I have to put Tashir first. I have to be the leader my people need.
Yes, yes, yes!Rowenna’s voice bursts back into my mind, as fierce as the swirling wind. She feels closer and more alive than she has in days.There’s the sister I know and love. I knew you’d figure it out.
But for some reason, her praise doesn’t feel as frothy and fortifying as it used to. On the contrary, a wave of queasiness grips me as I push to my feet and make my way across the clearing toward Alaric.
Twenty-Six
“What are you doing?” Delphine says with wide petrified eyes. “Get down! He’ll see you!”
“That’s precisely what I want,” I say, beckoning for her to follow.
After a moment of dithering, Delphine scrambles after me, tripping on the loose pebbles. “I don’t understand what you hope to accomplish by confronting him.”
“Who says I’m confronting him?”
“What else could you possibly do?” Delphine sputters loudly, but Alaric is still so lost in the past, he doesn’t seem to register our voices. He doesn’t even glance up until we’re looming over him—like a boot poised to squash a beetle.
“Y-you!” He gapes at me as he scuttles backward. “What are you doing here? And who’s that?” He points at Delphine,
With his darting eyes and tear-streaked cheeks, he looks nothing like the steely prince he portrays on the outside. Just the lonely, broken boy he hides within. Especially as he brings his fist to his chest, protecting whatever he unearthed from the ground. My fingers itch to grab it—to force him to reveal what it is and how it works—and Alaric notices. He slips the object into an inner pocket of his jacket and hurriedly yanks his gloves back on, hackles up and teeth bared like a guard dog.
I smile pleasantly and plunk down in the dirt beside him.
I don’t know whose eyes bulge wider, Alaric’s or Delphine’s.
“This is my maid, Delphine.” I pat the dusty ground beside me, but she shakes her head, blinking like I’ve completely lost my mind.
Maybe I have.
“Your maid?” Alaric repeats. “The same maid you begged me to protect you from just last week? The one you blamed for the disturbing carvings in your closet, who you were ready to condemn for Rowenna’s death?”
Delphine sucks in a breath, and I feel her wounded gaze.
“I was wrong.” I shoot her an apologetic smile. “We worked all that out.”
“How nice.” Alaric’s voice drips with sarcasm. “Unfortunately, I can’twork outwhat either of you are doing up here now.”
“We want to know whatyou’redoing up here, surrounded by all that golden light?” I gesture around, as if recreating the scene. “It’s a memory, isn’t it? The truth about what happened to your brother?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was only praying,” Alaric snaps.
I raise a skeptical brow. “Why hike all the way up here just to pray? It doesn’t make sense. Seeking privacy to watch such a harrowing memory, however, makes perfect sense. Especially since it paints your father in such terrible light.”
Alaric’s face grows redder with every word. “You followed me up here, didn’t you? You plan to blackmail me, is that it?”
“Indira, this is too much,” Delphine cuts in. “This isn’t what I agreed to—”
“Actually, our trip had nothing to do with you,” I continue calmly. “Delphine and I have been sneaking up this mountain most nights to look for clues about Rowenna’s death.”
Behind me, Delphine lets out another strangled breath—as if I’m betraying her, like Rowenna did—but I keep my focus on Alaric, prayingmy blunt honesty will catch him off guard. Maybe even encourage him to follow suit.
“We were searching a cave when we saw you slink past,” I explain. “It seemed suspicious that you were creeping around the very same mountaintop my sister was searching when she died. It seemed more likeyouhad been followingher,and I wanted to know why.”
Alaric blinks several times, as if I’m speaking a different language. “Rowenna came up here? When? Why? How do you know any of this?”
“Unfortunately, I still don’t have a clue why my sister did most of the maddening things she did on this mountain, but I’m beginning to realize it doesn’t matter. Knowing won’t bring her back. Just like watching that awful memory won’t bring Besnik back. So why do you torture yourself?”
Alaric scoffs and shakes his head. “You wouldn’t understand—” he starts to say, but I cut him off.
