Page 15 of A Queen This Fierce and Deadly

I hoped so. But even knowing the gods would likely make me suffer for this, I didn’t have it in me to regret it.

Lorian ordered the others out of the cabin when I began to yawn. When I woke a few hours later, I insisted on speaking to Natan—since Galon had mentioned he was currently staying on this ship.

Once, Natan had been just another boy from our village. A friend with an easy sense of humor but a caged look in his eyes, who drank to numb the pain of the Gifting and Taking ceremonies.

I’d thought he was dead. And yet I’d never forget the way he’d joined us in that barely seaworthy merchant ship, as many humans as he’d been able to gather on board, working to bring down the barrier.

I wished Tibris could have seen it. He wouldn’t have recognized his childhood friend.

“Prisca…” Lorian’s voice had turned cajoling, and his eyes flickered with frustration. I understood. It hurt him to see me this weak.

“Galon’s right. Regner will be making new plans. We need to begin preparing.”

“Fine,” he conceded, holding up a hand as I attempted to swing my legs over the side of the bed. “But he can come here. I’ll send word.”

While we waited, one of Daharak’s pirates brought warm water. I freshened up, then sat on the edge of my bed, forced to admit I couldn’t have made it up to the main deck anyway. I would need to shake this off quickly. We didn’t have time for me to be lying around.

Lorian watched me the entire time, his eyes dark. When Natan knocked, Lorian opened the door. “Five minutes,” he said.

I didn’t bother arguing. I was too busy studying the man who’d once been a friend. The day Lina had lost her grandparents and been taken to the city, he’d attempted to pretend not to be affected. But I’d seen the terror in his eyes.

There was no sign of that boy now. Natan’s expression seemed carved in stone. Dark circles had hollowed his eyes, but he stood tall, with an easy confidence that had replaced the swagger and bluster he’d once worn like a favorite tunic.

“Prisca.”

I nodded. “Natan.”

“No one will tell me where Tibris is.”

I sighed. I wasn’t surprised that everyone was being closed-mouthed. “He’s attempting to convince a group of rebels to ally with us,” I said, leaving out the fact that he was technically a hostage. Vicer may have arranged for Natan to meet us, but that didn’t mean I would immediately disclose all of our plans.

Natan’s eyes gleamed with curiosity, but he turned his gaze on Lorian. “They said you’re mated to the Bloodthirsty Prince,” he mused, meeting my eyes once more. “I didn’t believe them until I saw you standing nextto him on that ship.”

“Don’t call him that.”

Lorian shot me a look caught somewhere between tenderness and exasperation. Natan just narrowed his eyes at me as if he no longer recognized me. I sighed. “Things are complicated.”

“I understand that much.”

“I thought you’d…” Died. I thought he’d died along with the rest of our village.

He swallowed. “I was away, selling my father’s wolfskins at Mistrun. By the time I returned, it was too late. Everyone was gone. There were only a few of us left.”

My chest tightened. “I’m sorry.” The words were inadequate, but Natan nodded all the same.

“Vicer told me what happened to Thol.”

I nodded, picturing him all alone in that dark cave. It took me three tries to speak around the lump in my throat. “We’d hoped to bring him home, but Regner’s soldiers are crawling over the area. We’ll give him a proper burial when all this is over. I promise.”

“He was hunting you.” Suspicion slid through Natan’s eyes, and Lorian angled his head. He didn’t make a single movement, but Natan stiffened.

I’d forgotten just how intimidating Lorian was to those who weren’t in his inner circle. I gave him a warning look, and his lips twitched.

“He was,” I said. “But he joined us in the search for this.” I held up the hourglass. “I didn’t kill him, Natan. You know me better than that.”

He frowned. “Never said you did.”

But he’d wondered.

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