Page 71 of Only Flames Remain

“I simply mean that I cannot remain here indefinitely.”

“And you won’t,” I assured him. “I will be back as soon as I am able. I do not relish leaving you alone with the two of them. But be careful with this one.” I nodded my head, indicating Aveline.

“And what do we do with her, exactly?” He crossed his arms over his broad chest and leaned toward me, speaking low. “Is the punishment for treason—no—for trying to assassinate the crown prince…is it not death?”

“Be serious, Ren.”

“I am deadly serious, Sorin. I am concerned about your judgment where she is concerned. You have already underestimated her once. If it weren’t for your tolerance to the poison, you would be dead at this very moment. We cannot underestimate her a second time.”

“I know.” And I did, now that I truly understood her situation. Her goal was not to hurt me, but to gain favor with Queen Dyata so that she might finally be accepted as Kallias’s chosen. She wanted it more than anything, and that made her dangerous. She had everything to gain and nothing to lose. “I will deal with her when I return.”

I started down the corridor and the narrow spiral staircase beyond. I could hear Ren close the door and follow.

“And what do you expect me to do while you are gone?” he asked. “Why not take me back with you?”

“I can’t leave her here alone.”

“Because you think she will escape? If you remove the skiff, there is no way she could. She is but a human after all,” he replied.

“And who is underestimating her now?” I asked, a raised brow thrown over my shoulder as he trailed behind me down the steps. “It is not because I fear her escape. But rather, I fear for her safety.”

Ren scoffed at my back, as if it were the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.

A feeling stirred deep within me that I couldn’t quite explain—but it was telling me to protect her. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that she was human, or that she was alone in a foreign kingdom. Or the fact that she was still our bargaining chip against Kallias and the kingdom of Myros—though after our last conversation, I would need to revisit this with Rensford.

Maybe it was some misplaced savior complex. But I couldn’t let anything happen to her under my watch. She was my indenture, and during her time in my kingdom I would protect her. Until the time came to release her from her contract and send her back home.

The thought sent a pang through me, my chest tightening.

I reached the main hall of the castle and stormed toward the courtyard, anxious to have this meeting with Princess Morwenna over with so I could return. Once the alliance with Ravenscar was secured, the chances of Myros marching against us would diminish. There was no way King Faris would risk it and risk his people in such a foolish way.

But after seeing what they had done to Aveline—the way she had been raised in their kingdom—I wasn’t certain I could count on their sanity or ability to see reason any longer. We couldn’t rule out that they would make unwise decisions. Not when the stakes were so high.

Aveline was taught that she was less than. She endured cruel torture at their hands simply for loving a man they deemed above her station. She bore the scars of that love on her back, and the thought made me sick to my stomach.

That Kallias could even stomach the fact that his own mother had put them there.

Her beautiful pale skin, freckles dotting her flesh mixed with the violent purple scars from her lashing. She was a brave, courageous woman. Raised among the Veytari, who hated her. She didn’t even know that things could—and should—be different.

I reached the breakwater and my wings spread out behind me, allowing me to easily glide to stand atop the waist-high sea wall. I turned back to find Rensford standing in the center of the courtyard, his arms crossed over his chest in annoyance. Nostrils flaring.

“Promise me you will see Azhar while you are home, at the very least,” he called over the crashing ocean tides below the cliffs.

I shook my head, a knowing smile painting my lips. “I’m not going home.”

This was my home. Stormgaard was my home.

The salt spray from the ocean below misted across my skin, dotting my cheeks with brackish water. A storm was on the horizon; the ocean unreasonably agitated beneath the incoming dark clouds and powerful gusts of wind.

“Did you hear what I said?” Ren’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.

Azhar. Right.

I frowned, brows knitting together in confusion. I pulled at my tunic, untucking it from my belt and wrenching it up. There it was, the wound that would never heal.

But…it hadn’t hurt today. Not at all.

Or had I simply been so distracted by Aveline that I had effectively forgotten about the lingering pain? I hadn’t been able to forget that pain in decades. I focused on it now, pressing my eyes closed and searching my mind for that persistent anguish.