“Thanks,” I said after we were far enough away. “I hate questions.”
“I can see that.” The corners of his mouth lifted into a half-hearted smile.
I stepped over a rock and followed the sound of rushing water ahead. “Do they all just cater to your every request?”
“I wish. They are all assholes. Trust me.”
“Must be a Flame Court thing,” I mumbled as he pulled on the chain.
“We’ve all known each other for a long time. We have a history. They listen because that’s my role. Just like Kai’s role is resident smartass and Greeve’s role is to keep us from killing each other or getting killed.”
“And Wren?”
“Wren is Wren. She’s a decent fighter and she mothers us. I guess she filled a void we needed. She keeps us in line too.”
“I can see that.” We stepped up to the bank of the river. “Let me ask you a serious question though. Where does this end for you?”
“What end?”
I held the chain up and wiggled it.
“I don’t think this chain is here because of me, Ara. I think it’s really up to you. If she wants us to get along, that’s probably all it’s going to take.”
“It stinks, you know? Not getting a single say in any of this. My whole life is lined up before me, written in a prophecy, and I just get to walk the path and let life happen to me. I swear to the gods, if I have to be mated to someone on top of all this shit, I’m going to sacrifice myself to The Mists.”
“That bad, huh?” He knelt and rubbed his hands in the running water.
I joined him, and when he was done with our shared limbs, I washed my face, taking a deep breath. “It’s the last thing I’d want in my whole life. Give me the monsters, the murder, the evil royals, but spare me the forced love.”
“I would have never guessed you even considered love with all your sarcasm and death threats.”
“I wasn’t always a murderous assassin, Prince.”
Chapter 18
NADRA
Cold. I had never been so cold in my life. My jumbled mind was not my own, but still the aching desire was. The way he looked at me, the way he spoke to me like I was the only person in the whole world. Lies. Pretty, festering lies that twisted my mind into believing I was his beloved. He spoke of the others with me. At night, when he came to my rooms, he spoke of them. My mother. He wanted her too. Not in the same way he claimed to want me, but she would one day be his. With honeyed words or her own conviction, I wasn’t sure, but the king always got what he wanted. At least that’s what he said to me.
I laid in my giant bed alone and confused and felt the pull of my heart. North. We had traveled. I was to be his lover, and my mother his prize. He hadn’t taken me though. I’d begged him to find comfort in my arms. He’d slapped me for my forward words. Broken. I laid broken on my gifted bed wishing for sleep that would never come. The fog within my brain was suffocating.
Chapter 19
TEMIR
“You’re sure you want to do this?” Gaea asked as we stood in her bland room. No trinkets. No books. No color at all.
“I’m sure. It should be quick. If you can get me to the town, I’ll have a simple conversation and meet you back wherever you drop me off within an hour. If I can’t convince him in that amount of time, nothing I say will do it.”
“You can and you will. Just listen before you talk and believe in yourself.” She offered me her hand. “Ready?”
“Now or never.” I grasped her fingers within my own.
In an instant, we were in the middle of a small village like the one I had watched burn to the ground. Rhogan leaned against a fence post not too far from us. He was hard to miss with his giant raven wings extended. He tied his hair back, flashing a big smile to Gaea.
“Who is that?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Come, I’ll introduce you.”
