Riyan furrowed his eyebrows and raised his voice slightly. “I would never lie to you! Look, I saw you stand up to the Duke’s daughter. You were so commanding and…and strong! I just…I knew I had to be with you after Isaw that.”
I gripped my arms again and backed away. “How could you know about that? That happened in ourdressing room!”
Riyan clumsily slapped his palm to his face and cursed underhis breath.
“You were spying on us?” I cried. “You disgustingpiece of—!”
“We all were!” Riyan snapped. His low voice echoed around the stone. “All the suitors, even your precious Lord Hyton. We all sawit happen.”
My head swam as I scanned the stones, looking for an explanation. Even Riyan was not tall enough to have looked in the windows of the dressing room. No one else was around when the altercation happened, either.
Then it hit me—the wall of mirrors. Duke Hyton was wealthy beyond my comprehension, but not even his own Duchess’s dressing room had mirrors that largeor numerous.
My breath skated over my lips in near disbelief. “Those mirrors, theywere magic!”
“I, uh…will neither confirmnor deny.”
“Were they? Tellthe truth!”
Riyan threw up his hands. “They were cursed! Duke Hyton said if we ever told a woman about them, a…uh, great misfortune would befall eachof us.”
I shook my head. “What misfortune?”
Riyan’s eyes fell to the ground. “I will not say, but you’d better hope I didn’t activate the curse, foryour sake.”
A scream crashed out of my throat. I was sick and tired of playing games when it came to my own life. I wanted a damnanswer already!
He shrank back as I bared my teeth. “You broke your agreement with Duke Hyton because you saw me smack Annalisa? What, did you just want a wife as violent as you are? Did you want me to be the perfectkiller too?”
Riyan hunched forward and his blue eyes were as big asmoons. “No.”
I crossed my arms and grounded my feet in the cobblestones. “Then tell me. I…I at least deservethe truth.”
Riyan nodded with a guilty look on his face. He shook his head like he was trying to swim through his own drunkenness. “You…you stood up for Brietta. You were so kind to her. And…and you said she was nota half-giant.”
Riyan’s voice became slower and more thoughtful. “As soon as I heard that, I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. You had never even met me, but I felt like…you already knew me. I feltseen—and it was the most wonderful feeling, Serafina. I could not givethat up.”
I knew what he was saying about feeling seen, but I had never felt the same way about it. I had always felt vulnerable, like I was trapped behind glass as someone examined mytrue intentions.
But that was not the only part of Riyan’s confession that did not make sense. “Why would you feel seen? Why would you care if Brietta isa half-giant?”
His watery blue eyes looked into mine and his mouth turned up in a tiny smile. “Because, Serafina,Iam nota half-giant.”
My drunken haze fogged my vision. I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them again, expecting Riyan to shrink to the size of a normal man when I looked back at him. “You…are not a half-giant? Then whatare you?”
“A curse,” Riyan groaned. “Long story short, my blood is full of magic and…it made me bigger than Ishould be.”
Riyan ran his hand through his hair and looked down to the dirt. “My mother came home for a summer holiday after her third year at Ashmore. She went on a walk to the top of Nordingaard alone and came back down with me. I’m a child of magic, Serafina. I don’t havea father.”
Even in the wildest faerie stories I grew up reading, I had never heard of a child of magic. “How can you not have a father? Everyone has to havea father.”
Riyan shrugged. “My grandfather told me the day she went up the mountain she was completely normal. Then they found her on the ground outside of our fortress, screaming for help. I was born right then. I came out the size of a one-year-old…I destroyedmy mother.”
Riyan sniffed and clumsily wiped a tear off his cheek. “She had to leave school. She can’t even walk because I…was too big. She went mad at the first sight of me and can’t talk anymore either. I completely ruinedher life.”
He looked at me with glassy red eyes and took a shuddering breath. “And I ruinedyours too.”
I gripped the fabric of my skirt. I tried to swallow my guilt down my sore throat. I should not have yelled at him, or told him I hated him and wanted to kill him. Riyan was not wrathful or cruel like I thought. Hewas just…sad.
