“Quite right, Councilwoman Farkas. I see no point in changing the plans. We will continue with Théo’s strategic pairing attack plans. Let us see just how many Ordélesans we can snuff out with his guidance.” The king stood, and the others hurried to follow. They offered short bows as he exited the room.
Théo fled the chamber, and I was the shadow on his heels. His every step was a river pulling me along in its wake. His tread was silent over smooth stone. Voices drew closer, feminine pitch rising—growing more placating with every breath.
“Apologies, Father. I only wished to help.” I could see her face now. The crestfallen look in her eyes speared me through—speared Théo through.
Ayla.
Our emotions tied together in an unsolvable knot, mine and Ayla’s and Théo’s.
“Yes. I imagine it is rather past time for you to step up.” The king faced away from me, his face hidden yet again, but the chastisement in his voice was unmistakable. “Are you finally ready to take on the blood that comes with running a kingdom? Or are you still too squeamish?”
“I… What if there was another way? One where we need not resort to killing?” Ayla was fighting a losing battle, and Théo loved her all the more for it. His unending devotion to her tasted like honey on my tongue, sweet and pure.
The king scoffed, moving to stride past her. “I should have expected nothing more. You do not understand what it takes to be a ruler. Perhaps you never will.”
“Come now, Brother,” the prince tutted, sidling up beside the pair. “The princess will serve her purpose yet. She had endless potential, we need only guide her in the right direction.”
“Then you do it. I don’t have time for her childish games.” He left without even a glance at Ayla.
Had he looked at her, the girl he claimed as his daughter, he would have seen what Théo and I did. He would have seen a girl with a heart too big, too caring, too close to bursting. He would have seen a girl who would do anything to please him.
“Don’t worry, my dear. I will take care of everything.” The prince patted her on the shoulder in a move so patronizing, Théo flinched. I gritted my teeth against it.
Ayla smiled up at him—a teary, distracted falsehood. “Of course. I will be ready when you call.”
The scene stuttered—a stomach dropping, time warping thing—and a grand ballroom rose up around me, Ayla and Théo in the center of the sweeping dance floor.
I could not grasp the way time worked in these dreams—it slipped through my fingers like water, past and present and future—and my head began to pound in time to a clock, ticking back, back, back, just out of sight. My focus drifted, and my eyes fluttered shut. When I opened them again, the pair stood closer to me. Their faces were strained, lips pressed in thin lines and eyes hard.
Their words had taken on a distant quality. Snippets reached me in fits and starts. They were upset—arguing. Ayla’s expression shifted from peace to annoyance and back again. She raised her hands in a placating gesture as her lips moved soundlessly.
“I know he is your father, and he might have been a good man once, but he is unfit to rule this kingdom as it stands. I cannot sit by and watch his poor decisions affect our people. I cannot stand by and allow him to treat you as someone unworthy of respect.” Théo’s voice rang in my ears, suddenly clear.
“Théo…” Ayla said, on a sigh. “They are my family. I must stand by them.”
“Even if they would not stand by you?”
“What does that mean?” Ayla’s eyes narrowed as she regarded her friend.
Théo ran a pale hand through his fallen-snow hair. “Your father and uncle will use you to any end. They know you will not question them. They know you will never stand up against them because it is not in your nature, and it will be your ruination.”
Ayla took several deep breaths. “Is that truly what you think of me? That I am but a silly, mindless girl who would follow the whims of terrible men? That I am not strong enough to be anything else?” The words were not said in anger. Hurt was written plainly across Ayla’s face, and her throat was thick with tears.
I choked them down with a heavy swallow, the salt of her pain grating on my tongue.
“No,” Théo breathed. “No, of course not, but I know how you love them. How you desire their approval. I only want you to take care of yourself. I do not wish to see you hurt again.”
“I must stand by them. It is the right thing to do,” Ayla insisted, eyes squeezed tight against the truth.
“Maybe,” Théo agreed. He looked straight through her with those pale gray eyes of his and saw to the core of her fear anyway. “But you wouldn’t be alone. Even if you chose a different path than the one your father has set for you, you would never be alone. You will always have me.”
“Please, stop… I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Ayla pleaded, expression crumpled.
I drifted closer, drawn in by her pain. If only I could take it into my own chest, lighten the burden on hers. Was the urge mine or Théo’s? I could no longer tell, lost in the recesses of my own mind.
“You are strong enough to stand up to them. You aremorethan enough!” Théo insisted, but she cut him off again.
“You were supposed to be the one person I could truly rely on. Théo, I counted on you to let me make my own decisions when no one else would. I trusted you to always take my side, but maybe I was wrong.” Ayla turned away, hiding her tears from him for the first time in their long years of friendship.
