“Three Velli were found.”
We had not spoken of it. Not the burning of Vellos. Not the decree that no Velli would remain within our borders. It unfolded without discussion, a silent accord.
He killed them all. No inquiry. No mercy. Vellos crossed its line. Those who did not flee over the Craggs would meet his blade.
“Thank you.” I tucked the flower above my ear, its cool petals brushing my temple. “It’s beautiful.”
His hand rose, palm warm against my cheek. Thumb traced the corner of my mouth as he studied me. Tension eased from his brow. “Yes,” he murmured. “You are.”
My smile faltered, and my gaze drifted to the pond once more. The surface lay smooth, luminous beneath the moon. Bright fish glided in its shallows, their fins trailing like silk banners through dark water.
Beautiful.
I was a mess. Bandages wrapped my throat. Stitches pulled along my back and thigh. I was a lattice of gauze and scars. The Dragon’s Heart should’ve been stronger. What were a few marks carved in the name of love?
Yet I had seen them. The torn flesh from Tallon’s belt. The dark line between my legs. Bruises shaped by hands that pinned me down. Each one a reminder of what I had endured.
He took my hand and lifted it to his mouth. His eyes met mine over my knuckles, shadowed with concern. After a breath, he lowered it and plucked a leaf, tossing it into the pond.
“Eldeiade provoked me,” he said quietly. “She undermined me before my nobles. Mocked me, certain I wouldn’t retaliate. Before she conceived Tallon, she summoned me during her fertile window. She was–” His jaw tightened. “Lying with her poisoned me. It was so petty—her cruelty and endless taunts. It lodged beneath my skin like a thorn and festered. I became someone I despised. Rough. Careful not to injure her, yet wishing she would cry out. She never did. She reveled in it.”
The leaf spun in widening circles. He stared at it.
“I tried to deny her at times. Neglected my marital duties. She punished me for it. She came to me in the night—and Greaves couldn’t intervene.” Disgust curled his lip. “I am a warrior. I’m not weak. But there are ways a woman can overpower a man. Humble him. She did.”
My heart froze, blood freezing in my veins. His wife had raped him? My Kallias? With his face pinched and ear tips painted red, I dared not ask for details or clarification. He was embarrassed. Ashamed.
“I learned quickly to meet her on my own terms.” He turned to me with a tortured smile. “Some shames are easier to bear than others.”
He ground his teeth together, spirit laid bare in his eyes. “You feel used, dirty. It can be painful to think about. Guilt pressesin from all sides—every time it crosses your mind. You think it’s your fault because you chose a lesser evil, but evil is evil. It still mars your soul, taints your outlook.”
It did. I craved my trousers to cover my thighs, the scrape of wool a barrier against memory. I wore a high-necked tunic to hide the gashes on my collarbone, stiff linen brushing the tender skin. No, I didn’t want to see them, to have the mirror whisper all the reminders of what I’d done.
“But then a woman sailed across the ocean.” He scoffed, lips curving with genuine mirth. “I warned her, told her I was damaged goods. It would’ve been better for her to choose someone younger, not so battered by life. A young man she could grow with, blossom beside. But instead she chose a spent vine, embracing its thorns, ignoring the faded blooms.”
He pressed his lips together and patted my hand, thumb rough against my knuckles. “Don’t hide from me, Nienna. But I won’t press. Your pain is yours to hold or share.”
“What if I want you to ask?” My voice caught, thin as spun glass. What if he did? Could I tell him?
He frowned, tilting his head. “Then I will.” The words came measured, as if he tested the ground before stepping. He waited for refusal, for the shove that would send him back. When I didn’t move, he shifted closer, fingers grazing the lace at my throat.
My heart battered my ribs. Cold skittered over my skin, sharp pinpricks racing down my arms.
This was Kallias. Not a boy who recoiled from ruin. He had found Deimos between my legs and Egath at my back. He could assume my body had been paraded like prized livestock beneath greedy eyes.
I had nothing to fear.
Yet when he tugged the collar loose, my breath staggered in my chest.
“Tell me to stop.” His gaze shuttered. Pain and fury strained behind iron control.
My head shook, lips trembling. I would never offer this unasked. I would bury it the way he buried his own wounds, let it fester beneath bone and sinew, leaking noxious poison into everything it touched.
Determination tightened his jaw. He rose and settled behind me, heat at my spine. Steady hands loosened the laces of my dress. Fabric slipped over my shoulder, cool air sweeping across bare flesh.
His fingertips brushed the tender scab. He let the bandage fall into the grass. “Who was this?”
“Tallon first.”
