CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE #2
“Once, she asked if I’d seen a little girl in the palace, a captive like her.
She was crying, pleading with me to help you.
And so, I sought you out. A wisp of a girl, crying out for her mother because a servant had slapped her.
I gave you my handkerchief to dry your tears, and you didn’t want to give it back. ”
His expression hardens. “I heard an attendant say the king had plans for you, that no one would have to suffer your tantrums for much longer.”
“Your father was going to kill me?” I ask numbly.
“You were in danger. And so I disobeyed my father for the first and last time, ordering my most trusted guard to spirit you from the palace.”
Prince Zixin saved me, his one reckless act of compassion still rippling into the present.
I hate this obligation, to owe him a debt.
But it’s a harsh and bitter reality that even if he is the boy who gave me his handkerchief—it doesn’t change what I must do.
He is my enemy, holding my sister and me captive.
His father killed my mother. How can I get past this?
I never will.
He continues, “I was eager to tell your mother what I’d done, but my father punished and confined me.
When I was finally able to return to her courtyard, your mother was gone.
” His eyes darken with a grief I wish I didn’t see.
“The guard who took you was killed by bandits. I believed you were dead too—until you attended the ball and stood before my throne, my handkerchief still in your possession. You are the girl who should not have lived… and magic runs in your veins.”
“You’re wrong,” I take pleasure in telling him. “The iron doesn’t change color when I touch it; I have no magic. I’m of no use to you.”
His hand reaches for me, but I pull away. “There is power in you. I will help you claim it.”
“I don’t care about power.” But my voice shakes with the lie. I want it, I crave it—so I can stop those like him.
“I’ve seen how the scorn of others eats at you, how desperately you fought my general on the tower,” he says. “You want to be strong, to rise above the rest. You want them to bow to you, to serve and respect you. I can give you all that and more.”
I shift uneasily, hating that he’s seen into the inner part of me that I don’t show anyone else. And how easily he accepts it when he should shy from it.
“I want you by my side.” He smiles in that slow and measured way that once made my heart quicken. “Marry me. Claim your magic and share it with us. The Iron Mountains is your home, and with your power, it will become the greatest kingdom across the realms.”
At the indomitable resolve in his words, a tightness clutches my throat like a collar fastened around it. “How?” I must know his plans.
“Lead us to Mist Island—we are strong enough to challenge them now. We will convince them to share the magic they hoard, and we will put it to far better use.”
Prince Zixin thinks I’m ignorant of the Sun Dragon, of the power he’s already stolen. They claim magic is evil, when all along they just wanted it for themselves. His ambition mirrors his father’s, despicable and ruthless.
I shake my head defiantly. “I don’t know where it is.”
He reaches out, tapping the bright green root wrapped around my ring. “Your mother’s ring didn’t have this. I know what it means, what it can do.”
My heart plummets. I don’t dare speak.
“I know you’re angry, that you’re afraid,” he says. “But you’re clever enough to not let your emotions ruin you. Think about the future before us. Think about what accepting my offer will gain you… and what will happen should you refuse.”
He wants my surrender; he’ll hurt my sister if I defy him again. I drop my head like I’m hesitating, when I’m biting my tongue not to scream.
“Together, we’ll forge an unbreakable alliance and unite the realms,” he continues. “Let us end the cycle of enmity and vengeance before it seizes more lives. Choose peace. Choose yourself.”
His words are powerful—unexpectedly so. Except he doesn’t know me as well as he thinks.
It’s easy to speak of “peace” after the violence, after the gains are reaped.
I don’t want the peace he offers, tainted and false—watered by my mother’s blood.
And I’ve seen the weapons in his forge. He speaks of “alliance” when he means “conquest.”
“Why marriage? Why not a treaty?” I ask.
“There is no more binding union than when bloodlines are merged. I am more than my crown, just as you are more than a girl from some village. We can change the world together, we will rule it.” His eyes are the black of night, the end of hope. “And I want you. Only you.”
I allow a tentative smile to spread on my face like I’m considering this despicable alliance. Prince Zixin is no longer the compassionate boy who took pity on a crying girl, who was kind to her mother. Hearts harden, minds twist, honor can be tarnished.
“I need time to consider.”
He pats something fastened to his waist—Dian’s ring, its appearance worn.
“I hear your kind die when parted from your rings for too long. How long do you think your sister has?” He speaks gently, yet the brutality of his words is a knife plunged into my chest—threatening in the same voice he used to offer me the world.
The loathsome acceptance refuses to form on my lips—but there’s no choice.
At last, I nod. Prince Zixin takes my hand, brushing his thumb over my fingers.
When he leaves, ordering the guards to release me, there is no relief in the silence of my thoughts.
He wants me to betray my kingdom; to lead the Iron Mountains army to them.
Even if I wanted him—which I don’t—I’d never do it, because the future he envisions for his people rests upon the destruction of mine.
If there is any danger of discovery, you have to sever the root of your ring.
I should heed Dian’s warning; I should do this now, my fingers hovering over my ring.
But I can’t, my hand falling away. I want the magic that is mine.
I’m not strong or honorable like Dian or my mother, spurred by love for their home; I don’t remember anything about it.
I won’t surrender this dream of power, not while there’s a chance, a hope of escape, however dim it may be.
For I am trapped here with nowhere to run… and I’m all out of lies.