Page 158 of The Crown’s Temptation

As usual, the quiet between us did not feel like something to fill. It simply was.

I set my cards face down. "I don't understand Teorin."

He put his own cards down.

"What exactly don't you understand?"

"What did he want from me when I was in Veynar?"

"I think," he said at last, "what Teorin wanted in the beginning...and what he wanted later were two very different things."

I frowned.

"What changed? What does he want, exactly?"

His expression softened, almost imperceptibly.

"I believe..."

He paused.

"...you." He looked at me. “He likely still does. “

He leaned forward. "Have you ever been told what the Protectorate Bond is?"

"Yes. Mostly."

"King Fyris never intended to stop at the Alarnan bond between you and Teorin," he said. "And in the beginning, neither did Teorin."

I stared at him. "Start over."

A faint smile. "Very well."

"Have you ever heard the name Brina?"

"No."

"Brina is Teorin's mother. She is also King Fyris's sister. And she is in Sarenal."

I frowned. Sarenal had never seemed to matter, yet lately it seemed to be the only thing that mattered.

"He told me his mother was dead."

Eravic sighed. "He is not known for telling the truth."

I looked into the fire and let that arrange itself. "So Brina lived behind Sarenal's wards and King Fyris wanted her back. He thought he needed me because....?"

"The Protectorate Bond itself is real," Eravic said. "But what King Fyris intended to do with it was not. He twisted something that was meant to protect into something that would serve his own purpose."

He looked at me steadily. "He believed your power could be used to accomplish something far beyond the bond itself. Something that would allow Brina to return from Sarenal."

"Drain me."

His silence was answer enough.

Something cold moved through me. "Teorin knew this."

"Yes. He agreed to it. In the beginning." He looked at the fire. "Word from the docks is that he had been visiting your father's land for years before any of this began. Watching you from a distance. Learning who you were."