I thought I learned long ago to stop asking questions I don’t want answers to. Sometimes when you know the truth, you start to wish you believed the lies. The truth is, more often than not, disappointing.
I should have destroyed that damn tablet before I read it. All it’s done is mess with my head.
I can’t want love. Not now. Not ever, if I’m to learn from Egan’s mistakes. Love for rulers is dangerous. How can I entrust anyone with that kind of power over me?
Falling in love would be the most selfish thing I could do. It would put the entireislandat risk.
Especially right now, at the precipice of its ruin.
I am not my brother. I can’t afford to be.
I stop watching the Wildling each night. And, when the full moon arrives, and I’m sure she’s going to go to Moon Isle, I send Zed to track her instead.
He seems curious about the order but doesn’t say much.
Staying away from her was supposed to keep me from thinking about her, but I find myself staring at her balcony, fingers gripped on my stone ledge so tightly that part of it crumbles away, until Zed finally returns.
“Well?” I ask, barely looking at him, afraid of what he’ll see in my face. Worry? Curiosity? Hope for confirmation that she really is a wicked villain here to destroy me, so I can stop this strange obsession with her?
“She climbed the outside of a hundred-foot tower, with just her bare hands.”
Air shoots out of my nostrils. A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth.Awe and anger. Anger, because she could have broken her neck.
Awe ... because she didn’t.
“And?” I say, forcing my voice to be casual.
“She disarmed some Moonling warriors. Stuffed them in a closet ... and then she ran.”
“Where?”
“Straight to the library.”
Ah. My guess from Sky Isle is confirmed. Sheislooking for libraries. But why?
I finally turn to him. The Skyling is leaning against my door, eyes focused on me. There is a hint of amusement on his face. As if he could possibly knowwhyI asked him to trail her.
“I don’t have all night,” I snap. That only makes his smile grow.
“She must be a better escape artist than even me, because Cleo barged in, and she found ... nothing. The Wildling escaped, without a trace. I looked around the entire perimeter. No footsteps ... just ...nothing.”
My jaw tightens. I remember how Grim hid her from Cleo before. “Is it possible Grimshaw was with her?”
“Already thought of it,” he says. “I don’t think so. I didn’t hear him at all.” Gods knows he wouldn’t be able to keep his damned mouth shut for hours. “No one reported seeing him. And why not make her invisible the whole time, if he was? Why wait until the end?”
I’m not sure. I’m not sure of anything anymore.
“Thank you,” I say, dismissing him. I turn to the ledge and grip it tighter.
Secrets. She has so many of them.
Enough of following her around. Enough of having her followed. Enough of wondering about her secrets, and everyone else’s.
I set my own demonstration.
TRUTH
My mother gave me her love of tea and taught me everything she could about its properties. I try not to focus so much on the Wildling and the fact that her face lights up when she sips one of my favorite varieties. This isn’t about her. Or me. It’s about the future of this island. It’s about the future of everyone I’ve ever cared about.
