“Avery, stop. Please,” Savine said, the words catching in his throat as he spoke. “I don’t deserve this. I don’t. I am a broken man, and you cannot fix me.”
Damn, this was all too much for him to take in. Suddenly, his body felt too heavy for his legs to support. He slid to the ground, feet splashing into the shores of the lake. His legs supported his head as he felt his body fold into itself. But Avery was there. Her steady presence wrapped across his back. He leaned into her, being cradled by this tiny woman.
“Savine, when I look at you, I don’t see a broken man. I see a man who has been told lies. Yes, lies even from those who should be incapable of lying. You have been told lies all your life until they became your truths. But you are more than the lies your father told you. You are more than your experience in a prison cell all those years ago.”
Savine needed to tell her all of his past. All the pain. The truth of who he really was and what he intended to use her for. Put it out there, and if she was still there after she heard it, then maybe what she said had truth to it.
“Avery, I need to tell you something. I should have told you weeks ago, but you will hate me after I tell you. I couldn’t bring myself to let you know how much I will use you. Not after. Not after we started becoming friends,” Savine said.
Avery couldn’t hide the surprise on her face as she sat down beside him, bare feet in the water. Abyss damn him. He was going to see that expressive face turn to hatred.
He pulled in a jagged breath. “I’m not just Savine Thorne. I am Savine Thorne Ralathain, Prince of Latiah, heir to the Latian throne. This civil war began when I fled my father, but I cannot dethrone him.I cannot stop what I began. Not without damning myself to death. No Latian subject can,” Savine said.
Avery looked at him with a confused expression. There wasn’t the anger that he feared, though. She didn’t speak, giving him space to tell his story.
“All the rulers of Aeritis have a protection on them. Their subjects can’t kill them. If a subject kills their ruler, they forfeit their own life. The same goes for the heirs. My father, Jasper, has tried to plot my death for nearly a century now. He’s hired assassins, bought foreign soldiers, and had me falsely imprisoned in Nepheli. But before that, he hurt me in ways no child should ever experience. He tried to make me weak, to prevent me from inheriting what he did not receive.
“He’s never been a true king of Latiah. True kings and queens of our nation hold dominion over the flora and the fauna of Aeritis. Jasper holds control of the fauna, and I have the power to communicate with the forests. As you know, I can control plants and use them as a weapon. Jasper can communicate with animals, but that is the extent of his essence in that regard. He has the power to control minds, and can inflict pain on his victims, but that is not a typical trait of a Latian ruler.”
Avery continued to look at him with trepidation. He didn’t blame her. He was dumping a lot on her at this moment, but he couldn’t stop. Now that the words flowed, it was like a force that would not stop.
“My grandfather was like me. His essence was rooted in the natural world, and when he took the boughs and antlers, he gained the power of both the flora and fauna. When his essence finally diminished, and his soul went to Arcadia, everyone thought my father would finally inherit his true power as king. He did not. Instead, my powers only strengthened. I still cannot call on the animal world, but mycommunication with the forest grew stronger. They refuse to answer to Jasper and are loyal only to me. Even the ancient forests bordering Orofine will not speak to him.
“This spurred the civil war. We had a fight over events leading to my grandfather’s death. That night the forest woke me in my sleep, and I heard a prophecy about the fate of Aeritis. When I returned home, my grandfather was dead, and my father was in a rage over not wearing the cedar boughs on his crown. I knew in his anger that he would finally lose control and kill me. My only hope in that moment was knowing that he would kill himself in the process, allowing Kyla to come into power. My mother intervened, and the killing blow he intended for me struck her.” Savine sucked in his breath as he said the words. His mother, always so frail and unhappy, had been a shell of a person most of his life. Despite her lifetime of grief, she stopped the father of her children from killing one of them. Savine looked into Avery’s eyes and saw the glistening tears pouring down.
“Kyla and I fled our home with as many loyal followers who dared leave with us. Once he knew I had the full power of the forest behind me, his plans to have me murdered increased, but by that time, I saw how few allies he had. He’d spent years isolating and abusing the minority populations in our land. They were angry, and they were tired of his leadership. We banded together and began winning battles against the king and his loyalists. Despite all these years and all the bloodshed that’s covered this land, we cannot defeat him. Not without an outsider willing to kill him. I’ve tried all that I could to get support from other nations. Raikin spends many months out of the year rallying support for our cause. Against all these efforts, we never removed him from power. Nobody would answer our call to end his life. And he hasn’t succeeded in killing me yet either.”
Avery pursed her lips, as if she was processing everything Savine told her. She tossed small pebbles into the lake and didn’t make eye contact with him.
