His tone offered something adjacent to the words,don’t make me regret it.He made to swing away, but I spun to glare at him fully, skin flared from the sudden burst of energy that came striking back into my flesh after being strapped down so long. Heat blazed across my temple. My hands shook with furious adrenaline. The burn of it zipped through my body, poison leaching from the unexpected freedom in my bones.
“Whyme?” I shot at him. “Why notincantsome human to do it? I understand why I married Nikolaos. That you’ll use me as a Calderian queen. I hate that I understand it, but I do. Why mustIkill Hadrian?”
Thaan smiled. He angled his head, as inviting me to join a secret. “Because anincantedhuman wouldn’t remember. They wouldn’t care what they’d done the next day. But killing an innocent man, the brother of yourcordae… that is something you will never be able to strip from your conscience.”
“So, there’s no true reason, other than to hurt me,” I snarled.
Thaan smiled coldly. “You want to fight with something stronger than a stick? Abandon your unnecessary emotions, Maren. There is too much human in your heart.Corda-cruorto Nikolaos or not, you have no reason to grieve Hadrian once he is dead.”
“No reason other than my soul,” I spat.
His lips twitched. “That, too, is something you will have to trade if you ever want to fight.”
He left me scowling, hot cinders glowing in my belly. Hoofbeats approached from behind me, and I didn’t turn to see who they belonged to, though instinct informed me well enough. I leaned forward in my saddle instead, letting Kolibri sense my impatience. She shot down the road, an arrow loosed from a bow.
The shouts of men fell behind as Kolibri’s hooves crunched over gravel.
She split the world in half, throwing the fir trees into a hurricane of black and green, and though my eyes watered and wind licked down my dress, I tilted my weight hard in my stirrups and leaned forward, chasing the malice that waited for me within glass walls.
I knocked on Selena’s door, holding my breath as footsteps came from the other side. It opened, and there she stood, long and graceful, woven with beauty. Her eyes widened when she saw me. I made to step inside, but Selena lifted a hand, stopping me from coming closer.
Knowing she was listening for the presence of beating hearts nearby, I strained to hear as well. But nothing met our ears save for distant wind and tide.
“Until the ocean dries up,” she said softly, as if she didn’t trust the strength in her own voice.
It took a moment for me to remember the words she’d tasked me to memorize months before. “Until the moon burns out.”
Selena’s body deflated with an exhale, her chest going concave with the force of air she expelled. She straightened, tucking her long sable locks behind her ears and offering me a smile too watery for her elegant face. “I prayed to Theia every night. All night long during the full moon.”
“Thank you,” I said. I was done wasting time—the two months I’d lost had been agonizing enough.
As I crossed the room, Selena held out an graceful hand for me. Surprise widened her eyes when I took it willingly, and she reached out to smooth my hair.
“I would have never forgiven myself if something had happened to you. After we left things with so much unsaid.”
“No more secrets,” I replied. Selena swallowed, drawing a long breath, and cautiously nodded.
“If I ask you a question, you can't lie. You can't give me half-truths.”
Her gaze narrowed on me, full of sharp focus. She looked as though she might have argued, or at least wanted to. But she nodded again, the lines in her face hardening as though steeling herself for what was to come. “What do you want to know?”
“Are youcordaedto Thaan?”
A moment of stunned silence passed between us. Selena opened her mouth and closed it, cerulean eyes deflecting to the floor. Her hand slid from mine, crossing over her chest.
“Where did you hear that?” the Naiad asked carefully.
“From Thaan,” I answered, not bothering to mention he’d been speaking privately to Selena when I’d heard it months ago. “Answer the question.”
Selena shook her head. “It's complicated.”
“Yes or no.”
“No,” Selena breathed, taking a step away. “No. Never. By the sun and moon and all the stars that sing in the sky, I swear to you, I am not.”
“You'd swear on your blood?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat at voicing the open challenge.
Selena merely stared at me, all feeling washed from her face. The last words she’d spoken to me echoed in my ears.
