Page 52 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
Chapter Nine:
The Resistance
Cole stumbled down the steps, through the crowds, away from the music and the dancing and the people. Away from her.
She’d done it. She’d really done it. She tried to kill Snow. Shehadkilled Olwen. And his own father.
You don’t know how hard I’ve fought for you.
No. Not for him. For herself.
That wasn’t even her real face. All his life, he’d wondered why he didn’t resemble either of his parents, why his father seemed to resent him so. Now he knew. Because he looked like some other, unknown face, the face of a woman he’d never seen.
A killer’s face. A killer, all along.
And it looked like his.
A dozen courtiers rose to greet him, eager for his favour, a smile, a dance, but he brushed through them all, fighting his way towards his chambers.
“Your Highness, are you quite all right?”
A servant, stepping into his path. What did he look like?
“A headache,” he said, “too much wine, perhaps. I’ll be retiring early.”
“Shall I send–”
“No, thank you.”
He reached his quarters not long after, shutting the door tightly behind him. He felt numb, like his body didn’t belong to him, numb and cold and sick.
“Cole.”
He looked up. Eirwen was standing in his room, her face whiter than snow.
“Eirwen.” He had not thought about her, not spared a second for what she must have been going through, listening to his mother spout that poisonous confession. “Did you… did you hear everything–?”
“I heard.”
“She… she killed him. She killed your father. She killedmine.All this time, I... she…”
His legs sunk underneath him, but before he could fall, Eirwen bolted across the room and swept under his arms. She guided him towards the bed, pulling a blanket around his shoulders.
“What… what are you doing?”
“You’re cold,” she said, placing a hand against his cheek. “You might be going into a kind of shock.”
A hard breath shuddered out of him. He crashed his head down on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” he wept, “I’m so sorry…”
“Please don’t be sorry,” she whispered, sliding her arms around his back. “Be frustrated, be angry, be sad… but don’t be sorry.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
“It’s all right. I wouldn’t have wanted to believe me either.”
“You must think me a fool.”
