Page 165 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
Ghosts were now strangling his voice. Before I could stop myself, I drew closer to him and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault.”
He nodded and placed his own hand on top of mine, not taking his eyes off his mother’s grave.
The voices in the distance began to dissipate as the other families began exiting the crypt, which made this moment that much more intimate.
Ours.
“After she died, the light went out of my life, and I had to now run an entire Clan,” he said. “But I knew I could never stand the Northern Clans again. My city is thriving, but we need allies. A lot of them. As long as I live, my people will want for nothing. So I pledged my allegiance to the ones who reached out to help even when we didn’t ask–the Blood Brotherhood. Our life remains the same, we have our autonomy, and now we actually have the power to change something in Malhaven, not just pretend we can from our frozen thrones. One of the best godsdamned decisions I ever made in my life.”
“Very few Clan leaders would have done that.”
“Power is useless if you can’t help your people. A crown means responsibility, not free reign.”
“Exactly.” A warm feeling fluttered in my heart. “I’m sorry–”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Now who’s impatient?” I asked with a smirk. “I was about to say I’m sorry you never got a chance to see my father. He used to say the same thing.”
He tensed underneath my fingers so hard and fast, I clenched my fingers into his uniform on instinct, mind already racing.
A roar flooded my ears.
“Did you meet my father?” I asked.
He couldn’t have, my father would have told me. We hadn’t had direct contact with the Blood Brotherhood or the Northern Clan in ages.
“No,” he said slowly. Hesitantly. His gaze rose from his mother’s grave to meet mine. “But I saw him that day on Sanctua Sirena.”
Chapter
Thirty-Four
ALLIE
“What do you mean you saw him?” My voice tremored as I yanked my hand away from him and took three large steps back. “While he was sitting in front of the altar?”
Of course that’s what he meant.
There was no other possibility.
My father had been sitting in the front row when the Blood Brotherhood had crashed Evie’s wedding and a few good minutes had passed in a tense stare-off before the true danger began. Plenty of time to notice my father–
“No.” He turned to me, face tense as if readying for battle, and my heart plummeted.
No.
Please, no.
“Then when?” I asked, voice and body shaking in perfect frightened synchronization.
He took a step toward me.
I stepped back.
He raised his hands, palms open, as if dealing with a frightened doe. But he was wrong.
I wasn’t prey.
