Thane nodded grimly. “That’s why we believe she might be suffering still.” He cleared his throat, unsure of how to broach the subject without offending his new bride. “When you, ah…had your encounter with the Ruin…did you, ah…”
“You wish to ask me if I went mad.” Her voice was clipped, her carefully-constructed civility slipping for once. He had not quite learned what made his wife tick.
“I mean no offense. I just thought you might have some insight into your sister’s frame of mind.”
Glencora sighed, twisting away. In the distance, Thane could hear the steady murmur Cos and Murdock in deep conversation. After Reyna was dragged out of the throne room, they’d called a break to the negotiations while Lorcan followed his guards out of the hall. Cos’s voice was pitched high, but his words were too hushed for Thane to overhear them.
“My father is angry,” Glencora said. “He’s not a very sentimental male, but he does care deeply for his daughters, in his own way. He won’t be happy about this.”
“I’m not particularly happy about it either,” Thane replied. “Lorcan and Reyna are both my friends, and I trust them more than I trust almost anyone else. And yet, they are strangely at odds over something as important as the future of our realms. Which is why I’ve asked you about the Ruin.”
Glencora let out a heavy sigh, shuddering beneath her elaborate golden gown. Unlike Reyna, she had taken to her courtly duties as if they’d always been hers, and she always looked the part. “I had a lot of terrible dreams while I was suffering from my encounter with the Ruin, but it was never inside of me the way it got inside of Reyna. Eislyn, though…” she whispered, twisting toward Thane with a face screwed up in pain. “She suffered greatly. For years, she didn’t speak. Even now, she doesn’t remember her years spent in silence. She often saw things that weren’t there.Hallucinations. So, yes. Reyna’s mind has no doubt been twisted by the Ruin. I daresay, it will be a very long time before she is fully healed.”
A ragged breath whistled from Thane’s throat. His shoulders folded in on themselves, like a roll of parchment. He realized he’d hoped for a far different answer, though the result wouldn’t have been any better than this. Neither option was bearable. But Reyna…he’d always thought she was a fire that could never be doused. Thane hated that the Ruin had managed to do it.
“Right,” he murmured. “I suppose that tells me everything I need to know.”
Glencora stepped forward and peered up at him with her twin pools of moonlight. “You’re trying to decide if you should sign the treaty with Lorcan and the other courts.”
He nodded.
She took his hand in hers. Her skin was cold to the touch, like ice. His gaze locked on their linked hands, the silver bands of their wedding rings glittering on their fingers. They’d married in haste, and they’d yet to spend the night together. Thane had not pushed it. She’d married him out of a sense of duty for her homeland. And he had done the same.
Love would come. In time.
“I love my sister,” she whispered up to him. “But I doubt she even knows what she’s saying right now. With her mind so far gone, we cannot believe her, which means there is no reason why you shouldn’t sign that treaty and every reason why you should. Without it, Tir Na Nog could descend into war once more. It would only take the tiniest spark to light a bonfire once more.”
Thane’s hand gripped hers. With a shuddering breath, he nodded. In his gut, he knew she was right. Tir Na Nog needed this treaty. A hundred years of war was enough. It had been more than enough. The time of bloodshed was over. To leave the darkness behind, they must face the dawn, even if it had not come without its own set of problems.
“You wait here,” he said, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll go speak with the other kings.”
“I should come with you,” she said. “My father will be more inclined to agree if I show support.”
Thane nodded. Together, they strode toward the dais and joined the other kings where they waited for Lorcan’s return. Their hushed conversation died on their lips.
Cos dragged a hand down his face, glancing toward his daughter. “I suppose you filled Glencora in on everything that’s happened.”
“She deserves to know,” Thane said.
“Indeed.” Cos frowned. “Murdock and I were trying to decide what to do. I have to admit, Thane, I’m none too happy about what’s happened here. I was on board with the treaty, and then that bastard knocked out my daughter and took her captive.”
Thane winced. The scuffle in the throne room had certainly not improved the situation. “If I may, I must point out it was one of the guards that knocked her out. Lorcan would never raise a hand against her.”
Cos’s silver eyes narrowed. “Unless he was cursed.”
“I thought you didn’t believe all that,” Thane said. “You said you wanted to sign the treaty anyway.”
“I did. And then he let his guards attack my daughter,” he said gruffly.
Glencora stepped forward, placing a comforting hand on her father’s arm. “You know how Reyna is. She never goes down without a fight. They would have escorted her out of here calmly if she hadn’t kicked a guard in the knee.”
Thane frowned. She’d seen that?
“You truly think we should still sign the damn thing?” Cos asked.
“Remember Eislyn,” Glencora whispered. “Remember what she was like.”
Pain flickered across the ice king’s face. “Trust me, Glencora. I will never forget it, not even if I live two hundred years more.”
