He threw up his hands. “I’m not here to fight you, Thia.”
The slight rasp in his voice pulled at something in my chest. A reminder that I’d cared about him. That maybe I still did. “Then walk away.”
“I can’t. I need—”
I didn’t wait for him to finish, slashing again with my bow.
He dodged, hand returning to his sword. “Listen to me, Thia.”
“I’ve done enough of that already.”
I’d listened, and I’d believed him. But I understood now. Ericen might be a better person than his mother. He might not believe in the ways of his people that led them to wage war and conquer nations, to spill blood in the name of their god.
But he was still the prince of Illucia, and he would not betray that.
The air stilled. My hand tightened on my bow. His eyes traced the line of one of my leather-gloved hands—the glove he’d given me. Then I moved. Quick as a wingbeat, he drew a sword from the sheath on his back. I nocked an arrow, drew, and loosed just as his sword knocked my bow aside. The arrow grazed his arm, but he didn’t slow, sweeping the flat side of his sword toward my ankles.
Kiva’s sword caught the blow. She followed through, throwing Ericen back. He moved with the blow, easily keeping his balance.
“Thia, wait—”
I slashed again, not giving him time to speak. He deflected it, then shot forward inside my reach. I tried to twist away, but he caught my wrist and swung me hard into the wall beside the door.
My breath left my lungs in a whoosh of air, but I clung tight to my bow, even as he pinned my wrist into the wall. I felt the heat of his body against mine, a flare of energy in the chill night air. Felt the rise and fall of his chest in time with my own, his gaze locked onto mine.
“You can be more than what she made you,” I whispered.
He recoiled. Kiva’s footfalls were the only warning he had before she slammed into him, throwing him aside.
Regaining his footing, he backed away, sword pointed down, other hand raised in a show of peace. “Listen to me. I came as soon as I learned about my mother’s plans with the fires. I didn’t want you to walk into a trap.”
“Funny,” Kiva growled. “This feels a lot like a trap.”
He ignored her. “Please, Thia.” His blue eyes were bright in the light of the moon, beseeching. “I need to talk to you. There’s something bigger going on here. Bigger than Illucia and Rhodaire.”
You have no idea.Illucia didn’t know about the rebellion forming against them from the ruins of the nations they’d decimated.
“After you escaped, I went back to the throne room. Auma and the monks were gone.”
Kiva flinched at the mention of Auma’s name.
“My mother was furious. The things she was saying—” He cut off, hesitating.
“What?”
“They didn’t make any sense.”
“You’renot making any sense, Ericen,” I growled.
“I’m trying to help you.” He stepped forward as if to press the sincerity of his words into us.
I stared at him expectantly.
His jaw worked. “She said something about the Sellas.”
I stilled. “What about them?”
“She wasn’t making any sense,” he repeated, shaking his head. “She was talking about them like—like they were still alive.”
