Page 67 of Fate of the Sun King

Cedar shrugs. “He overestimates what he means to me.”

Why doesn’t that surprise me to hear?

“I still don’t understand what you were doing there,” Elswyth says, studying us both.

“Right. Well, some more things happened,” I say.

Nadir lays a hand over mine. “Some more things that the king and queen aren’t going to force you to share, because, quite frankly, you owe them nothing.”

I notice the way Cedar’s jaw clenches before he dips his chin. He could argue that he protected us while we lived in The Woodlands. That he did keep our secrets, but I also see what Nadir is getting at.

“Very well,” Cedar says. “Perhaps I can earn your trust in time.”

He takes a sip of his wine, slowly and deliberately, like he’s gathering his thoughts. He places it back on the table with a clink and then peers at me.

“None of this explains why you ended up in The Woodlands now, though.”

It’s Nadir’s turn to jump in.

“My father still is after her. I won’t get into the details of how Lor and her siblings got out, but as we’ve already discussed, my father wants to use her.”

“For what, though?” Cedar asks. “He can’t bond to her.”

I notice Nadir’s hand tighten on the armrest of his chair like those words make him angry.

“No, he cannot. We know he wants her magic, but we don’t know why yet.”

Cedar seems to consider that.

“Well, that would be a useful thing to find out.”

Nadir arches an eyebrow loaded with sarcasm. “Hence the reason we were in the settlements and how we ended up here when his soldiers got wind of our presence. One that I’m again hoping I don’t have to ask you to keep a secret.”

Cedar’s eyes dance with something that almost feels like amusement.

“With all due respect, Nadir, I cannot stand your father and have no interest in helping him achieve anything. Nothing he’s planning would be good for anyone but himself.”

At that, Nadir cracks into a grin. “Then we’re on the same page.”

The corner of Cedar’s mouth quirks up.

“What about your parents?” Elswyth asks then. “Where are they?”

“They died when the king’s men came for us.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she says. “I just assumed they were with you.”

“You didn’t find their bodies?” Tristan asks, his tone sharp. “When you came to the cottage?”

“No. There was no one left when we arrived.”

She says the words softly, as though they might hurt. And they do, scraping a fresh wound scored into the inside of my chest. I shudder to think what the king might have done with them.

Everyone at the table falls silent, the mood somber. No one has really touched their food.

Eventually, Cedar speaks, his expression grave. “I’m so very sorry for everything you’ve gone through, Lor and Tristan. If there’s anything I can do to help you, then say the word. No matter what happens, you have an ally in The Woodlands. My brother loved your grandmother more than life itself, and he would’ve wanted to honor their union. I have no doubt our realms would have worked as one had they… survived.”

He doesn’t voice the subtext of what he’s saying, but I understand his words for the declaration they are. If this comes to a war, then he will be on my side. I don’t think he’s lying. He seems like a man of his word, and while I don’t understand much about the maneuverings of kings and queens yet, I understand there’s a significance in drawing that line here among a group of witnesses.