“I wasn’tallowed.”
He frowns, then sets down the pin. “You see, this did not occur to me. Your brother was so contemptuous that I assumed you were alike in thought. Your father was so distant that I assumed you shared his pride. Your future is to be bound to mine. Had I known you were deliberately excluded, I would have insisted on your presence.”
I think about Dane saying that he’d offered to marry Maddox Kyronan’s younger sister, but the offer was rejected. “If the situation were reversed, would you allowyoursister to participate in the negotiations?”
Now it’s his turn to jerk back, which is surprising. “Victoria? I wouldn’t refuse. But she is...she is not interested in political matters.”
Interesting.
“Not at all? She doesn’t care who she marries?”
“My sister prefers her solitude.” At his side, his fingers twitch, and there’s the tiniest glow in the shadows, gone so quickly that I might have imagined it.
“That’s a summoning sigil!” I say. “Are you callingmagic?”
He gives a little jump, like I’ve truly surprised him. But then he draws back, regarding me a little more warily. “You know the sigils?”
“Yes. Both Dane and I were tutored when we were young.”
He pauses, and intrigue lights in his eyes. “Do you share your father’s power?”
For an instant, I want to lie. I want to sayyes. Because it would give us a cover in case Father’s illness is discovered.
But as quickly as I have the thought, I shove it away. My lack of power would be obvious the instant anyone needed a demonstration.
“No,” I admit. “Though...there was hope.”
“Ah.” He pauses, studying me. His eyes are so intent, and I can tell that this is a man who seeseverything. “You’ll have to forgive me, Princess.” He holds up his hand, flexing his fingers like they’ve betrayed him. “An unfortunate force of habit. But the magic is powerless. There’s no flame to draw.”
An unfortunate force of habit.I wonder if that means he’s nervous. About me? About the alliance? About his sister?
I wet my lips. “Do it again.” When he hesitates, I look from his face to his hand. “As you said, there’s no flame to draw.”
He considers this for a good long while, and I wonder if he thinks this is a trap. But he must decide to trustme, because he sketches a sigil in the air, and the faint glow appears again before disappearing.
“If there were fire anywhere near,” he says, “I could call it to my hand.”
“How far?” I say.
“Quite a distance. Does your father’s magic not work similarly?”
I shake my head. “It’s not the same. He draws weather across the sky.” Last night, I was terrified of Maddox Kyronan and his magic, but now that he’s in front of me, I’m intrigued. “Would you show me?” I say. “With real fire?”
A light sparks in his eye, and he leans in. For a breathless span of time, I think he’s going to sayyes. It’s like that moment in the atrium when he felt like a co-conspirator, when we were both hiding but we had the same goal.
But the king seems to catch himself, because he goes still, then sits back. “I’m reluctant to risk the alliance when we’ve come so close.” His voice finds that gentle purr again. “Once we are in accord, Princess, I will show you anything you desire.”
I have to take a deep breath and remind myself of all the reasons I was prepared to hate him. All the reasons I was ready to beg Asher to help me escape.
All the reasons I kept that hairpin tucked in my palm.
But it’s hard to reconcile the stories about his brutality when he sits in front of me and talks about trust and truth and feeding his people. When he defends me against my brother and apologizes for using force.
“You have quite the talent for dodging my questions,” he says. “You still haven’t told me why you dressed as a servant.”
That flush on my cheeks returns. But maybe his admission about a nervous habit has loosened something inside me, because I admit,“I was curious.” A line appears between his eyebrows, and I add, “I wanted to see you on my terms.”
For as fierce as he seems, something in his gaze gentles. Softens. “So you took it upon yourself to dress in disguise.”
