“I don’t need a lecture,” I muttered, dragging in a breath that tasted like salt and steel. “I need...”I don’t even know what I need anymore.
Remy’s chuckle was low, bitter. “Not lecturing. Just... agreeing with you.” He leaned his elbows against the stone edge, his hair tousled by the wind, his eyes catching a flicker of moonlight. “You deserved better than secrets and half-truths. I know that better than anyone.”
“Maybe I don’t deserve anything at all,” I said, the bitterness coating my tongue so thick I could barely swallow it. “Maybe this is exactly what happens when you forget your place.”
“Your place?” His head whipped toward me, disbelief flashing across his face. “Gods, Ashe, you don’t belong beneath anyone.” His voice softened, rough with something that twisted in my chest. “Least of all a prince who couldn’t even trust you with the truth.”
I wanted to scream. To cry. To rage at the stars until they fell.
Instead, I stayed frozen, fists clenched against the stone as the wind howled around us.
Remy stepped closer, his hand tentative as it brushed against my waist, the same way he used to, like no time had passed at all.
The touch seared through the numbness, a brand against my skin.
I jerked away, breath catching. “Don’t,” I said sharply, more harshly than I intended.
Remy’s hand dropped instantly, guilt flashing across his face.
“I need to go,” I whispered, the words breaking apart like shattered glass.
He didn’t stop me.
Didn’t follow.
Just watched as I turned and disappeared back down the ladder, back into the heavy, suffocating dark of the castle below.
I ran back toward the barracks.
The door shut behind me with a hollow thud, rattling the iron hinges.
I stood there for a second, dragging in a breath thick with the scent of sweat, leather, and the faint singe of lightning magic that always clung to our training mats.
Ferrula and Jax were mid-spar, their boots scuffing across the stone floor in a familiar rhythm, strike, block, pivot, feint. Kaelith’s presence stirred at the edge of my mind, distant and silent. The others weren’t there so I assumed they went for food.
Jax caught Ferrula’s wrist and twisted, forcing her into a retreat. She growled low in her throat, spun, and slammed her elbow into his ribs.
He let out a grunt that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
It was the kind of normalcy that made my throat ache.
They noticed me then, Ferrula’s keen green eyes narrowing slightly, Jax straightening and brushing a hand over his sweaty hair.
“You look like someone shoved you off the battlements,” Ferrula said bluntly, stepping back and reaching for a towel slung over a nearby bench.
“I might’ve preferred that,” I rasped, voice hollow.
Jax tossed Ferrula a towel and crossed his arms over his broad chest, waiting. No questions. Just patience. Like they already knew.
I let the words fall from my mouth before I could think better of it. “I just met Inderia. She’s... she’s Zander’s betrothed.”
The silence that followed wasn’t shock. Wasn’t even surprise.
Ferrula just snorted under her breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Figures.”
Jax shrugged one shoulder, slow and unsurprised. “All nobles have arranged marriages, Ashe. It’s how they retain power. Trading bloodlines like currency.”
I blinked at them, rawness clawing up my chest. I was the only one who didn’t know. The only idiot who thought he could be mine.
