Page 122 of Promise of Darkness
I’m free.
It’s a heady realization.
For all that Mother’s taken from me, she can never truly steal the one thing I didn’t realize I have: A chance.
My fist lowers. “You’re right. The princess is awake now. And she’s starting to see things clearly.” I glance toward Thiago, and it feels as though the veils have been lifted from my eyes. “I pity you, Edain. All you have is this. You’ll never escape the wounds she deals, if you continue to seek her favor. I’m well clear of such poison.”
Edain looks at me sharply, and it’s clear my words have done more than my fist ever could have. “You little fool.” He shakes his head. “You actually think you’re free of it.”
“I think my mother had best watch her back. It doesn’t matter how many times she steals my memories, I’ll always come back to this moment. I will always hate her, and…. I will always see the prince for who he really is.”
Edain laughs, the sound so rich and mocking that it jars down my spine. “She doesn’t know, does she?”
“That’s enough,” Thiago says, moving toward my stepbrother with menace dripping from him.
“Know what?”
Both men pause, gazes locked, as though they’re mentally crossing sabers.
But it’s Edain who turns to me with a sneer. “Save your pity for yourself, Iskvien. Because while you might think you’ve found your chance for forever, your time is running out. If you think the queen has finished with you, then you’re very much mistaken. She’s just waiting for the game to roll to its final, inexorable conclusion.”
“That’s enough.” Andraste’s voice rings through the hollow core of the tower. “We have guests.”
Ever the dutiful sister.
But I bite my tongue as I catch a glimpse of another boat skulking out of the mist. Muraid of Aska, judging by the stern slope of her shoulders, and those mismatched eyes. Queen Maren takes her to bed, it’s whispered, though Muraid is her fiercest general.
Behind her, is a tall man wearing Queen Lucidia’s emblem on his breast.
Time to focus on Mistmere.
Though I won’t forget any of what happened here.
* * *
“What did he mean?”I grind out through gritted teeth, as the boat rows us toward Mistmere.
Other boats follow ours, though they’re warded so well I can’t see or hear them.
It’s a good thing our boat is warded too, because there are words I need to say, and this may be the last moment of privacy we get.
Or as private as we can be, with Eris leaning in the prow watching the waters ahead as if she’s waiting for an imminent attack. Finn clears his throat, setting his back into the oars, and Baylor has a sudden fascination with the moon.
Thiago tugs his leather gloves into place, his face impassive. “That is between your stepbrother and myself.”
There hadn’t been a chance to insist upon answers earlier, for the representatives for the other kingdoms had arrived then, and if there’s one thing you don’t do, its show Muraid of Aska your underbelly. I’d swallowed my frustration and greeted her with a smile, but I knew Thiago could sense the brewing storm within me.
“It seemed as though Edain was trying to suggest Iwasinvolved. I’d like to know what he meant by ‘time is running out.’”
“Later,” he promises, leaning toward me. “We need to focus on—”
“No. Not later. Now.”
Sometimes I forget how much bigger he is, but I’m not backing down. Not this time.
The prince stills, his eyes hooding. “Thirteen years,” he says softly. “I bartered for thirteen years with you. It was all your mother would agree to. There are no more chances for you to remember me. This time when I return you, if you don’t remember me then I forfeit my lands… and my life.”
The world drops away.
