“If it makes you feel any better, Mother kept all these secrets fromme as well,” he said, then picked up a stick to poke the fire. “All these long years, Alexandra has been Mother’s darling protégée—and not once did I suspect, not even when they schemed together with Silas Veliant. Do you think Silas knew about Alexandra? I suspect not. Information is power, and secrets are the greatest information of all.”
“I’ve no interest in your mutterings.” James lay down, curling around the spike that bound him to the ground. His whole body ached to the point it was hard to tell the difference between the pain of injuries and the pain of muscles pushed far past what they could endure, and the cold seeping up from the frozen earth made it all the worse.
Then warmth pressed against his back.
Revulsion pooled in James’s gut, because Carlo had sat next to him. Was using him as afuckingbackrest.
“How quickly the tides change,” the Beast murmured, leaning an elbow on James’s ribs. “You pursued Ahnna with the righteousness of justice and the fires of hate fueling your every step, but now you stew in the sourness of guilt wrought by the clarity of truth. How does it feel to have wrongly condemned your lady love, my friend? How does it feel to have hurt her because you allowed yourself to be a pawn in Alexandra’s game?”
“The worst of what I’ve done, I did of my own volition,” James replied. “I don’t deserve the absolution of being deemed a pawn. Now fuck off, Carlo. I’m tired.”
“What does it say about you that you are not brought low by such truths?” Carlo’s voice was dreamy. “It is as though the darkness that resides in your heart drinks misery as if it were the finest wine.”
“Spare me your bad poetry.”
“My words are a song to which all others dance.” Carlo sang the words in falsetto. “Dance until their minds or their bodies break.”
There was no sense arguing with him. If James was to be awake, he was better off using the time to plan how he and Ahnna might escape.
Tuning out Carlo’s humming, James tested the length of ropebetween his wrists and the stake that had been hammered into the ground, which was sadly insufficient to get around the Beast’s neck.
It wouldn’t just be a matter of getting free of the ropes and making a run for it. Without weapons or supplies, there was every chance they’d escape Carlo, only to freeze to death or be eaten by the Blackreach lions. They needed to secure a few necessary items in their flight, and James set his mind to determining what they would need and what they could survive without.
You won’t need much given that Ahnna will stab you in the heart the first chance she gets.
The thought reared, sending his mental lists spinning into the ether, and James grimaced.
Your father plotted to overthrow her brother,his conscience whispered.He aimed to make you king of Ithicana—which you sat back and did nothing about. And then there is Taryn—can’t blame anyone but yourself for that.
James grimaced as Carlo’s humming increased in volume, hating the warm press of the other man’s back against his.
He needed a bow. Arrows. A knife. Some rope.
You destroyed her life while making her believe you were her friend. While trying to make her your lover.
James twisted his face into the rough wool blanket, and Carlo patted him soothingly, humming a lullaby.
Don’t worry about food. Leave the horses—you’ll never get them over the avalanche debris.
Convincing Ahnna to leave Dippy might take some doing, but hopefully the chance to escape Carlo would be enough motivation.
So your plan is to take her back to Harendell? So that William can execute her? Because no one is going to believe this story. They’ll think you’re trying to protect your lover.
James grimaced, every muscle in his body as tense as a board.
Maybe it was better to steal back the horses. They could escape into Amarid, then ride north through the Lowlands and over the border to Cardiff.
To Cardiff. Right into the arms of your family, who has already tried to murder Ahnna once. Besides, she wants to go to Ithicana.
The food in his stomach churned, because would Ithicana be any better? Would Aren protect his sister if it meant war?CouldAren protect her given the force of arms that William would bring to bear once the calm season arrived? The only real option was for Ahnna to flee south, beyond Valcotta, to the southern nations that cared little for northern politics.
Except she’ll never agree to run.
James’s hands balled into fists, the ropes digging painfully into his skin as the tendons in his wrists flexed.
“Easy, easy.” Carlo patted James again, and his temper snapped.
He slammed his elbow into the Beast’s kidney, then twisted and caught hold of his coat. James shoved Carlo to the ground and tried to reach for his throat, but the ropes binding his wrists snapped taut.
