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He makes a tsk-tsk noise with his tongue. “Remember, I’m supposed to be keeping you alive.”
“Maybe. My odds are better with you, but I’m perfectly capable of handling myself should the need arise. Besides, you weren’t exactly happy to see Asmo. How do I know you’ll keep your word? For all I know, you’re planning to cross him and deliver me to the rebel’s leader.”
He seems to ponder that for a moment, letting my hair go. “I suppose you’ll have to have faith. I’m an honorable man and my word means everything to me.”
“Honorable?” I snort. “You’re a rebel and from what I understand the rebels are all thieves. Honor isn’t the first word I’d use.”
“Says the pretty princess…” He nudges the horse forward and I jump, startled by the sudden movement. Loric holds the reins with one hand, resting the other on the saddle. It makes a sort of cage around me with his body, preventing me from going over if I lose my balance.
“Awe, you really think I’m pretty? Thank you.” I feign adoration as I watch the forest ahead, listening to hooves pounding against the forest floor behind us.
“Had your father not become a monster, the rebels wouldn’t exist. We only take what we need to survive, which is nothing compared to what your father stole from us.”
We sway gently with the horse’s gait, and as the ground begins to dip, Loric flattens his hand against my stomach, steadying me. Butterflies erupt without warning, and I tense.
“Asmodeus believes I’m honorable,” he says as the ground levels again. “If he didn’t, you wouldn’t be here. You trust him, don’t you?”
I drag in a breath, unsure of how to answer that. Before escaping the dungeon, I would’ve answered in a heartbeat. I trusted Asmo with my life. Yet, there are things he kept from me, and the longer I think about it, the more unease swirls in my gut. His involvement with the traitors isn’t something I can just move past or forget.
I hate my father, and I believe he’s a tyrant who’s overdue for his own funeral… but two wrongs don't make a right.
The rebels aren’t innocent, either. When they rose up against my father’s rule, they slaughtered anyone who wore one of theking’s cuffs, on and off the battlefield. They summoned the dragons, and set the villages in Solaria ablaze, not caring who burned within the flames.
If you weren’t a rebel, then you were a weapon the king could exploit. They didn’t care that the villages were homes of innocents, just trying to survive. Those people had no say in the way my father rules the kingdom. They were subjects—victimswho suffered for one man’s crimes.
Ultimately, the war ended with a treaty, banishing those who stood against the king to the outer realm. It’s a desolate place, with islands too crystallized to grow most crops. The rebels started calling themselves pirates, building ships so they could attack and pillage the remaining villages along the eastern shores.
My father tried to capture them and hold them accountable to the laws in the treaty, but the few he managed to chain in his dungeons refused to acknowledge their involvement with the rebels. According to Asmo, the villagers were forced to move inland, seeking refuge in the mountains, and my father manned ships to patrol the Solarian borders, hoping to ward off the pirates.
No side is innocent, and both have committed unspeakable atrocities.
Asmo was—is—involved with those people… I just don’t know the extent of it. He’d have to be if he recruited them to escort me out of Solaria. I could justify his involvement with my father since he was forced to serve him. The things he’s done were a means of survival. Yet, no one forced him to help the rebels…
For someone who raised me to believe that all life has value, it’s certainly confusing.
“I don’t know who I trust,” I finally say. It’s not until I’ve admitted it out loud that the words settle in. “I won’t fight you as long as you stay true to your word.”
“Good… See? Not all of us are monsters.” One of his hands rests against my thigh and his thumb swipes over the bunched fabric of my dress.
“Yeah, we’ll see. Just keep your hands to yourself.” I pick his hand up, placing it on the raised bone of the saddle.
“Only if you keep your nose to yours.”
I huff out a breath, letting my eyes close for a beat.I’m never going to live that down.
“Can we keep her?” I recognize the voice as the man who laughed while I wasindisposed. He has long blonde hair, braided down his back and a short, well-kept beard. Conveniently, he sits on the horse beside us, his eyes glossy like he’s been laughing so hard it’s brought tears to them.
It’s impossible not to notice the fact he’s shirtless. He's literally glowing. Tattoos cover his skin from neck down, forming runic symbols. The lines glow in a bright crimson color, matching the same shade of the stone necklace Asmo gave me.
I trace my fingers over the rough surface, feeling the magic it contains hum against my fingertips.
“Only if she returns my hair tie,” another man to our left says. He’s letting the horse wander at will as he ties his loose shoulder-length black hair up into a messy bun, but it’s the glare he gives Loric that does it for me. Unlike the tattooed man, who was stockier in build, this one has lean strength. His features are also sharp and angular, giving him an angelic aura.
“I’m Jesper, and I mean it. I’ll hunt you down if you don’t give it back.” He lifts his dark eyebrows.
“I will… Thank you for letting me borrow it.” Doing my best to muster a smile, I turn my attention back to the horse between my legs, twirling a lock of its white mane round my finger.
“If that’s what you call Loric pulling it from my hair, then yeah, no problem,” Jesper says as his horse stalks ahead of us. “Now,if the two of you are done bickering, we need to get moving if there's any hope of making it to Ashbourne by nightfall."
