Daric shook his head. “The contract has been negotiated. We marry. Our first child inheritsboth kingdoms. Raanaleath.” He snorted. “It sounds like a disease.”
Angry, unhappy Daric felt like a stranger by her side. These past few months, though, this surly prince had become more familiar to her. “At least Leathen won’t be obliterated from the name entirely.” Not like the name of Ash, which they were being forced to abandon.
He tried to smile and failed utterly. “Good point, Raindrop.”Rain watched as he drew a deep breath and forced back his visible dread over the future that was slowly destroying them both. “Now open your present.”
Rain swallowed the lump in her throat. If Daric could focus on today then she could, too. It was better than thinking about the vile Astraea in his bed.
She rubbed the velvet-covered box between her fingers. It was a daring red. She wasn’t surprisedDaric had chosen something he knew she’d like, even if the color was better suited to an experienced, married woman.
“I’m not certain today’s a day to celebrate,” Rain said.
He drew back, his countenance darkening again. “You’re not to blame for any of this.”
“Neither are you,” she shot back. “And yet you’ll be punished for a lifetime.”
“If I hadn’t dragged you from the Cauldron, you’d stillbe Spring. You’d still control the elements, make rain and wind and grow new buds into trees.” He shook his head, his features contorting into something she saw more and more often these days—disgust.
Rain knew it wasn’t directed at her, but it still hurt to see. She feared Daric would never stop blaming himself for what had happened. Not only to her, but the drought, the failing farms, the hungrypeople, the empty coffers, their dependence on Raana… Everything.
“Youdid not drag me from the Cauldron,” she corrected.
“But my father…”
Rain put a finger over Daric’s lips to hush him, warmth tingling down her arm at the contact. “King Wilder did what he thought was best, and I don’t blame him, either. Your parents have been kind to me and have treated me as their own for the last fifteenyears, despite my being a useless mouth to feed in their home.”
“Useless mouth to feed?” Daric echoed indignantly.
His breath swirled around her finger, and the feel of his warm lips was one of the most intimate things Rain had ever experienced. Though they did almost everything together, they rarely touched except when dancing. But no one really danced anymore. There wasn’t much to celebrate.
Rain dropped her hand. She remembered little of her life before she became flesh. She’d been ancient; she knew that. But she’d taken the form of a child to match the charming, earnest boy who’d called out to her that day. Awareness of her previous existence and abilities had been mostly stripped from her, and Braylian had refused to take her back into the Cauldron.
“What good am I?” she asked,knowing her tone matched Daric’s recent bitterness. “Braylian brought forth a new Spring, and she doesn’t see Leathen any more than I did. People are desperate and starving. I’m of no value to the kingdom. You’re being forced to marry Astraea.” Rain heard the near growl in her voice and didn’t even try to disguise it. Raana’s princess had been malicious as a child and age had only worsened her.On a royal visit many years ago, Astraea had snuck into Rain’s bedroom one night and cut off her hair while she slept. She’d then used Rain’s hair to make a noose to hang Daric’s cat. Astraea still gloated about it.Thatwas who Daric was being forced to marry.Thatwas who he’d have to endure so that Raana would create a canal to divert water directly into Leathen.
Raana’s mightiest reservoirsat mockingly on the border, filled to the brim with precious water. All they needed was a year of digging to direct some of that water into the dry riverbed that wound like a desiccated serpent through Leathen’s once-fertile farmland.
King Wilder had been trying to negotiate a canal with Raana for years, but Illanna Nighthall wouldn’t agree to it, even when orin mines had still been a valuablebargaining chip. She finally had, but her price was Daric. With a marriage, the House of Nighthall gained the heart of the continent, and Daric could finally save his people, if not his kingdom. His entire life revolved around bringing them out of this seemingly endless drought. He would do it, even if it meant tying himself to that witch Astraea.
“You’re of value to me,” Daric said softly.
Rain bit her lip to keep from saying—or perhaps doing—something rash. In moments like this, she wished that Daric would lean in and kiss her. And if he didn’t, that maybe she would find the courage to kiss him.
She let the thought seduce her and then pushed it away, as always. “And you’re of value to everyone.”
A shadow flitted through his eyes, the cloud of responsibility, and she wished she’dsaid nothing.
“Let’s talk of happier things,” Daric said briskly. “Open your present.”
Rain brushed her fingers over the velvet again, wondering what could be inside. When Daric said Leathen had nothing left, he meant it. Even the castle had been mostly stripped of tapestries, rugs, and furnishings and was in terrible condition, making cold mornings like this difficult to face. In return forthe food Leathen so desperately needed, their neighbors, and especially Raana, now had everything the House of Ash could possibly sell or barter.
King Wilder had finally been forced to offer up the last thing he had of value: Daric.
If Rain had truly been a member of the Ash family, she supposed she would have gone first, likely to the House of Lockwood in the south to guarantee their continuedfriendship and assistance. They were the only ones with a marriageable male royal: a king much older than she who’d been widowed for years and whose heirs were daughters.
Any of the Lockwood princesses would have been better for Daric than Astraea. Regrettably, they were all married and also offered nothing in the way of easily accessible water.
“Your patience far exceeds mine,” Daric said,reaching for the box.
Rain twisted away from him with a smile. “Don’t you dare. I’ll open it. Right now, I’m savoring it.”
