Page 53 of Winds of Destiny

“What else?”

Honestly, I appreciate her briskness. She’s not pretending to really care about me, which is good, because I don’t know that I’d believe it if she did. She’s a prisoner here. We both are. That’s all we have in common—well, that and the fact that we’re both royalty.

Once every wound is cleaned and bandaged, she hands me a rope of thick, chewy jerky. “Eat.”

“Um…” I glance nervously at the lions snoozing around us.

“They won’t do anything to you,” she assures me. “They’re full.”

“Full of what?” I mutter. “Human flesh?”

Dian huffs a laugh. “Jaka bird.”

Oh. I stare at the jerky, my nonexistent state of hunger becoming nausea at the very thought of eating. This was something like Lulu once. My sweet Lulu…

I’m crying before I even realize it. Dian takes the jerky away and snaps, “Put your head down, idiot! Don’t let that awful man see thatanythingcan make you cry!”

I do as she says, hiding my face in my knees as the tears keep flowing. I hate losing control of myself like this in front of someone I don’t even know, but she’s right—it would be so much worse if Embros was here right now. I cry as quietly as I can, and, gradually, the grief ebbs. It’s not just Lulu I’m crying for—it’s Rusen and Morfran, Deran and Ferow. It’s the villagers at Traveler’s Ease, their whole settlement destroyed by one man’s manic quest for power.

It could be so much worse, though.I could have lost Kai and Turo, too. I reach for the sensation of their pearls that I carry in my chest, comforted by the fact that I’m lucky enough to be able to feel both of them. That calms me down more than anything else, and by the time I look up my eyes are swollen and itchy, but my face is dry.

Dian is leaning back against a lion, one of its massive paws drawn across her lap. She points to my canteen. “Drink.”

The cool, refreshing water helps a little.

“You should eat.” Her face is expressionless, but her voice is thick with emotion as she says, “I won’t let you kill yourself, no matter how much it hurts to live. Ican’t.”

“I understand.” I smile weakly at her. “I won’t kill myself, I promise.” I take the jerky from where she set it and begin to chew. It’s tough and nearly tasteless, and I frown around my bite.

“Spoiled Zephythan.” She sounds more relaxed now. “You people expect salt with every meal.”

“We are very fortunate,” I agree. Sea salt is one of our biggest exports.

“You’ve slowed your trade lately.”

“We were losing too many merchant caravans.”

She grimaces. “Ah. Of course.”

“The bandits generally haven’t been pulled around in lion-drawn chariots, though.”

She makes apsshtsound of dismissal. “Kamorans are foot soldiers first and foremost. The first thing Embros demanded once he stole my city was the use of my chariots.”

I hum in understanding, then ask, “Howdidhe steal your city?”

Dian doesn’t say anything, just stares at me. It takes a moment for me to realize she’s actually staringaboveme, at someone standing behind me. I turn, my heart filling with dread, and—

Embros smirks down at me. He doesn’t have Kai’s breadth or Turo’s whipcord leanness, but there’s something about how he holds himself that automatically makes me think “danger.” Perhaps it’s the strange arch of his neck, like he’s rearing back about to bite. Maybe it’s the fact that his eyes barely seem to reflect the light.

Or maybe it’s the fact that he’s made a complete fucking mess out of my life.

“Look at the two of you, clustered together like berries,” he says, crouching next to me and slinging an arm over my shoulders. “I’m glad you’re getting along. This pampered prince is surely much easier to look after than Eleas would be, isn’t he, darling?”

“Surely,” Dian says in a flat tone.

“I thought at first we had ruined everything by lingering so long with the boats, making sure everything was safely tucked away. We barely made it to Zephyth in time to try and take Eleas before he could enter your city,” he says, looking at me now. “But the gods are on my side, because as soon as I saw you I knew you would make the perfect lure.”

I frown. “Lure for what?”

---