“But why keep it secret at all?” I ask, frustration bleeding through. “Why rule by proxy? From the shadows? Why not unite the kingdom and let us all work together to break the curse?”
“And tell everyone there’s a tightening noose hanging around their necks?” He shakes his head. “No. I tried that once. It didn’t end well.”
Something clicks.
A passage I’d read in the library. A half-burned account of panic and collapse.
“Is that why Abrellia fractured?” I ask quietly.
“Yes.” His voice hardens. “Most people don’t care about politics or prophecies. They just want to survive one day at a time. You’ve lived among them; you know that.”
I study him then.Reallystudy him.
So hedoesunderstand his people. Even cut off. Even shrouded in mist. He cares.
And then I think of my father. Of the men who’ve thrived in corruption. Of systems that protect them.
“It’s exactly that kind of thinking,” I say slowly, “that allows people to remain ignorant.”
He looks at me. “You think the truth would make things better?”
“I think sacrificing twelve innocent women,” I say, my voice tight, “letting them and their families believe they’re being honored by the gods, only to doom them to fire and ash, is cruel.”
“But you knew,” he says softly.
“Yes,” I reply. “But only because I—”
I stop. The words catch in my throat. I look down at the reins in my hands.
Keiren clears his throat.
“I admire your courage, Fire,” he says. “But not everyone wants to face the truth.”
I fall silent.
And for the first time, I realize the forest isn’t just his prison.
It’s his shield.
And I’m riding closer and closer to the one line he can’t cross.
I goad my mount into a canter, then a gallop, taking off at top speed. Keiren follows my lead, but we quickly pull ahead. Brimstone is fast—faster than I imagined. When we reach the edge of the ridge, I pause. Something tugs in my chest like an invisible thread, pulling me north.
Keiren reins in beside me. “What is it?”
I don’t answer, just nudge Brimstone forward, veering toward a thin, overgrown trail, a path that snakes beyond the safety of the forest.
“Fire,” Keiren calls after me. “That way leads out of the kingswood.”
I ignore him, every nerve in my body sparking with instinct.
Then I hear it—a distant whinny, sharp and unmistakable.
My heart seizes, and I kick Brimstone into a gallop.
“Wait—!” Keiren shouts behind me. “I can’t protect you out there!”
But I don’t stop. I can’t.
