I shook my head, heat blistering behind my eyes. Ceremonial. Like I was supposed to understand, that meant nothing. Like that erased the ink binding him to another.
“And yet here we are,” I whispered, my chest heaving against the iron cage of my ribs. “Bound by lies you didn’t trust me enough to share.”
Zander flinched. “I didn’t lie. I…” His jaw flexed, a muscle ticking in the silence. “I thought the contract would dissolve when Dorian returned, when he took the throne. There was, there stillisa chance to end it. But I needed time. I needed to find a way without risking...” He swallowed, voice cracking. “Without risking…”
“Risking what?” My voice rose, incredulous.What else haven’t you told me?I wondered.
Inderia’s laugh was low and cruel. She stepped between us like a dagger, her skirts brushing my boots. “The contract is indisputable,” she purred. “If Prince Zander breaks it, he forfeits his claim to any title. Worse, he could be sentenced to death for high treason against the crown.”
I jerked my gaze to him, heart thundering in my ears. “Is that true?”
His eyes closed for a brief, tortured second. When he opened them, the truth burned there, bright and brutal.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “But I will find a way. I swear it, Ashe. I will find a way to end this without—” He broke off, reaching for me like he could somehow pull me back from the edge I was teetering over.
I took a stumbling step away, the distance between us widening into a chasm that no oath could cross.
Gods, how could I have been so stupid?
The ache bloomed hot and sick inside me, a burn beneath my skin that even Kaelith’s silent rumble couldn’t soothe.
I wrapped my arms around myself, around the hollowness gnawing through my chest, and forced my legs to move.
“I need to go,” I choked out, barely above a whisper.
“Ashe—”
But I didn’t stay to hear the rest.
I turned and fled, the heavy thud of my boots on stone a poor echo for the shattering inside me.
I didn’t remember running through the castle, only the way my boots echoed against the cold stone floors.
Get out. Breathe.
The world blurred around me until the heavy wooden door slammed open against the courtyard wall and the night swallowed me whole.
I made for the battlements without thinking, my fingers scraping against the rough stone as I climbed one of the old ladders bolted to the outer wall. It creaked under my weight, the wood splintering beneath my palms, but I didn’t care. I needed air. I needed distance from everything—the lies, the betrayal clawing down my spine.
The wind hit me the second I hauled myself over the edge. It whipped my braided hair back from my face, a fierce, untamed thing, much like the storm building inside me.
I stood there, muscles locked tight, staring out over the dark expanse of the ocean. In the distance, barely visible beneaththe threadbare moonlight, was the outline of the isle, Kaelith’s home.
Are you still there?I reached for her in my mind.
No answer. Just the steady roar of the sea and the ache blooming beneath my ribs.
The ladder groaned behind me. I stiffened, instinct flaring, hand already reaching for the dagger at my thigh, when a familiar voice broke the silence.
“You shouldn’t be alone up here.”
Remy.
I didn’t turn as he crossed the battlements to stand beside me, close but not touching.
“He should’ve told you,” he said quietly, his gaze pinned to the same dark horizon I stared at. “That’s not loyalty, Ashe. That’s entitlement.”
The words sliced deeper than I wanted to admit.
