A beat of silence, punctuated by Kael’s long exhale.
“I know you don’t trust her, Maven, and I know you don’t care for her. But she’s more than just a prophecy.”
What? What prophecy? What hadn’t he told her? A heaviness that felt a lot like betrayal settled onto her. He hadn’t been honest with her. It stung more than she wanted to admit.
Maven’s answer was quieter, but Alina could hear the venom in his words. “You think that girl’s the best hope we have, but I tell you, she is the last mistake we’ll ever make.”
The door flew open, and Maven stormed down the corridor away from her, obviously furious and too deep in thought to notice a single thing around him.
Kael lingered behind. She could hear him shuffling about and then flopping heavily onto a chair, sighing, and then hitting his fist on the table.
Quietly, Alina retreated, her feet numb, and wandered through the Caves, meeting people, greeting some, ignoring others. For along while she sat on the balcony above the mess hall, where she had watched Kael down below so long ago. Her mind raced and her heart stuttered. What was she to him? A tool? What were his plans for her? Was he really attracted to her? Did he even like her? Or was it all just a ploy to make her comply? She felt herself crumbling into a tiny ball of sadness and disappointment. But it had felt so real. When he had held her hand at the Festival of Lights, when they had danced. When he looked at her as if she were the only thing that truly mattered. When he had kissed her the night before. Had he really been acting all the time? Somehow, she couldn’t believe it. Or was that just a naïve fantasy she didn’t want to let go? Finally, stiffly and half frozen, she got up and walked with heavy steps to where her heart tugged her. She found herself in front of Kael’s door, fingers poised to knock, when it swung open from the inside.
Kael stood there in a half-unbuttoned shirt, his dark hair mussed and feet bare against the freezing floor. For a moment neither of them said a word.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he said, voice a shade softer than it had been with Maven.
Alina shook her head. “I need to ask you something.” Her voice came out flat, scraped raw by too many secrets.
Kael looked her over, eyes flicking from her face to her hands, then back again. “Come in.”
He stepped aside to let her into the room. It was smaller than she’d expected, barely more than a cot and a battered trunk, but the walls were covered in maps and notes, and the blanket on the bed was thick and soft, piled with furs for extra warmth—the only hint of comfort in the place. The bed looked rumpled, as if he had just been lying in it.
Kael closed the door behind them and turned, arms folded, jaw working as he waited for Alina to speak.
“I heard you talk to Maven.” If he was surprised he didn’t show it. “What did he mean?” Alina demanded. “About the prophecy. About me.”
He hesitated, which was answer enough.
“Tell me, Kael,” she pressed. “I heard you. I want the truth.”
He ran a hand through his hair, then walked over to the bed and sat down hard on its edge. “It’s nothing,” he started, but at her glare he sighed and gave up the lie.
“There’s an old story,” he admitted. “From after the old king, your uncle, died. It says someone like you—someone Gifted, but more than Gifted—would break the wheel and either save us or destroy us. They think—we think—you’re that person.”
Alina let out a laugh that was all teeth. “So I’m your pet prophecy? A weapon you can’t wait to point at my father?”
Kael’s eyes shot up, gold and bright with anger. “You’re not a weapon. You’re not a prophecy. You’re you.” His voice softened, and for the first time, she saw the hurt in him. “But Maven… the others… they see you as a chance.”
She looked away, blinking hot tears she refused to let fall. She would not show weakness, not here, not now. “And you?”
“I see you,” he said, voice breaking. “Not what you might do. What you are.”
“But when you abducted me, you didn’t see me. You snatched the weapon.”
He looked at her then, long and with a sad tinge in his eyes. “True. But—”
“But what?” she almost shouted. “What, Kael, tell me! Now is not the time for your cryptic one-liners!”
Silence again, but this time it was thick with something else. Alina crossed her arms, fighting the tremor that wanted to run through her.
“But now you are so much more.” He held her gaze. And she his.
“You could have told me. You should have.”
He shook his head. “I wanted you to decide for yourself. To get to know us, get to know the real picture and then make up your mind. You get to choose what you are. That’s more than I ever had.”
She stared at him, the rage inside crumbling to something softer and more dangerous. She remembered the first time he’d touched her in the palace dining hall and the way his hand had steadied her when they crossed the river, the firelight in the village square and the feel of his lips on her skin.
