“You don’t have to thank me.” She lifts her bandaged arm. “I owed you.”
“That was nowhere near the same.”
“Still. I didn’t mind.” She hesitates. “He seems like a decent man.”
It’s the first time she hasn’t groused about him riling Ellmo, so I smile. “He is. He’s one of the king’s personal guards. Back in Kandala.”
“Maybe that’s why I thought he was your husband. He’s very protective.”
The end of that sentence feels like there’s more to be said, and I wait for her to say it . . . ?but she doesn’t. I stare at my food, and she stares at hers, and eventually the kettle whistles. Olive sets to making coffee, and I’m glad, because I’ve only seen Rian do it on the ship.
But while she does it, my throat tightens as I think of what Erik said.
I promised him I would keep you safe.
I don’t know if he meant Corrick or Harristan. Maybe it doesn’t matter.
Maybe it wasn’t even a real promise. Maybe it’s just one he made in his heart.
I have to press a hand over my own to ease the ache. It doesn’t help.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Olive says quietly. She pours powdered milk into the coffee and adds a twist of the honey that Ellmo envies, then slides a cup in front of me. “I know you just met me. But I know your guard isn’t the only one with a deep wound.”
The pain in my chest goes nowhere. I have to close my eyes. I don’t even know if I can speak.
Oh, Corrick.
Maybe she can sense my agony, because instead of waiting for me to answer, Olive keeps talking. “Myhusband died in the war,” she says. “Three years ago.”
That’s enough to startle my eyes open. “You had a husband?”
She nods and gives me half a smile. “Ellmo didn’t get here himself, you know.” The smile slips off her face, and she continues, “I didn’t want him to fight, but of course everyone had to fight. I begged Rian not to send Wyatt out on the water, and he swore itwasn’t his choice, but . . .” She shrugs. “Maybe he was telling the truth, but I doubt it. Wyatt was a strong sailor. A good leader. And Rian does what he has to do.” She runs a finger around the rim of her cup and shrugs. “He always has.”
I’m staring at her now. Remembering how she said she didn’t trust Rian either, how he mightmean well—but he doesn’t care who gets hurt. “You’ve known him for a long time?”
“I’ve known him since he was born.” Her face twists. “Rian and I share a father.” She scowls and takes a sip of her coffee. “And a horrific uncle.Faithfulnessandhonordon’t seem to be qualities that run very clearly through the family tree.”
My hand is frozen on my own cup. I can’t stop staring. Corrick and I sat at dinner with the king while Rian talked about the battles for the throne in Ostriary, how their king had dozens of siblings and illegitimate children all squabbling over who should rule after the king’s death.
Olive runs a finger around her cup again. “I’m surprised Rian didn’t tell you.” She shrugs. “Then again, maybe he’s forgotten I’m out here. That wouldn’t surprise me either. He knows I’ve got nothing left to say to him.”
“You’re . . . you’re aprincess,” I say.
She laughs a little. “Well. I suppose. Does it matter?”
“Rian told us everyone fought over the throne.”
“Not everyone.” She shrugs. “I didn’t want it. Wyatt was happy to help defend Fairde—and when Rian was trying to save people, I was happy to help patch them up, just like I helped you. But when he started grappling for power . . .” She grimaces again. “I didn’t like it. Everyone thinks he’s a good man. And in a lot of ways, he is. But sometimes he uses that trust. That belief. That loyalty. Hehidesbehind it. And I don’t think many people see it.”
I swallow thickly. “I saw it,” I whisper. “Not at first—but eventually.”
She smiles, but it’s a sad smile. “That’s always how it is, with him.”
And maybe she’s struck the core of the reason I feel this level of kinship with Olive, even when I shouldn’t trust anyone at all. Maybe it’s the understanding that someone else was fooled by Rian, even though he doesn’t seem to betryingto fool anyone at all.
“I know,” she says. “I heard it in your voice when you told me why you weren’t in the palace at Tarrumor.” She pauses. “When you said there were . . .complications.”
My throat tightens again, and my eyes fill.
