“Don’t hurt her!” I cried, rushing to the helm but Sereth only pressed the knife into Malia and she let out a cry. A trickle of blood fell down her burn-scarred neck, and I stopped. All time stood still.
“She’s no queen,” Sereth said. “She’s a coward. A blind little thing who hid when her people needed her most.”
I met Malia’s eyes, and even though her eyes never seemed to lock with mine, I knew she was looking at me. A tear fell down her cheek, and, shockingly, I felt my own eyes burning.
I can’t lose her.
We were all at the mercy of Sereth, the woman who brought woes on all of us.
CHAPTER TWENTY
MALIA
“Sereth,” I pleaded quietly. “Please… We can end this peacefully.”
“Peacefully? Our lives were only ever anythingbutpeaceful.” Sereth laughed, her flowery scent filling the air. “Once you’re dead, my guards will take care of the rest.”
“Sereth,let her go,” Elias commanded, his hand firm on his sword, but my stepsister laughed like a madwoman.
“My dearhusband, when have I ever listened to you? You are as much a coward as she is!”
“You’ve lied about everything,” Alaric said and stepped forward. As if warning him to stop, Sereth pressed the dagger deeper into my neck. I cried and he looked like he was going to go crazy because he could not help me.
“Since you’re all here, you might as well know the truth before she dies,” Sereth said. And she leaned her temple against mine so our faces were side by side. “Don’t you ever wonder why mother couldn’t stand you?”
“Because I couldn’t see,” I said feebly.
Sereth grinned. “Oh that wasn’t the only reason, sisterdear. She couldn’t stand you because you weren’t actually her daughter.”
My head reeled. What was she talking about?
“You were an orphan dropped at her doorstep, the daughter of a vile whaler and probably some woman on the streets. The queen couldn’t have her own children so she took you in as her own. But when you had problems with your sight, she loathed you even more.”
A lump formed in my throat.
“How?”
“I read her journal after she died, and the royal family records confirmed that you were, indeed, an orphan.”
I gaped, speechless.
“She didn’t care for you Malia, and it helped when you decided to disappear. She didn’t even mourn the full month for you. The black flags flew for four days, and then everyone forgot about you.” Her words cut into me as she said, “You’re a nobody, Malia. Always will be.”
Elias looked confused, while Alaric’s eyes never left me, his knuckles white on the hilt of his borrowed dagger.
A nobody.
I blinked and more tears fell. Sereth was right. Who had ever cared for me? Who had ever seen any worth in me? I looked at the sea, the sunlight sparkling on the water, like glitter dancing on the waves.
“Malia.” Alaric’s voice was firm, in control, like he always was, but when I looked at him again, I only saw tenderness, as if he were begging me, pleading with me to be able to hear some unspoken words he said.
I love you.
You are the most important person in the world to me.
To Sereth, I was a nobody, which was why she found me easy to bully, to push around. I was a nobody to my motherbecause I was never hers, and she probably despised me even more for it. And, perhaps, to others I’d met in my flight from home, I was a nobody, a reclusive witch with scars and a dark past.
But I mattered to Alaric.
