Page 121 of Only Flames Remain

Kallias turned back toward me, expression unreadable. “And neither are you. I thought you loved me, Aveline. But it appears your mind can be easily changed. So fickle. Temperamental and inconsistent. My mother warned me you were too unpredictable…”

He looked…disappointed.

“That is the nature of the tide, is it not?” I sneered as I turned from him, giving him my back as I returned below deck.

With poison running heavy through my blood and my hands bound, I was reduced to a magicless human once more. I was a bird in a cage, just as Sorin had said. I couldn’t even use my newfound magic to break myself free.

I threw myself back down on the cot, unable to find a comfortable position with the twine around my wrists rubbing and burning against my skin. There were many ways I could wear it down and break free, but where would I go? I couldn’t very well swim back to Gothryn. I had to see this through…and I had to speak with my mother.

I needed to know what Kallias and Queen Dyata knew. What my mother had kept from me all these years.

I needed to know what I was.

Who I was.

My mind was racing, sleep evading me. The waves crashed against the hull in a rhythmic beat, though it did nothing to soothe me. I was a raging storm, entirely unmoored.

What if Gothryn was never the enemy at all? What if the evil had been on my own doorstep all this time? In my own bed? What if I had been wrong about everything?

I wasn’t sure I was ready to face that yet.

But worst of all—the question that kept me up as dusk descended and thrust the ship into darkness—was the question of my unknown parentage.

What if the evil one…was me?

CHAPTER 37

Sorin

Two days.

It had been two day’s time since they had injected me with the potion Azhar had concocted and sedated me. I was going to throttle Azhar with my bare hands. But first, I needed to speak to Rensford and Voirel.

I needed to speak to King Mavros.

When I woke, my mind was clear, but my limbs were slow to follow suit. My brain was telling my legs to move, but they were hesitant to comply. Whether it was a side effect of the injection or the fact that it lingered in my system still, I wasn’t sure.

I certainly wasn’t going to let it stop me.

I understood why they had felt the need to do it, but it didn’t lessen the sting. If I were going to take my father’s throne and rule one day, I needed to maintain my composure and keep my wits about me. I couldn’t dissolve into a fit of rage.

I also couldn’t let them disrespect me by treating me like a petulant child. I was the crown prince, for gods’ sake.

That is what the reasonable part of me said, at least. The rest of me was begging for my anger to be unleashed on the king of Myros. To fly to Majur immediately and reclaim my mate.

If the Ashbourne royals found out about our bond, they would only use her against me.

What a fucking mess.

I was glad to find everyone I needed to speak with already sitting in the council room, discussing the future of this kingdom so comfortably without the one person who would be ruling it. I pressed the door open, stilted steps bringing me toward my place to King Mavros’s right.

“Didn’t expect to see me this soon?” I said, casting my gaze on each and every one of the council members sitting at this table.

“Sorin, I—” Rensford started, standing from his seat.

I raised my hand to stop him. “The only thing I want to hear out of anyone’s mouth is an update on the current situation, and what has been done to rectify it. I am confident that in the two days I slumbered, a solution—or at the minimum—a plan has been formulated?”

Silence descended upon the table, and it was only severed when King Mavros broke out into a coughing fit. We waited quietly until he regained his composure.