“Yes.”
“And now you will givemeyour mercy.”
But Farah surprised her. “No.”
“No?”
“I have a proposition.”
Ellina glared. “My answer is no.”
“You have not even heard my terms.”
“I will not bargain for my life.”
“Notyourlife,” Farah corrected. Ellina stiffened.
“I told you already,” Ellina said slowly. “I do not care about Venick. You cannot use him against me.”
But Farah suspected. Maybe she knew the secret Ellina had learned from the wildings in the southern forests. Maybe she recognized Ellina’s pain in the stateroom, her breathlessness as she lied in elvish. Or maybe Farah was simply guessing. Ellina would gladly give her own life rather than agree to anything Farah wanted. But Venick…
“Does that mean you have no objection if we hunt him down?” Farah asked coyly.
“No.”
“What about his family? I hear he comes from a city called Irek. I hear his mother still lives there. Are you saying you would not mind if we burned the town? If we killed every single human left in it?”
All the blood seemed to rush to Ellina’s ears. She thought of Venick’s banishment. He had had a home, and fought for it, and lost it. He dreamed of one day redeeming himself and returning to that place…which would not be possible if Farah made good on her threat. Ellina’s voice came out strangled. “You would not.”
“We did once before, during the purge. We could again.”
“That makes no sense. What would it gain you?”
“I think it will gain us your cooperation.” Farah clasped her hands behind her back. “Your human did nicely, discovering our secret allies, spreading his warning around our city. There are elves who believed him, who knew the throne was in danger. There are elves who will follow you if they believeyouare in danger, or if they think this alliance—and my initiation as queen—is not what you want. They might rebel. We donotwant a rebellion.”
Ellina looked out the window. Little moats of dust floated on the air. She could count them clearly.
“I would prefer to conquer Evov as we did Kenath,” Farah said. “Smoothly, and with few civilian casualties. So here is what I need you to do now: snuff out any northern resistance. Pledge me your allegiance. No more fighting. No more games. Give our citizens no reason to doubt your loyalty to me. Do this, and I will instruct my soldiers to leave Irek unharmed.”
Ellina wondered if those dust moats were like little worlds. She wondered if this world was a moat of dust in someone else’s universe. If everything was just an invisible speck on a beam of sunlight.
“You have a strong sense of honor,” Farah continued. “You know lives—human and elven—are at stake. I think you will take this deal.”
It struck Ellina that her sister had not planned for her to survive the southerners’ invasion. Farah thought, in the stateroom, that Ellina would be unable to deny her feelings for Venick. That she would be handed grounds for banishment, or worse. But Farah and Raffanwereclever. They had found a way to salvage the pieces of that ruined plan. A better way, even, with Ellina as their pawn.
“Be grateful,” Farah said. “It is better this way, little sister.” And then, quietly, as if she had read Ellina’s thoughts, “You could be dead.”
FORTY-FIVE
Venick tipped his head back. He gazed into a candy sky. In the distance, the mountains were a faded smear. He could not see Evov. Even if he was closer, he knew he would not see the city. Since their escape, it had become hidden from them once more.
Venick thought he had forgotten this feeling. The helplessness, the misery. The burn of it in his chest, a hot coal on his heart. Or, if he hadn’t forgotten, he thought he had tucked it away, buried it so deep that he would never find it again. Now, however, Venick felt it starkly. It was the feeling of loss. The grip of disbelief, of mistakes too severe to be unmade. Longing. Regret.
The pain of a broken heart. He thought he had forgotten that, too.
He’d been wrong about a lot of things.
Venick told himself that he was lucky. Yes,lucky. He was alive. He was free. And what had happened with Ellina…really, it was expected. The truth had been there all along, and Venick was getting better at seeing the truth for what it was. Ellina saved him in honor of Lorana’s memory, then kept him around so that he could teach her about war. And it made sense. He knew Ellina’s mind, how she strategized, how she drew her hand and calculated her next move. If she believed Venick could be valuable in the coming fight, whywouldn’tshe use him to teach her battle strategy? Why wouldn’t she keep him as a tool to be honed and commanded, especially when he’d practically begged to do it? Ellina was sworn to her country. She made her choices for herself. Not for him. Not forlove.