“I think I understand why you didn’t tell me that Jasper was your father. Who would ever want to claim him as a father, after all he’s done to you? But what I don’t understand is how I could physically help you defeat him. I’m no assassin. I don’t understand how you found me, small and injured, on Quartz Mountain and came to the conclusion that I’d make the perfect assassin. You expect me to kill him because I’m a human? You want to use me for your own gain.” She shook her head, the hurt on her soft features. Savine tried to respond, but she raised her hand, silencing him.
“And why would you keep the secret that you’re the heir to the throne? Did you hope that I’d hand you a kingdom without knowing? I mean, I guess I always assumed you would take control if you won the civil war, but it wasn’t a given. For all I knew, the king had a kind-hearted prince to rule after him.” Her voice had a hint of sarcasm to it as she said this last sentence. The mirthless chuckle she let out made Savine cringe. She hated him already.
Savine paused, waiting for her to go on, but she didn’t. She turned to the lake and went back to throwing pebbles into the water’s edge. “At first, when I found you, I thought Althea sent you as the solution to my dilemma, since she marked you with her five stars on your forehead. That’s why I made you swear fealty to me. I hoped that one day I could force you to assassinate the king of Latiah. But now? The very idea of causing you pain or placing you in harm’s way makes me hate myself. You are good. You are a healer, not an assassin. You’re meant to change the world by bringing people joy and kindness. There’s not enough of that in our world. And I’m asking you to tear your ownsoul apart by killing my own father. Abyss, damn me, I don’t know if I could guarantee that you would survive the assassination.”
Avery’s eyes sparked with light, and she pulled a tiny green orb from her hand. It floated, lapping out on the ripples, before sinking into the lake, a supernatural light casting down into the depths. She didn’t speak for a while as she continued to cast little round lights into the lake, illuminating the inky water. As she worked, she chewed on her lip, deep in thought.
“I am mad that you lied to me, and just so you know, I think withholding information is lying. It’s your loophole, and I think you’re still keeping a lot from me. Like the whole imprisonment thing? Once you said you were imprisoned for loving a woman or something cryptic. Now you say you were falsely imprisoned because of your father. Well, which is it?”
No, that was too much. Savine would not talk about Lilith. He’d told no one about their relationship and how his mistake had cost him his freedom and Lilith her life.
But was it worth losing Avery over this secret? And the bond he felt between them. That changed everything he’d assumed about his own soul and what had happened to him in the Tower of Teeth.
“You have every right to be mad at me. And I have lied, you’re right. I’ve been lying to myself and to you. But what you’re asking me to tell you is something I’ve told no one. Kyla and Garnel tried to talk to me about my imprisonment after it happened, but I refused. I still do.”
Avery looked at Savine, and the tight lips and frown made that growing bond feel stronger somehow, like she was sending her anger down their connection.
“Savine, I want to trust you. I thought you were one of the few people I could trust here. And I get it. You’ve been through a lot. Butif your secrets are going to jeopardize my survival? Well, then we have a bigger issue,” Avery said, shaking her head.
The bond between them bucked and twisted. How could she not notice it? Surely she did? Savine was getting pressured to confess his deepest, most painful secrets by Averyandtheir bond.
Savine sighed. “So much of what happened in Nephel has ruined me. I went there as a visiting prince. I fell in love with a princess who was in a political marriage. It is rare here to marry instead of waiting for a soulmate, but it happens, especially to unmated royalty. She loved me in return, and I thought at the time we would be bonded soulmates, and she would be released from the marriage. The bond never happened, and they found us out. Her father and husband had her killed for our affair. Then they imprisoned me, tortured me— my body, mind, and soul— for two years before I escaped. I’ve told you some of that part of the story. But… Lilith… Only years later did I find out my father manipulated her mind to fall in love with me in hopes the Nepheli royalty would kill me for it.”
Tears were streaming down Avery’s face again. Savine felt drained, like he’d poured all of himself out to her.
“I’ve never told anyone that,” he said flatly.
Avery pulled him into a tight hug, wet cheeks on his shoulders. She held him so long the moon began ducking below the distant mountain on the far side of the lake. Finally, she pulled away and looked at Savine. “I’ll do it.” Her voice came out with a confidence that Savine didn’t expect. “I’ll kill the king. For what he’s done to you and your people. If I’m the only one who can do it, then I’ll step up. I’m not capable yet. Don’t expect me to do it tomorrow. But I’ll train harder and figure out how to stop him,” Avery said. Her face hardened, resolute by what she’d decided.
