I recall my almost kidnapping in Evandale and the attack on the bridge, where I was saved by a sudden gust of wind. “Then what happened to you just now—when the Whisting attacked you—you’ve used it to dothatto others?” I ask.
Dietan exhales. “It’s always been an accident, I swear. I can’t control when the Whisting rises or what it does…”
I can’t imagine him choking someone to death with magic. “But maybe…you killed them because…it was self-defense?” It had to be. He’s not a cold-blooded murderer. He’s no Boreas.
He shakes his head, and I can feel the blood draining from my face.
“No,” he says quickly. “They didn’t attack me. Or at least Cedric—my best friend—he wasn’t doing it on purpose. I accidentally killed him in the practice ring. He’s the last person I ever sparred with.” His lower lip trembles, and he works his jaw side to side before taking a deep, ragged breath. “The other was the only woman I ever loved.”
“Oh,” I say softly. I feel a flicker of jealousy at his admission that he was once in love, but it’s quickly doused as I realize the magnitude of his confession.
He’s killed two people.
Two people, the ones closest to him, killed by his own hand due to the Whisting inside of him.
The truth is like a struck match in the darkness. It changes everything. He’s carried this secret for so long, it’s rotted him from the inside. It must be a relief to finally admit it to someone—to me.
“So, you can’t control your magic?” I ask.
He looks like he’s done talking about his feelings and seizes the topic gratefully. “That’s right. I can’t summon it or bend it to my will like my father did. It just…happens. If this King Osian can get the Rings out of me, then I can finally be at peace.” Shadows catch in his deep-set eyes, lending his expression haunted, hollow weariness.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I know you’re a prince and I’m just a barmaid, but I understand.”
His eyes light with hope as he finally meets my gaze. “You do?”
“When my mother died, it was as if my family died with her. And she died…because of me.” I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “I caught the red fever after playing with some kids she told me to keep away from. She got it from me, and she died.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Dietan says, shaking his head. “Red fever is highly contagious.”
“Everyone says that, but it doesn’t change what happened or how I feel about it.”
He reaches for my hand with his good one and squeezes. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.” I nod and squeeze back. “Tell me about them, your friend Cedric and your…” I hesitate. “Your lover.”
Dietan sighs. “Cedric… He was a good mate. He was the one who snuck in to see the Rings with me that night. I was the one who always got us in trouble, and he loyally followed my lead. Cedric was the best friend anyone could have.”
“As for her… Her name was Liesl. She was a lady of the court of Alarice. I’ve never told anyone how she died.”
“What happened?”
“We went to bed, and I woke up the next morning—and—she was lying next to me, but she wasn’t breathing. The healers said she stopped breathing in the middle of the night. ‘How strange,’ they said. ‘A tragedy.’ Nobody suspected—not her family, not the Alarician court. But I knew. I knew what happened.”
“The Whisting,” I whisper.
He clears his throat and continues. “The Whisting responds to heightened emotions, like anger or pleasure or pain or fear. I’ve been plagued by the same horrible nightmare every night ever since the Rings bonded to my soul. The Whisting must have sensed my fear during the dream. I must have—itmust killed her in my sleep, and I didn’t even know.”
Harvest Mother, he’s carried this guilt inside him ever since? “That’s terrible. I’m so sorry.” He can’t look me in the eye, so I dip my face to peer into his anguished eyes. “But just as you told me, you mustn’t blame yourself. It was an accident.”
“It doesn’t change what happened.” He shrugs. “Accident or not, they’re both dead because of me.”
He looks so miserable that tears spring to my own eyes in sympathy. I was right about his talent at hiding—he’s spent his whole life perfecting it. “They say you’re incorrigible. That you’ve slept with every maiden from here to Penrith, but none of it is true, is it?”
He nods. “It was just a cover so no one would guess my secret. Our enemies have spies everywhere, especially at court.”
“And you’re not just some spoiled prince, either, are you?” I bump him gently on the shoulder.
“Well, I hope not.” He grins, at last, and I smile back at him.
