Page 110 of A Tongue so Sweet and Deadly

Amalise placed a hand on her shoulder, blue eyes rounded. “And here I thought you were too occupied with that handsome regent of yours and had forgotten all about us.”

Lessia’s cheeks heated. “I am not occupied with anyone.”

“But you want to be.” Kalia’s brows rose. “You’re disappointed that you’re not.”

Amalise threw her head back and laughed. “Elessia Gyldenberg! I was only teasing, but the regent has truly caught your eye?”

“Don’t call me that.” Setting her jaw, she eyed two of the boys as one melted the snow around them and the other quickly froze it into clear ice.

Amalise winced. “I’m so sorry, Lia. I didn’t think.”

Blowing out a breath, Lessia made herself smile at her. “I know.”

Kalia flitted her gaze between them and took a step back, gesturing toward Fiona, who’d wrapped a branch around another girl and appeared to be yelling at her. “I’ll give you some space. I’ll deal with them.”

Lessia’s eyes trailed Kalia as she walked over, urgently trying to convince Fiona to let the poor girl go. Over the whistling wind, Fiona argued that the girl had said something mean and that she deserved it. But when Kalia explained that she was now the one doing something mean, Fiona grudgingly released her.

Lessia offered an encouraging smile when Fiona’s eyes flicked her way.

Fiona had been in rough shape when she arrived in Ellow.

Mistrusting, all skin and bones, and with a penchant for lashing out whenever she was told to do—or not to do—something. It had taken months for Lessia to get her story out of her, and when she did, she almost wished she hadn’t.

Fiona, like herself, had grown up hidden, with parents who loved her and would do anything for her. But one day, someone spotted her, and the village banded together and killed her parents before her eyes.

Fiona was only six years old when they left her to die in the woods.

Somehow, she’d managed to get to the harbor in Vastala, where one of Lessia’s men spotted her as they rescued another child.

He’d nearly lost an eye dragging the small girl onto the ship.

But in the year she’d been in Ellow, she’d blossomed—had become the kindest and most caring little girl. Even if she still had a temper.

Lessia let out a sharp breath.

She couldn’t let King Rioner destroy the home—the safe place—they’d built in Ellow.

Her eyes darted toward the castle.

If Loche was true to his words, they might even be able to do more.

Bring more children over.

Give them a chance at a normal life.

“Daydreaming about the regent?”

Snapping her gaze to Amalise, Lessia scoffed, “Not in the way you’re thinking.”

Amalise wrapped an arm around her. “It’s all right towant him, you know. From what I could tell, you’ve caught his eye too.”

Lessia rolled her eyes. “I don’t want him. He frustrates me, is all.”

Amalise eyed her. “Lessia, you need to let go of the guilt at some point.”

She moved to stand before Lessia, her blue eyes glossing as they met Lessia’s. “You deserve love. Promise me if there is a chance you find it, you will. I will never regret loving Karich. Not for one moment. Not for all the pain in the world.”

Lessia grabbed her hand, thickness filling her throat. “I will if you promise me the same. He wouldn’t want you to be alone forever, Amalise.”

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