“Callousness is what the Lirien do best, isn’t it? Bind innocents out of fear?” She paced, restless in her anger. “I’m starting to prefer the idea of eternal damnation to being tied to you.”
“You took the words right out of my mouth.”
Fucking Brogan Ragnall.
My skin burned with fury. He wasn’t at the camp right now, but when he arrived—then what? Was I supposed to sit at a table with him? Share meals?
“This isn’t going to work.” Seren stopped pacing. “Like it or not, we’re stuck together for now. What will it take for us to call a truce until we find a solution?”
I towered over her. “Nothing. I’m done doing you favors. We owe each other nothing now. And that was before I knew you’re Brogan Ragnall’s daughter?—”
“My father is a good man. A decent one who would do anything for his family. He’s never gotten involved in Viori politics because the bloodshed between our people disgusts him. My parents’ love for Lirien has practically made us outcasts here. Why do you think Seth said what he said at the council?”
“A man who kills his queen does not love his kingdom.”
She scowled. “This isn’t about him. This is about you and me. I am not my father, so maybe we can start with that, unless you’d like me to measure you by whoever you happen to be related to. For all I know, they might be the worst sort.”
She has a point.
I wouldn’t want to be judged by Magnus Warrick’s shadow. I’d gotten myself Sealed because of my need to be different from him.
“Fine,” I breathed, begrudgingly. “We’ll leave your father out of it. For now.”
A hint of a smirk showed on her lips, like she’d enjoyed winning that battle.
“But I’d have to be insane to trust a woman who bonded herself by blood oath to someone she’d never met.”
Her chin jutted up. “Why did you save me? You could have let me die—run while the vuk had me in its grasp.”
I shrugged. “What can I say? I have a soft spot for damsels in distress. Even ones who later threaten to carve my eyes out.”
Seren’s glare could have cut through steel. “I wasn’t a damsel. I was armed.”
“Yes. Armed and halfway down a vuk’s throat.” Slow seconds passed, my pulse throbbing. “I suppose it’s impossible to believe that strangers help one another in Lirien.” I scanned her face, finding it hard to reconcile someone so beautiful with someone so cold-hearted and deadly. “Do you all really kill anyone that comes into the forest? You only help your own? All Liriens are evil to you?”
“Aren’t all the Viori evil to you?”
“No.”
A divot appeared between her eyebrows. Shame glossed her eyes. “I know that there may be innocents on both sides. Sorting them from the evil isn’t worth the cost, though—not when it’s my friends and family who pay if someone who hurts us gets through. Hesitation has cost me dearly.”
She looked away. “I’ve never had a real conversation with a Lirien before you. But you’re no better than I am. Lirien soldiers don’t always wait for good reason to kill—especially not those in the Pendaran Regulation.”
“The Viori often give us a good reason before we can get to them. I watched a village burn to the ground in Ibarra six months ago. Children, murdered. All by your people.”
Her stony expression flickered. “Well, it’s the same for us. Liriens that aren’t killed can expose our whole tribe to danger.”
We squared off at an impasse.
Several tense beats passed, then she retreated a step.
“How did you kill the vuk?” She rubbed her arms, clearly self-conscious as she changed the subject.
“Despite my looks, you may be surprised to learn I’m not a god.” That elicited an outraged laugh from her. “Didn’t use dark magic or decapitate the creature, either.”
She raised a brow. “Your sword?”
Exactly. I didn’t want to draw too much attention to it, give too much away. I shrugged. “It’s an old family heirloom.”
