Page 180 of Promise of Darkness
It seems a trick question—which is precisely what my mother is most fond of. Take one wrong step, and she’ll cut you down with words as sharp as knives.
“Though I find it doubtful,” I reply carefully, “I cannot say it would be impossible. I have never known love, but who is to say where it shall strike?”
Our eyes meet.
And I can’t help feeling as though I’ve failed in some way.
Both him and my mother.
“Doyou love him now?” my mother insists, resting both hands on the edge of her throne and leaning forward intently.
It seems as though the entire court holds its breath. Hungry eyes watch me with anticipation. The only one who seems in any way empathetic is Kyrian, the Prince of Tides. He sees the answer in my face, and his gaze flickers down, hidden by his lashes.
“I don’t understand….” The Prince of Evernight’s a stranger. The enemy. What does she want from me? Is she testing me in some way? “I barely know him.”
“Answer the question,” she thunders. “Yes or no, Iskvien?”
“No.”
My answer echoes through the sudden silence like a door slamming. As if they are one, the entire gathering sucks in a sharp breath.
“Vi.” The prince makes a move toward me, anguish written all over his face. “You know me. You do. You love me. She’s stolen your mem—”
“Gag him,” my mother commands.
The Queen of Aska snaps her fingers, and a golden band of magic snaps across the prince’s mouth. Glowing manacles form around his wrists, jerking his arms behind his back, and something forces him to his knees.
“The Alliance must be satisfied,” Adaia purrs, leaning back in her throne. “The Prince of Evernight has gambled with his kingdom and lost. His life is forfeit.”
Emptiness spirals through me. This is wrong, somehow.
I know him as my enemy, but to see him on his knees like this, fighting against those magical bonds, awakens something inside me that I don’t understand.
My temples ache.
I drive my palms against the hollow sockets surrounding my eyes in an attempt to alleviate the pain, but it only makes it worse.
What is wrong with me?
What is going on?
“His life is forfeit,” the Queen of Aska says with a malicious smile.
“His life is forfeit,” the Queen of Ravenal agrees.
Everyone turns to the Prince of Tides, who curls his lip in a sneer. “I disagree. The rules were broken. Many times. If the Queen of Asturia cannot win without cheating, then I call it a loss.”
“It doesn’t matter, little princeling,” my mother sneers. “Two of the ruling alliance have voted. Yours doesn’t count.” She turns to the Prince of Evernight. “Kill him. Then bring me his head. I want to mount it above my throne.”
Mother’s retainers start howling and laughing.
I am going to be the cause of this stranger’s death, and still he looks at me as if I’m the center of his world.
“I forgive you.”
It’s the faintest trace of sad words whispered on the breeze, though I know they somehow came from him.
The hobgoblins that serve my mother scamper around the enemy, darting in with leers to stick him with small knives.
