My fingers pause where I’m fidgeting with my dress. “Selia is your sister?”
The royal blood of Vaelier. Here, with King Malachi.
“Mm-hmm.” He answers both my question and my thoughts.
“But she hates you.” My eyebrows pinch, and he spares me a glance, so I try to backtrack. “I’m just saying?—”
“You’re right. She does hate me.”
“Why?”
“That’s a very short yet complicated question.” He tosses the dagger, and it drives deeper as the target starts to splinter out at the center.
“Are you going to answer it?”
“Is it really in your best interests to get to know your enemy, Elorie?”
“Probably not.”
He smirks.
Maybe I shouldn’t be prying, but I can’t help it. I’m too curious for my own good, and now that I know Selia is his sister, I want to know everything. What drove them apart? What brought her to King Malachi’s side?
“Fair enough.” Wilder grabs the handle of the dagger, watching the moon reflect on the blade. “Selia and I had a lot of pressure on us growing up. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me most, and she’s never forgiven me for it.”
“Still, to betray her kingdom out of spite is a little extreme.”
“It’s not her fault.” Wilder’s eyes cut in my direction, and I swallow hard.
He doesn’t blame her, which tells me there’s more to that story he’s not sharing.
“Do you think you can convince her to go back with you? She seems pretty set on staying with the king.”
“She’s my sister. I’m not giving up on her.”
“And what if your people have given up on both of you?”
Wilder’s eyebrows pinch.
“I’ve been thinking about that night in the prison.” I tread carefully when Wilder flinches. “When your rebels came for you, they didn’t try to save you. They fought you instead.”
Wilder pauses a beat before throwing the dagger. This time, instead of walking to get it, he turns to face me, dipping his hands into his pockets.
When he doesn’t say anything, I continue. “My whole life, I wondered why Vaelier rebels would bother with Alyssium. There’s no magic there. No food worth seeking out. Nothing but snow and dead trees. It wasn’t until I came here and learned who you are that I realized they were there to rescue their king. Except that’s not what they did. They killed you. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Does it need to make sense? I forget how logical humans are sometimes.” He chuckles, and my teeth grit.
“You’re insufferable,” I grumble.
“And you’re too curious.” He waves his hands out. “Yet here we are.”
I tap my toe on the ground. “You’re avoiding my question. Why would your people search for you only to kill you? It seems like a lot of effort for someone already locked in a prison. What did you do to lose the faith of your kingdom?”
“Kingdoms are fickle. Ask your king.”
“King Malachi’s kingdom loves him. They’d never stab him in the heart.”
“Are you sure about that? You’re so quick to judge what you barely understand. For a girl gods bent on saving a kingdom, she knows very little about it.”
