Page 121 of Rise of the Vicious Princess

Her eyes stung, but she refused to cry. He didn’t deserve to see that weakness. He didn’t deserve to see the absolute devastation that existed where once he’d lit a torch inside her heart. “How can it be the truth when I know nothing about you?”

“You know everything that really matters.” Tal’s voice was desperate. “You know me better than anyone.”

The Rakuuna smiled, revealing two sets of bloody fangs. “Ambassador Shyrn recognized the boy from his time in Montevallo. Sent us a bird weeks ago with the news. The boy comes with us until the father pays what we need.”

But Vahn had already sent a palloren to the Rakuuna offering to pay them whatever they required to leave Caleran ships alone. Hadn’t he? Or was he, like his younger brother, nothing but a liar?

“He’s not going anywhere,” Grim said.

The Rakuuna hissed as Grim rushed forward with his axes. Reuben hefted his sword and moved toward the creature.

“Stop!” Tal shouted. “I’ll go.”

“What?” Grim skidded to a halt, his expression crushed. “No, Tal. We defend you. We get you out of here.”

Tal turned to the Rakuuna. “I will go peacefully, but you must stop killing the Caleran people. You must let the survivors live in peace.”

Charis tightened her grip on her sword until the hilt bruised her palms. She was a stranger in her own skin. A hollowed-out version of herself left with nothing but the ruins of the lies she’d believed and the mocking echo of the trust she’d placed in him.

“You don’t negotiate with us,” the Rakuuna hissed.

Tal whipped his sword around until the point was against his own neck. Charis’s battered heart gave a pang, and she silenced it.

“Then I die, and you have no bargaining chip.”

The Rakuuna flexed her fingers and cocked her head to consider the prince with the sword aimed at his throat. She clicked her mouth several times, and other clicks sounded from the hall. Finally, she said, “We have an agreement. We cease fighting, but we remain in control of Calera until the father gives us what we need. You come with us now. We will keep you in our kingdom so there is no treachery on the father’s part that can save you. He can have you when the price is paid.”

Slowly, Tal lowered his sword. Grim cried out, but Tal turned to Charis, his eyes burning, his expression haunted. “I love you. That’s the truth. Now go. You know what to do. You know how to figure this out. Go.”

The Rakuuna lunged for him, wrapped her too-long fingers around his arms, and dragged him from the room. His sword clattered to the floor, and Grim rushed to pick it up.

Reuben turned to Charis. “Your Highness, the traitor is right. We must go. The stables first. Then what?”

She blinked at him as the torch Tal had lit in her heart flickered and died. Her entire world lay in pieces at her feet. She had nothing left.

Reuben’s voice was uncharacteristically gentle. “The stables and then what, Your Highness?”

No, that wasn’t right. She had something left. Her people. Her duty. And a bloody game of life or death to play against the monsters who’d murdered her parents and destroyed her city.

“The . . . armory,” she whispered. “And then the fishing dock.” She looked at Grim and spat the words at him. “You, spy, you’re coming with us. We need horses for every survivor. As many weapons as we can carry.”

She couldn’t burn the Rakuuna’s ships now. Not when a peace treaty had been established. Her people would pay the price for that treachery. But she could use her smuggler’s boat. Sail out of the harbor and make a new plan once the ruined pieces of her life stopped carving their way into her as though they meant to leave nothing of her when they were done.

She hesitated for an instant, her gaze on the hallway where Tal had disappeared from sight. Long enough to remember the boy with the crooked smile who’d kissed her in the moonlight and told her he loved her. To remember the love in Father’s voice when he called her his sweet Charis and the subtle light of approval in Mother’s eyes when Charis proved to be the most ruthless person in the room.

Then she let the darkness within her swallow those memories like it had swallowed the grief for Milla. Turning, she ran for the door, followed her staff into the night, and began racing toward the stables.

Forty-Four

AS DAWN TRACED a thin thread of gold across the horizon the morning after the invasion, Charis ordered the ship out to the open sea. Holland, Nalani, Orayn, Finn, Dec, and several others from their original crew had made it to the docks and onto the boat before she left. She also had the few staff members she’d been able to rescue from the palace, a merchant, Lady Delaire, and a few others Holland had managed to get to safety. Dec, it turned out, was another Montevallian spy sent to Arborlay to protect Tal, just like Grim. Charis could barely stand to look at them.

Her parents were dead, her kingdom was enslaved, and her heart was broken. How was she supposed to move forward from this?

“Charis?” Nalani’s voice was hesitant as she climbed the stairs to stand beside the ship’s wheel. “What are we going to do?”

What was she going to do? She couldn’t bring back her parents. She couldn’t unbreak her heart. All that was left was to save her people, but how?

When she remained silent, Nalani moved closer and squeezed Charis’s arm gently. “One of the maids told me about Tal. I’m sorry. He fooled us all.”

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