His brows arched. “A bite to you, is there?” he said, which I also considered patronizing. He smiled, and this time it was full of sharp teeth. Unlike with Daziel’s sharp smiles, I genuinely found this one alarming. “You think you’ll do well on top of the Shuddering Tower, girl?” he asked. “You’ll wear mud-colored clothes while everyone is wrapped in rainbows. How will you keep Daziel’s attention when he’s surrounded by glittering gemstones who can sing the winds into silence?”
I didn’t understand half of what he meant, but I knew he meant to insult, and so I fought back. “It’s not my job to keep Daziel’s attention. I don’t exist to entertain him. We’re together because we both want to be. If you’ll excuse me.” I turned, ready to go.
He was in front of me. “He’s old enough to take up his responsibilities. You’d be a distraction.”
I remembered what he’d said early on.Previous obligations.Though I knew I should leave—he was clearly baiting me—I couldn’t help myself. “What kind of responsibilities?”
“It’s time for him to marry.”
“We’ll marry when we’re ready.” I wanted, as I’d joked long ago,a very long engagement and a wedding long after my own graduation. “Our betrothal should be good enough for now.”
“Not you, girl,” he said, and his laugh hollowed me out. “He has been expected to marry Kaisa all his life.”
For a moment, the words didn’t make sense.
“You did not know?” He looked amused. “Yes, Kaisa del Amara. They will make a good pair.”
“He’s—no. He’s betrothed to—”Me, I wanted to say, but I couldn’t make myself.
“Oh, did you think he would marry you? You darling human child. No. Daziel is meant for greater things than…Well. I’m sure you have some good qualities.”
My hand went to the ring on my finger. “We’ve completed the betrothal.”
“Have you?” He looked peeved. “An irritation. But nothing that can’t be handled with time and effort. Anyway, not to worry.” He patted me avuncularly on the shoulder. “I’m sure he will give you something nice in return. A rosebush that flowers year-round. Drinkable gold—or is that fashionable in one of the other human realms? I can never keep track.”
With a sly smile, he vanished.
When Daziel found me a few minutes later, I was sitting on a garden bench, staring numbly up at the pink-and-white almond blossoms. I shifted my gaze to him. “You’re betrothed.”
We knew each other so well, we’d spent so much time in each other’s presence—there was no use in him pretending he thought I meantto me. I couldn’t even try to hide the betrayal in my voice. I didn’t want to.
Daziel’s shoulders slumped. “My father told you.”
“Have you hidden anything else?”
He hesitated. “Did my father mention who my mother is?”
Oh no. No, this was like storm clouds on the horizon, and I didn’t want to unleash their rain. “Is it important?”
“Ah—you might think so?”
“If you say,” I ground out, “your mother is the queen of the shedim, I will smack you.”
He winced. “Then I should not say it.”
“Daziel!” I cried out, jumping to my feet. “No!”
“It’s not my fault.” He held his hands up. “I didn’t pick my parents.”
“You can’t be a prince.” I groaned, turning from side to side as though seeking solace that refused to come. I sank back to the bench, shaking. “This is impossible.”
“No, it’s not.” He knelt at my side, taking my hands in his own and kissing them. “It’s not impossible.”
“I can’t be with ademon prince.”
“Why not?”
“Because! I’m a human girl! I don’t know anything!”
