about the queen was a mistake she couldn’t afford, nor one she would make again.
“She did,” Kestrel said, pitifully.
And when Elora looked back toward the princess, she found herself fixed intensely beneath her hurt, green gaze. Like the girl was desperate to pull someone into her sorrows, to have them tell her that she was right to be so upset.
Perhaps the honesty had worked. So could the queen really condemn Elora for doing what she asked?
“And…you didn’t like her magic?” Elora asked, unsure of what to say next but wanting to keep the conversation going, so she could explain to the queen she did her due diligence.
“Of course I didn’t like it! Why would I? She killed this poor creature—” the rabbit’s corpse shook in Kestrel’s grasp and hersobs became ragged once more. “And I couldn’t do anything to stop her.”
It took everything in Elora not to roll her eyes. If she had a vial of tears for everything she couldn’t stop these monsters from doing, she’d be drowning.
But the girl was still so naïve to the world, still learning about the harshness disguised in all the gowns and jewels. Part of Elora even envied her for it, for at least Kestrel was still lucky enough to feel hope. She still had a strong sense of what was right and wrong, and there were no blurred lines in between for her. Which was why this was causing her so much strife. By her inaction, she felt culpable. Blamed herself for a death she had not caused.
Elora knew that pain. She remembered the first days that followed her and her people’s resurrections, the countless lives they accidentally took just with a singular touch of their hands, not knowing that they had arisen to a new curse of their own.
But it hadn’t been their fault. Not really.
And it wasn’t Kestrel’s either.
“Is that the only reason you’re out here? Because someone else killed something?” Elora hadn’t meant the question to come out so harsh. It turned out that being kind and friendly was a skill she had forgotten how to use.
But for whatever reason, it did the trick and kept Kestrel talking.
“I’m just…I’m worried.”
That caught Elora by surprised. “Worried? About what?”
“About everything!” Those bloodshot eyes snapped up to meet hers again, and the green against the pink backdrop of flowers reminded Elora of the carnivorous shadevine of her lands. Beautiful but fierce. Deadly, even. “I’m worried about my dad and what will happen to him. About what I’ve gotten myself into. About who I’m becoming, what this magic will doto me. To others… I’m worried I made a terrible,terriblemistake and no matter what I do, everything keeps getting worse.”
She had made a mistake, if her only options now were to trust the people of Irongate. But Elora couldn’t tell her as much. Sometimes you were dealt a horrible hand and just had to deal with it.
“Surely, it isn’t all bad,” Elora said stiffly, and tried mustering more warmth. “You’re a princess now. That’s got to count for something.”
Neither of them believed her.
Kestrel let out a derisive laugh, petting the rabbit’s unmoving head. “Yes, a princess born to the Corrupt Queen and either a traitor who kidnapped me at birth and kept me locked away in a tower becausethe world is too dangerous and full of monstersor a father who is now a serpent and destroyed the kingdom I was supposedly meant to rule one day. So I’m not sure it counts for anything. What am I, the princess of nothing? A princess of curses? Of loneliness and devastation? That’s great.”
This wasn’t working.
Everything Elora said only seemed to fuel Kestrel’s pain. If the queen found out she had inadvertently steered her toward a rebellion or departure, the whole engagement could be off. Elora could be deemed a traitor to the crown and thrust back into the dungeons.
She needed a new tactic.
Honesty had worked with Kestrel earlier, but it was perhaps Elora’s least favorite method of interaction. Honesty meant vulnerability. And vulnerability meant she could set herself up for pain later.
The girl was reeling though. She seemed about three seconds away from bolting from the castle and never looking back.
There was no other option.
Cautious not to touch her, Elora sat down on the marble fountain ledge beside her. The girl was shivering, likely not used to the cooler, northern climate yet. If Elora was anyone else, she would be able to scoot closer, offering her the heat of her own body, but even with the hailstone manacles she knew better.
“Believe it or not, I do understand. I’ve had many years to think over my actions, the choices that led me here. I was once revered by my people. I was a leader, a battle-hardened warrior and someone who the Ashen admired. Then I was taken prisoner, and that’s all I’ve been for more than twenty years now.”
“Twenty years?” Kestrel looked up at her then. Those green eyes slid down the length of her. “You barely look twenty now.”
