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“Fair.” He stares at me. “Would you be offended if I brought a seamstress? So you have more things to wear?” He shows me the palms of his hands. “You can wear the dresses you brought, if you prefer, it’s just… Your clothes need to suit your station.”
Station. What station? Disgraced prince’s prisoner? Still, getting new clothes is a good idea, even if slightly humiliating. I shrug. “Why would I mind it?”
He points to the hallway. “You were furious that I helped you unpack.”
“You threw away my poison flasks!” There. A drop of honesty.
“Oh, so you knew what they were.”
“Yes, I’m not dumb.” I also know that pretending ignorance is not going to work here. “It was not meant to kill you, but it could be useful.”
He stares at me, considering, thinking. “If you feel you need to have an array of poisons, and if you convince me there’s a good reason for it, I’ll get it for you.” He sighs. “I understand why you’d thought you’d need it. I mean, you don’t know me, don’t know what’s going to happen. I understand. But I mean it when I say I’ll protect you, so you have nothing to fear, Astra.”
I stare at him, unsure what to say that’s not going to sound like I want to fight. Part of me wants to fight because he’s the one forcing me to be here, but I can see that he’s trying to put me at ease. And then again…
“Well, I think you forgot it, but since you did, let me remind you that you kidnaped me, restrained my hands and arms with ice, then invaded my mind.”
“You know I didn’t.” He chuckles. “You never let me get anywhere even close to your mind.”
Oh, I had forgotten he thinks it was some kind of mind shield, and definitely forgotten I should never reveal that he has indeed seen my thoughts. At least he didn’t notice my slip. “You still kidnapped me, made me unconscious, attacked Prince Ziven?—”
“Ziven?” He frowns, confused. “I thought that was one of the other princes, the ones with powers.”
Oh, shit. Did I just reveal Ziven’s secret? If I make a fuss out of it it’s going to be worse, so I show no reaction. “I guess you don’t know Krastel that well, then.”
“I don’t. Regardless, I didn’t hurt you or him, nor did I plan to do that. You, on the other hand, wanted to kill me.”
“You attacked me first.”
He scoffs. “Did I restrain you? Yes. Did I try to peer into your thoughts? Yes. Perhaps it’s time you learned something important about me: I’ll do anything to achieve my goals, and if I have to capture a foreign guard, I will. I can even do worse. Much, much worse.” His posture is threatening, his voice chilling, and yet I don’t feel that he’s threatening me.
“What are your goals?” I ask slowly.
“I can’t tell.”
“You want to take King Renel’s throne, don’t you?”
He raises a finger. “Prince Renel. And I don’t want to take anyone’s throne.”
“I wouldn’t doubt that you have the throne, with the rest of the relics. How did you even carry them?” I think caution has just flown out the window, kicked by curiosity.
He smirks. “A mystery, isn’t it?”
“Did you really kill your family?” I know I shouldn’t ask that, I know, and yet the question sprang out of my mouth of its own free will. Still, the moment the words were out, I regretted them, as a shadow covered his eyes.
“This is not a topic I can talk about.” His voice is measured, careful, but then he gets up. “Your knights will arrive soon and see to your needs.” With that, he walks out of the front door.
If I was wondering how to make him angry, I think I found the answer. And I’m definitely not anywhere close to getting friendly with him and learning his secrets. It sounds stupid now, in retrospect, that I wished I had read the Book of Seduction. I can’t even be civil! And I know how to be civil, how to be friendly and put someone at ease—at least in theory. Perhaps only in theory.
I finish eating, then put the plates on the counter, unsure what to do with them, and if I’m even supposed to do anything. Not knowing if I have to stay indoors or if there’s any magic keeping me here, I risk stepping outside.
Nothing stops me, so I approach the edge of the island and sit on a rock, under the shade of a tree with tiny yellow flowers, some of them fallen, flecking the ground. In front of me, the river flows slowly, the mountains extend into forever, and the clouds glide in a bright blue sky. There’s movement of fish in the river, and maybe even something else, like some kind of faerie water creature. Quite a few live in rivers, but I don’t think Marlak would hide among them.
At least this is an opportunity for me to gather my thoughts. Marlak has found my poisons and knows I could kill him. He’s definitely insane by bringing me here—unless he thinks he’s untouchable, and I think he does, since he laughed at the idea of getting stabbed by me. Arrogance and pride are easy weaknesses to exploit. But then, he’s right that there’s no point in killing him now.
How does he know so much about me? I haven’t even tried to figure that out, and, by asking the wrong questions and saying the wrong words, I haven’t improved my chances of learning anything. When he returns, I’ll need to remember my duty and put on a mask, become a different person. The question is which mask. Which mask will make him trust me?
As these thoughts cross my mind, I notice a movement in the water, a huge fish—or something else. I stare, trying to figure out what it is, but then I glimpse something moving on my right.
