My soft laugh rang out. “You noticed.”
“It was hard to miss. They should’ve been woefully overgrown or dead after all this time.”
“I couldn’t allow them to die.”
“And now you’ve returned to prune them once more, though not by flitting past the curse of her thorns. This time, you boldly flew in on that wretched dragon, bringing my nieces back to me as if you’re a benevolent friend and not the son of the fiend entrenched on the Bledmire throne.”
“You knew I wouldn’t allow myself to be anything like him.”
“Ihopedyou’d never be like him.”
When my hand jerked, I pricked my finger on a thorn. I sucked away the blood before returning to my work. “I did look for you, you know.”
“Not hard enough or you would’ve found me.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to help you even if I did.” I shrugged. “Did you want me to find you?”
“Not really. My niece did.”
“She’s amazing.”
“And that’s why he’ll kill her,” she said sharply.
“I won’t allow that to happen.”
“I don’t believe you or any of your tattered group of friends will be able to do much to stop him.”
I’d watched as Ivenrail pinned Vera inside the frame after she refused to tell him where she’d hidden her. “You’re lucky he didn’t kill you. When he realized he couldn’t make you tell him, he had no reason to keep you alive.”
Her intent gaze scanned my face before she finally nodded. “I assume he wasn’t ready to end the torture, or perhaps hethought he could release me every now and then and poke me hard enough I’d tell him where to find her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For standing there and doing nothing while he locked me and all the others away?” she snarled.
“For that and many other things.” When I glanced at her, she flinched. “I won’t hurt you.”
“It’s true. If you’d wanted to, you would’ve done it back then.”
“Yet you look ready to bolt,” I said, forcing a chuckle.
With a grumble, she rounded the bench and sat. But though she leaned back against the stone, she kept her hands fisted on her lap. She’d freeze me—or try to freeze me—if I made one wrong move against her.
“Our alliance has always been the same,” I said. “I’m still the boy you betrothed to your niece.”
“Are you?”
“Please don’t suggest you did anything to help me remain the sweet little boy I once was.” Sarcasm clung to my words. “You showed me her picture, teasing me with a life I had almost no chance of building.”
“I always held hope. I saw that you’d find her, that you’d love her. I was fortunate he didn’t catch me that night. I was able to evade him for three more years, and during that time, I put everything into place.”
“And now your plan will come to fruition?”
“Like you with Tempest, all I can do is pray to the fates that it does.” She sucked in a breath and released it. “How far has he thinned your guards?”
“You ask if I’m still loyal? I have been since before my mother died.” I traced a fingertip across my neck, mimicking the slice of a blade. “Even his wretched collar didn’t break me. My guards remain true.” I shot her a sneer. “Are yours?”
She drew herself up stiffly. “Of course they are.”
