Chapter 42
Idon’t know why I was dismayed.
It’s not as though I’d wanted to see Kye.
And I didn’t care, as I was called to stand alone on the dais, that a thousand eyes bore into me with morbid interest, or that my muscles hardened and my pulse screamed in my ears. I didn’t care that the hair at my nape stood on end, or my stomach tightened with the urge to run. I didn’t care that the worthless lout that had forced me into this situation was too cowardly to even come to the Summer Solstice and stand next to me.
I didn’t care. Until King Emilius spoke.
“My Lords and Ladies, thank you for attending this dinner tonight in honor of the house of Laurier. Each one of you was petitioned for your presence to bear witness to the announcement of days ahead. The next chapter in Calder’s story, and in my own.
“With words of strife and ill-intent from our neighboring kingdom to the north, moods have been soured these past few years, and especially in recent months. It’s with a prideful, heavy heart that I announce I’ve made my second-born son a commander in Calder’s army.”
What?
Unable to glance behind me at the King, I wrapped my focus around his words, willing my blood pressure to calm so I could hear him.
“He could not be here tonight because he is preparing for travel. A week from now, I shall send Prince Nikolaos to oversee matters in our Winterlight encampments along the mountainside and report back to me with the status of training and the arrival of our allies from Illuskia. The burden of announcing this news is dwarfed, however, by the precious relief we shall all feel when Nikolaos returns with an account of our current army conditions.”
My mind whirred.
Kye. In a training encampment. In the mountains.
Not across the hall.
I should have been relieved. Living across from him had grown exhausting. Listening for his heartbeat every night. Fending off flirtatious glances along with death threats. He was the most mercurial man I’d ever met. I hated him, I reminded myself.
Hated him, hated him, hated him.
Had promised myself I’d kill him.
How far away were the mountains?
“It is on the tail of this news that I present to you tidings I hope you will find worthy of your own delight,” the King continued, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Prince Nikolaos has announced his intention to marry. He has beseeched the household of his future bride for her hand, and we are pleased to report that they have acceded our request. Nuptial negotiation aside, a date has been set, and I hope you will all be in attendance to watch my son take his vows six days from now, when he marries Lady Maren Inoa of Leihani.”
Selena came to me after the announcement ended, eyes wide with worry. I brushed against her as I pushed her arms away, floating toward the drink table, the King’s voice echoing in my ears.
Six days.
Six days?
“Maren.”
A sparkling flute poised at my mouth, I paused. “Did you know? That it would be this soon?”
Cool fingertips landed on the back of my arm, but I ignored them as I threw the contents of the glass back. It fizzled down my throat, kindling to the fire in my belly.
Selena sighed through her nose. “I found out this morning. Maren—”
I didn’t stay to listen. Ignoring any platitudes she thought I was dense enough to withstand, I marched past her, aiming for the doors.
I needed wind on my face. A full view of the moon and stars. Salt in my lungs. Somehow a force of ancestral wisdom and new birth.
I needed the sea.
Across the great hall, through archways and a palace of sparkling glass, I found myself at the southernmost tip of the palace grounds. At the edge of the world, nothing below my feet but red cliffs and angry water.
A hundred feet below.
I watched it crash and recede, pale foam flecking away among the rocks. And I wondered what it would feel like if I broke my vow to Thaan.
The pins in my hair began to incite a dull throb into my scalp. I pulled them out one by one, sending them down to the dark waves. What would happen if I climbed down to the water and touched it? If I told Sidra where I was, and she came to claim me?
Would she still want me for her colony? Aegir had thought me tarnished. A waste. Perhaps she would, too.
She might not come at all.
But there was a chance she would.
A big enough chance Selena and Thaan hadn’t wanted me to risk it.
And after Sidra dragged me into the depths, what then?
What would it feel like to break a Naiad vow?
“If you’re going to jump, you might as well time it right,” came a flinty voice behind me.
A voice I knew.
“I wasn’t going to jump,” I said, my words tinged with venom. Over my shoulder, Kye lounged in the grass, his body encased in shadow. He’d been watching me.
“You’ll want to wait until the tide is high,” he went on, flicking a blade of green grass into the air. “And mean. Right as the waves rush toward the rocks, so that you’ll get pulled down with the undertow. Just in case you have any second thoughts.”
Propped on one elbow, he’d stretched out in the dark. I’d have seen him if he’d followed me. He”d been here before I came.
I crossed my arms, gazing down my nose at him as I took a step in his direction. “Congratulations on your big announcement tonight,” I sneered through my teeth.
He stilled, his fingers meeting at his chest as he passed a plucked bit of turf from his left hand to his right. “The same to you,” he murmured darkly, throwing it.
“A commander and a husband all within a week,” I continued, edging toward him. “You must be beside yourself with pride.”
Gold eyes flickered up at me. I expected him to glare, but he didn’t. He watched me side-long, violence and hunger in his gaze. “What do you want, Leihani? I was here first. I’m not in the mood for games tonight.”
“No, the only thing you’re in the mood for is self-pity, when you’re the one who stuck yourself in this situation in the first place.”
His brows twitched, though he said nothing. The glare I’d waited for appeared as he dropped his eyes to the grass in his fist. I was close enough now to see a bottle of liquor beside him, corked and completely full. He’d intended to get drunk by himself but hadn’t.
Why did the thought of that make me want to feel sorry for him?
“Don’t let my mood sour your own celebration, since we both know that tonight only moves you closer to your goal,” he said in quiet thunder.
For some time now, I’d begun to determine emotion by a human’s scent. Fear was sour, like spoiled milk. Lust was heady—thick and sweet and potent. And anger was sharp. Like metal in a forge, heated down into a malleable cloud. Not solid, not liquid. Slippery and scorching.
I smelled his anger now.
It plumed from him, so dense I could almost taste it, metallic on my tongue.
He was always looking for ways to disappoint his father. But marrying a Leihaniian girl might be his boldest move.
I canted my head, frowning as I puzzled out why he’d be so angry. Commander in his father’s army…
Was it a punishment for agreeing to marry me?
I let out a small scoff, and Kye’s gaze flew to mine, his brows knit with fury.
All his carefully laid plans, wasted. The King was sending him off to fight a war. That would put a damper on things, wouldn’t it? Hard to kill his brother when fighting across the kingdom. Mihauna, I’d been upset only twenty minutes ago, but as I stared at him with a knowing smile, I couldn”t help the flush of triumph that ran through me.
“I bet it really burns,” I purred, “That you’ll be there, and I’ll be here, without you watching my every move.”
He went still except for the dangerous fire in his eyes.
“Without you ordering me to stay away,” I continued, sauntering to him. I lowered myself into the grass like a cat, stretching my limbs in indulgent pleasure and setting my head into my palm. “I can go where I want, say what I want.” I walked my fingers down his forearm. ”Speak with who I want.”
I didn’t need to articulate who I referred to. We both knew.
His mouth twitched, and I thought for a moment he might laugh. In a blur of color and motion, he rolled on top of me, fingers wrapping around my wrists, pulling my arms above my head and trapping me where I lay.