No, Idefinitelydon’t want to ride with one of them. I twist and face forward, my shoulders tense now. I remember how he punched Asher in the back, the way he looked ready to go after him again.
The way he chuckled as he said,Oh, we’ll bring him.
My throat tightens. When I glance over again, he’s still looking at me with that icy gaze.
I can’t believe these Incendrian soldiers are so bold. I should order him to look away. If we were back in the palace, I would.
But we’renot. I’m in his king’s lap, being marched home like I’m due for a scolding. It’s humiliating.
When I think of Asher, it’s terrifying.
A fresh round of tears gathers. This time I can’t help the hitching breath.
“Are these tears real?” says the king. His voice is still low, but it’s coolly practical—and somehow that makes it worse.
“They’re real,” I breathe. I have to pull a hand free to swipe at my face.
“Why?” he says. “I’ve caused you no harm.”
“But you did. You took my trust and you used it against us.”
“Did you not do the same when you came to my chambers? You asked for my men to leave, then asked me to disarm.”
That cuts like a blade, and it reminds me of the moment we met,when I accused Incendar of brutality. He said it was the very reason my father sought this alliance.
Since the moment we met, all you’ve given me are lies.
We haven’t begun with faith and honesty at all.
In my silence, the king guesses, “You’re worried for Asher?”
“Of course I am,” I say. “You left your men to beat him to death.”
“No,” he says. “If I wanted anyone to beat him to death, I would’ve given him to these two. Roman and Nikko will follow my orders and do no more.”
I wonder how true that is. I felt the aggressive tension in the hut. “You told them to make himwalk.”
“Yes, Princess. Because I don’t trusthimat anyone’s back.”
I want to scoff at that, but his tone is still so pragmatic. In a way, this conversation is fascinating, because I’ve never had a man—much less aking—talk to me so candidly. If we were talking about anything else, I might actually enjoy it.
“A cornered man will make reckless choices,” Ky adds. “And your Asher is very determined to get you away from me.”
Your Asher.
“He’s not mine,” I whisper.
But Asher curled against me in my bed, swearing that he’d find me, even in Incendar. Swearing that I could send word, and he’d do whatever needed doing.
He kidnapped the king for me—and cut him loose when I begged.
Another tear slips down my cheek. Heismine. But I could never be his.
“Asher said he once lived in the palace,” Ky says. His voice is so low, his breath so warm against my hair. “How did he end up with these slavers?”
For a moment, my tongue is frozen. Asher’s history isn’t a secret, not really, but with him somewhere behind us being forced to march through the snow, it feels like a betrayal to talk about his past. But I need Ky to understand why I would risk so much.
“His mother was Lady Clara,” I say. “My mother’s first lady-in-waiting.” I hesitate, because this part is always so hard to talk about.“Ten years ago, when I was fifteen, my mother was killed in an ambush on the road while traveling to one of the northern villages. She’d admired some glass jewelry on one of the courtiers a few weeks earlier, and she wanted to examine the offerings herself. Lady Clara was with her, of course, but she survived—while my mother was killed right beside her.”
