Now, I had a chance of protecting Rhodaire.
Tomorrow, we would begin planning. Tonight, I relished in the simple feeling of being alive.
I sat beside Elko, who was in the process of regaling me with a tale of how she’d once stolen the sword of a Korovi Miska warrior who’d come with a visiting ambassador. She was several cups of wine in, and her boisterousness had only grown.
“She found me in the palace courtyard cutting down moonberry stalks,” she exclaimed. “She was so angry, she challenged me to a duel. Apparently touching a Miska’s sword is punishable by death.”
I smirked, thinking of Kiva’s run-in with Shearen back in Seahalla. She’d wanted to run him through for stealing Sinvarra.
Reflexively, I scanned the courtyard for her, but she still hadn’t arrived. Auma was also missing. Caylus sat across from us, his head buried in an ancient-looking tome on glass working, and Estrel was deep in conversation with Samra, Aroch lounging across her shoulders.
“Anyway,” Elko continued, “I thought my parents would talk my way out of it, but they made me fight.”
“Did you win?” I asked.
She laughed. “I was soundly thrashed. I think I still have a scar on my ribs.” She touched a spot on her side, looking far too wistful for someone describing an injury from a near-death experience.
A flurry of sharp whispers preceded Auma and Kiva stepping into the corridor. Though I couldn’t make out a word they said, it was clear from Auma’s mollifying gestures that she was trying to get Kiva to listen, and Kiva wouldn’t even stop walking.
“The least your friend can do is hear my sister out.” Elko’s voice had settled into an uncharacteristic graveness. “Auma had her reasons.”
I sighed. “And Kiva has hers.”
She snorted, her lips curling wryly. “Is that not how it always goes?” She shook her head. “It is too easy to forget how to talk to one another.”
“You’re assuming she ever knew how,” I muttered as Kiva broke away from Auma, leaving the princess behind. I set my talcé glass on the table, but it was as if Kiva could feel my intentions. She met my gaze from the far end of the table and shook her head. She didn’t want to talk.
Spotting her, Aroch leapt down and scurried over to her.
All our lives, Kiva had put duty before all else. She’d spent years pursuing her mother’s respect, honing herself into the weapon Captain Mirkova wanted—a shrewd, loyal, honorable weapon. Now she’d finally found something else she loved as much as being a guard, only to discover she’d been lied to.
It made my heart hurt.
Elko leaned forward, voice low. “Talking to people seems to be something you are good at. You seem to actually be friends with the murderous prince.”
“Son of a murderer prince,” I corrected, then winced. I didn’t actually know if that was true. All I knew was that Ericen hadn’t been involved with Ronoch or the demise of Jindae or the Ambriels.
Elko waved a hand, dismissing the distinction. “And what do you plan to do when you face the Illucian queen on a battlefield? Talk her into forgetting that your crows tore her family apart? Forgive her and convince her to be friends?”
“No.” My hand closed around my glass. I could never forgive her. Not after what she’d done. “I intend to make her pay.”
“How?” Elko pressed, leaning closer.
“What do you mean?”
“She killed my parents. My brothers. My friends. She burned my kingdom down and stole children from the ashes, turning them against their families, their nation. And still she strangles what little life remains. The effects of her actions will be felt for generations.” A dark fire glinted in the princess’s eyes. “She deserves to suffer as we have suffered. She deserves to die. Slowly.”
That quiet, burning heat in my veins stirred in response to Elko’s words. It riled and rose, and I closed my eyes against the memories of blood and fire that came with it, letting the familiar pain wash over me.
You want revenge, Ericen had said.You have every bit the potential to become a monster as I do.
A chill prickled at the back of my neck. Was that the Sella side of me that wanted that? Estrel had said I wasn’t one of them, but that thought did little to comfort me. If my thirst for blood and revenge didn’t come from my Sella side, then that only meant it was me.
I heard Elko lean back in her chair and opened my eyes to find her downing her wine. She slammed the empty cup on the table. “If I get the chance, I will extract every drop of blood owed from her body before I kill her. She will regret ever stepping foot in Jindae.”
Those words were a promise, and I believed them.
So much death. So much destruction.
