“I only knew him as the King of Diamonds,” I tell her honestly.
“When did he die?” she presses, confusion flickering across her face. “Where is his brother? Surely, if Davina isthatunhinged, the crown would transfer to the next living heir. Did Davina have children with Jasper?”
I just keep staring at her, because until this moment, I’d never heard most of this. “Did you just say the King of Diamonds has a brother?”
“Please,” she groans, “your lessons failed you. Even if this is history now, surely you learned it in the past?”
I glare at her, and slowly, the annoyance on her face lessens. She clears her throat quickly to try to correct it. “Oh, I didn’t think-”
“You didn’t,” I agree casually, crossing my arms. “I didn’t have lessons or schooling a century ago. I’ve learned lots of things since then, but unless it was the king or queen of this land, nothing else mattered.”
“My parents spoke about Davina’s upcoming marriage often,” she grumbles, wonder in her gaze. “Constantly. It was supposed to be a union to bring the lands together and expand trade.”
“History didn’t go in that direction.” I sigh. “She married into the Court of Cards and went mad.” My eyes narrow. “Who was Jasper’s brother?”
Her eyebrows lift. “Hans. Hans Traum. They were twins. I’m surprised this has never come up.”
An icy feeling settles over me, and it has nothing to do with my magic. “I’ve never heard of a twin before.”
“There should be a record of it someplace,” Neve says thoughtfully. “Probably in the library if we look. Even if the lands are still divided, my parents kept a detailed log of everyone in power. If Mother has ruled alone all these years, I don’t know why that would have changed.”
“No,” I reply carefully, crossing my arms. “It should all still be there. Funny how no one knows about it.”
Neve nods, but her eyes look far away. Despite her rage, we’ve veered off topic, and I can see her mind wandering. There’s a thoughtfulness in her voice when she speaks. “Maybe that’s why he was in my dreams.”
“Who?”
“The Sandman,” she says automatically, and once more, I’m lost. Somehow, we lived during the same era and have a completely different view of that time period. “Uh, that wasHans. The Sandman. And Jasper, the King of Diamonds, the oldest twin.”
I let all that roll through my head, trying to decide what exactly I’m supposed to do with it. “I assume he was alive then, last you recall?”
Neve hesitates, crossing her arms until she matches my stance. “Yes. I met him once. When Jasper came to meet my parents and court Davina, Hans came along. He mostly spoke to my father, but I don’t know what they discussed.”
“When was this? You know, relative to your…”
My voice trails off, and the thoughtfulness on her face dies. “Relative to when you stole my father from me?”
I hold my hands up, stepping back toward the rock again. As hot as Neve is when she’s worked up, I’d like to avoid getting stabbed a second time today. At least for the moment. “I know you’ll never believe me, Neve, but I didn’t kill your father.”
Her gaze ices over. “Liar. I watched him fall as you fled. Mother’s screams haunted my sleep for years.”
Wincing, I imagine that includes her frozen sleep. She was trapped in that memory for a century. “Neve, I’m not sure what it looked like from your perspective, but I tried to blast a barrier at them. It deflected your parents’ magic. I didn’t intend to kill either of them. Killing the King was the last thing on my mind; I was trying to escape.”
Neve takes a step back, baring her teeth. “I knew you would lie. There’s no other explanation.”
Her gaze hardens, lips curling into a sneer when I sigh, blowing my hair out of my face. “Killing one of the rulers of the Frostlands wouldn’t benefit me. I had no desire to go along with their planorto remain in the palace. I didn’t want the King dead.”
“That’s ridiculous. I felt you grab my hand; you directed the magic!” She throws her arms out wide, icy daggers appearing in her grip once more. “You, you used me–”
“I was weakened from being tortured,” I agree, reaching up to run my finger along the spot she nicked. “I knew who the Ice Queen was. I knew you had power similar to mine, so I borrowed it to escape. Your father’s death wasn’t part of my plan.”
“So you did kill him,” she hisses.
“You know that’s not what I said-”
She cuts me off before I can continue, launching one of the icicles at my head. It’s not a half-assed throw like the ones in the palace. This comes at me fast enough that I dodge instead of trying to grab it, jumping to one side before glaring at her.
“Fighting me won’t remove the threat from your palace. It never did.”
