“I know I can trust you to carry out any order I give. You have always been my best. As such, your failure to conquer the north and to insteadloseterritory came as quite the shock.”
Farrin bowed his head.
“Which got me thinking. I’m afraid your missing sword is only a symptom of your dilemma.”
Farrin blinked. “Sir?”
“Yes, you have lost ground ever since the Verglas Princess began her march,” Tenebris continued. “Normally, I would say she must be quite powerful—and if Sunnira is even half-right, she sounds like a true monster. But even a monster shouldn’t be able to beat you, Runt. Not withyourmagic. This means you must have held back when fighting her.”
“When I first met Princess Rakel, I had hopes she could be convinced to fight with us.” Farrin realized his mistake as soon as he spoke.If he knows she’ll never join, he’ll have her killed before she faces him in battle.“I still believe she could be recruited,” he added.
“It doesn’t matter,” Tenebris said. “Even if she was brought over, she’s too powerful. Her strength lieseverywhere. She can defend and attack—she could even cripple a country just by using her powers in their growing season. That is too much power. I stand on my previous judgment; she’ll have to be put down.”
Farrin’s heart roared with rage and desperation, but he kept his face bland and his arms locked behind him. “As you wish, sir.”
“Mmhmm. But that still leaves the matter of yourfailure.I can accept that you were not too harsh on her from the start, but it doesn’t explain why you failed to kill or capture her in your numerous meetings with her.”
“I have no explanation for my failure, sir.”Giving an excuse would only make it worse.
“Ahh, but you see, Ido.I heard about Kavon’s plan to have one of the princess’s own guards kill her. It would have been beautiful if he could have pulled it off, but Kavon chose a poor target to carry out the deed, and it failed. It was a shame, but it was also so veryinteresting. I heard how you raced off the minute you found out about the plot—in order to warn the princess.”
Farrin was very, very still.
Tenebris drew closer. His eyes glittered in the darkness, and his smile was wide and toothy. “If you had failed me because of her power, I could have forgiven you, Runt. But to failmebecause of personal feelings? Because of a weak attraction?”
“I do not know of what you speak, sir.” Farrin’s voice was strong, even though he knew what was coming.The best I can hope for is that he will punish me, and not Rakel…
“Do not lie to me,” Tenebris hissed. He placed his hand over Farrin’s heart. A black flower made of shadows bloomed around his fist.
Pain clawed its way up Farrin’s body. His heart fought to beat, but it was like a hand gripped the organ and squeezed. His magic flooded his body in an angry rush, but he held it back.If I deflect this, he might kill me.Farrin was able to stand for a few seconds before his knees buckled and he choked, unable to breathe. He fell to the ground, incapable of even lifting his head up, but he didn’t utter a sound.
“You are smitten with that wretched princess—enough that you would defy me to keep her alive.” Tenebris stepped over Farrin’s prone body. “When I saved you from those stinking pits, you told me you would be my defender, and now I discover you long for myenemy?” Tenebris tisked and crouched down next to him.
Everything in Farrin screamed for relief. His lungs burned, and his heart was stabbed through. He clenched his jaw and refused to let a sound escape even as his vision blurred. The pain was unimaginable. In all his life, he had never encountered a pain so terrible and all-consuming.
“At least your senseless feelings can amuse me,” Tenebris sighed. “Did you really think she would fall foryou—a creature of slaughter and death? You are the same gladiator savage I pulled out of slavery, covered in the blood of others, Farrin Graydim. If she knew what you were, she would be filled with disgust and hatred. You have fallen too far, and her light will never reach you.”
Farrin’s ears rang, and everything grew dim. Just when he thought he was about to pass out or die, Tenebris wiggled a finger, and the curse retreated, sinking back under Tenebris’s skin.
Farrin gasped for air. His body ached all over, and his muscles shook. Even with the pain gone, he still couldn’t move. He was numb, and what bits he could feel screamed with pain.
Tenebris stood and dusted off his knees. “I advise that you re-center yourself, Colonel Graydim. I will not accept another disappointment due to your affection for the Verglas Princess. If you fail me again, your entire regiment will suffer with you.”
Tenebris left without a backward glance, and a cold sweat broke out on Farrin’s forehead as he coped with the brokenness left in his body from Tenebris’s curse. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe.
He’s right.The small, hopeless thought burned in his mind in spite of his physical pain.Rakel, loyal to her country and to her people—though they treated her with contempt—could never look past the blood I’ve shed and the innocents I have killed. If she knew…
The flickering hope he had carried deep in his chest, the one that flared whenever he was near her, snuffed out.
CHAPTER 7
AN UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT
“Grandma said she has syrup snaps packed, so if you want some, Princess, we can ask her!” Gerta’s enthusiasm was infectious as she waved her red-mittened hands in the air.
“Perhaps after we arrive at Tana.” Rakel tucked a blanket tighter around the little girl. “What do you think, Kai?”
Kai shrugged, but he stayed huddled close between her and Gerta. He hadn’t said much since discovering his magic, although he had brightened when Rakel asked him to come with her to Tana. He—and his mother—were coming, along with little Gerta and Hilda. Privately, Rakel knew it was necessary for Kai to accompany them for the sake of his magic, but she didn’t know if it was wise for Gerta to journey with them as well.
