Page 7 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
He’d been acting strange these past few months, long before Evie had appeared in our lives again.
At first, I’d blamed it on the anniversary of Mom’s death turning him even more melancholic and lost in his own special world nobody else was invited into. Yet he’d been odd even by Vegheara standards.
Instead of asking me to join the daily council in the throne room, he’d stuck me in the Protectorate vault with a mountain of ledgers and scraps of parchment to track every single gold coin which had entered and left our coffers.
Then came the little comments about me needing to be more diplomatic and humble. Even at twenty-one years-old, he still lectured me on patience. Which,yes, was an issue, but I didn’t need to be reprimanded.
In front of Silas, of all people.
I’d worked hard to become The Huntress. Only I knew how many nights I’d fallen asleep poring over treaties my youngling eyes shouldn’t have witnessed yet or the days I’d wandered the woods alone when drought had hit Aquila; one doe could feed five families and clothed a child for a year.
I hadn’t become a future leader by sitting on velvet sofas and delighting myself with honeyed almonds.
To have my own father question all of those sacrifices constricted my chest. It hurt more than even I, with my famed sharp tongue, could put into words.
Because I questioned it myself.
All the damn time.
I hadn’t been born to rule.
I’d had to learn how to.
Worse still, nobody could know The Huntress and the Protectorate’s First Daughter doubted herself.
“You’re right. Evie was born to rule,” I said evenly. “The fact that she does not want the Protectorate throne should make all of us wonder why.”
“Not everyone wants to bear the responsibility, Allie,” my father said.
“I do. And as future leader of the Protectorate,” I said with more courage than I felt. “Let me bear the responsibility of breaking this wedding before it happens.”
There. I’d said it.
The plan had been stinting the tip of my tongue for weeks.
If nobody else wanted to do the right thing, save Evie from an imprudent marriage and live with the consequences, I would.
Just like I always did.
My father turned to me slowly.
Silas scoffed.
“I didn’t quite catch that,uncle. Mind repeating it?” I asked, gaze not leaving my father’s.
“Meddling is not a good idea,” Silas said.
I took one step toward him, enough to catch a whiff of his wine-soaked breath. “Do you have a better one? Let’s hear it, then.”
Silence.
“We should let things follow their due course,” Silas said petulantly. The man had greying hairs, but he was still a sulky child deep down. “If Evelina wants to ruin her life–”
“Evie.” I gritted my teeth. “Spell or not, we are not alone on this island.”
“Save your commands for when the crown is on your head,” Silas said. “I’m your elder, you need to respect me.”
“Respect is earned.”
