Page 156 of Winter Gods & Serpents

“I don’t have to do such thing.”

“Elaborate, Kilian,” she shouted, almost shaking. No need for shadows to know the ire haloing around her. “Don’t play games with me.”

I rubbed a hand over my eyes, taking in a deep breath. “We need it, desperately. Adriata is crumbling, slowly at first and then these last past months even worst. The dark sea is not keeping eudemons at bay anymore, they are lured into our cities. Our lands have grown colder, harsher, wetter, produce is destroyed, animals drowned, villages emptied as Adriatians are fleeing from all sides, some even to Vrammethen. And…the unblessed, somehow are sprouting like wildfire. Your father offered this agreement about two or so years ago, very persistently, it was only recently we were forced to accept when every route we took to deflect these events took us nowhere but to him.”

She smirked and then gradually chuckled, not because she didn’t believe me, she was satisfied. “It goes around, doesn’t it? Like a wheel of misfortune. How so very poetic.”

“There is nothing poetic about thousands of lives in danger and lost.”

“Misery makes for the best of rhymes. Die, cry, oh my.” Her eyes darted about the room. “The term—what was the term that you would not agree on? What was the term that had you convinced?”

She knew, yet I didn’t want her to hear it from me. “You,” I revealed half-heartedly.

“Of course. What did my father offer in the beginning?”

“Your half-sister.”

She nodded slowly, a rueful smile etching and fading in her lips. “Fren would probably be more to your king’s liking than I would, no one likes to tame a horse if you can simply buy a trained pony, but I suppose he has greater plans that to tame me.”

Staying angry with her was unbearable, and I’d pretended long enough to convince myself that it was without success. I gathered her cold face in my hands and she finally opened her eyes. Limp, everything had gone limp, from her limbs to her gaze. “It was not the king who asked for you, it was the council, and no one will hurt you. Do not fear him, you are a thousand ways stronger and scarier than him.”

“It is all because of me, it has always been, Kilian. You might need that agreement, but you need me dead more.”

I shook my head. “That will not happen, ever.”

“Did they send you here to kill me?”

I could not hide my shock. She had truly thought I’d come to hurt her. “I came here myself, Snow, I was the one who proposed to come here, to keep you safe, and I have failed more than I’d like to remember, but it was what I swore and what I will swear with my life. Now, till the day I die, I will protect you. Accept my truth.”

“Why did the council want me?”

I did not want her to hear it, but she had too, it was a truth she deserved to know. “From fear that your father might still have his grand plans for you. The old bats would give you a thousand and one reasons more, have you tested again, keep you away from your father, try and have the prophecy erased with your presence.”

“Why did the king allow it? Even with all that he can’t possibly agree to this, to marry me.”

I combed my fingers through her hair, how soft she was. “He…he was young when he came to power, they have created a big enough grouping of their own and when time comes to vote on matters, they drown the majority. In Adriata even the King needs permission to act on a grand scale of action. Adriata doesn’t have lords, we have Moon court and Night court. One is the council and the other is the king and his private advisers, both take decisions in unison.”

She blinked surprised. “For everything?”

I nodded. “For everything.”

“Well that is ridiculous, he could substitute them all, and is that even a king if he has very little power over decisions? And is this really a grand scale decision?” she asked, almost in a breath making herself cough.

I gave her a smile. “He is trying to bring new minds onto the council, few are already starting to make somewhat of a change. The council has been in order for several decades; the people, generals, captains, and many more have grown fond of many of them, they trust them. It is difficult to get rid of them without causing commotion. But as you said before, he is a toad of a king, the council doesn't like him very much, so he sometimes gets to have his way despite what they say. Also, yes, it is a very grand scale of action you are to be Queen of Adriata, you are to be my queen.”

She flinched and cringed slightly at the last part. It was no longer a playful joke; she truly would be my queen. “Why is your map not here?”

“They would not be able to use it even if they tried. I believe you might be familiar to what we call elhaar, mist of magic or zgahna in Calgnan.” I explained. “The trespassers, have you ever wondered why they always pass in pairs or with a guide?”

“For…the conversation?”

I smiled again. “If a true Adriatian is not with you when you cross river Nyx, the elhaar will get you lost, some driven out of their heads and many more dead. It is precaution, all the maps. Us too have mapping of Isjord and other kingdoms, there is nothing to worry.”

“You don’t know my father.”

“I know his strength, Isjord is powerful but not stupid, look at that,” I motioned over the maps laying on the table. “That is beyond ridicule. Moriko of Hanai, Magnus of Solarya, hells even the Grand Maiden will not sit and tolerate another attack. They will take it as an act of war against the continent.”

“What about my dear betrothed?”