“Why not?” Anna asked from a ways down the table,where she sat with Clemencia, who’d been quiet since Neve left for dinner.
“The Drassils are all connected,” Arie answered.
“So if Vale touched it, other trees would know?” Anna asked.
“Potentially,” Duran replied. “And as we’re trying to hide from powerful people who have access to the tangle of holy trees within the realm, it’s best that Vale not do what he wants to do.”
“It’s dying,” I said. “This makes our task all the more imperative.”
“It does,” Duran conceded.
I took a swig of ale from the rustic horns on offer and wrinkled my nose.Sour. I suppose there’s no chance of Summer Isle wine here.
The conversation had spun to the roast, and I was about to comment when someone fluttered down to land on our table and stand before me.
“Prince Vale.” A pixie glared up at me and crossed her arms over her chest. She was only slightly taller than my hand, pale as the moon, andglowed, a rare ability for her kind. “I require a word.”
No question in the feminine tone. Nor was there a hint of reserve on her face. Both taken aback and amused at the intrusion, I leaned away, setting my horn in its holder.
“You have my attention.”
“AndI deserveyour apology,” the pixie’s voice rose and spots of color filled her cheeks. “You killed my brother! If you’re to be here, to break bread among us, I demand that you speak on your wrongs.”
The skin on the back of my neck prickled. Around me, I felt my friends stiffen and was sure others were watching too.
And so it begins.
“When did this happen?” I asked.
Her face hardened. “At the most recent tourney in Avaldenn.”
The tourney where I’d found Neve, left in the royal box. The one where a rebel had tried to kill the fae I’d once called my father.
But a pixie? I’d been armed with a bow and arrows. I recalled shooting three faeries, but not a pixie.
“I shot him?”
“No, but my brother got caught in your wind—thrown against the stone of Aaberg Ring. He died from a broken neck.”
My heart sank. Never did I wish to harm a good-hearted fae of Winter’s Realm, but at the time, I’d been defending the fae I’d called Father and the king. I’d also been defending the inhabitants of Avaldenn. In my mind, what I was doing was valiant and right. That the rebels were darkness, and we were light, and the rest of the world fell into shades of shadows.
Now, I understood that so many things were shades of darkness meeting the light. Gray, not just white or black.
“At the time, I believed that what I did was right, but believe me when I say that I don’t take pleasure in harming the fae of Winter’s Realm. Most of those fae are innocent and good and wish for nothing but a fulfilling life.”
The pixie’s shoulders loosened, but I wasn’t done. I had much more to atone for.
I inhaled. “It would be an insult to your brother’s memory for me to say that I am sorry. We both fought for things we believed in, and while my own beliefs have changed, I cannot alter the past. As much as I wish to, that is impossible for us all.”
The pixie opened her mouth, but I held up a finger, halting her.
“But I will say this. I regret that the realm is divided. That it had to come to this and that you lost someone you loved. That I dealt the blow and caused you and your family great pain. Your brother might have been a good male—and I cannot bring him back. I wish I could, but I cannot, and I am truly sorry for that lacking.”
Seconds passed in which she stared at me, wide eyes glowing. Though she was still, two feet solidly on the table, mentally, the pixie appeared as though she stood on a cliff’s edge, and she did not know whether she wished to step off or jump back. I was not sure her mind decided as much as her heart did, but when a sniffle escaped her, she softened ever so slightly. “To be honest, he was a scoundrel, and we weren’t close. Still, I loved him all the same.”
A chuckle left me. “I’m related to a scoundrel, so I understand.” I didn’t look at Thantrel, but heard Luccan smothering a laugh and an incredulous whisper that definitely belonged to the youngest Riis brother.
“I see the world differently now,” I continued. “I would not act the same as I did in the past. What I consider just and right has changed.”
