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“She’s a good ruler…present times aside.”
She turned to me.
“There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for her people. She makes sacrifices that no one knows about. She goes with less so people can have more. She can be a very loving person…if she doesn’t consider you an enemy. I don’t agree with her tactics at the moment, but I’ve pardoned them because I know there’s more to her than this.”
“I think you’d be better.”
My eyes locked on to hers.
“You were blinded by your revenge too—but you looked past it.”
I stared at her naked form in the tub, seeing a different woman from the one who snuck men into her room late at night, who had a feast for ten all to herself for dinner, who lived in a world of luxury that should have been mine. The second she shot that arrow into my neck, I’d known she was more than what she seemed. “There’s something you should know.”
She watched me, trepidation in her eyes.
“Your bedroom. It used to belong to me.”
A note of confusion was in her eyes, as if she didn’t follow.
“I still remember waking up in the morning, opening those curtains to that breathtaking view of the city at the bottom of the hill. With the sun in the sky on a cloudless day, the light reflected off the cobblestones—and shone like gold.”
Her eyes tightened, like the description was one she knew just as intimately.
“My father was the King of Kingdoms. My mother, his queen. But all that changed one night, in the middle of winter, when your father and his men made it to the top of the cliffs—and took everything from us.”
Her chest rose and fell quickly under the water, making small waves that sloshed to the sides of the tub.
“They butchered my father, raped my mother, and then kicked us over the edge of the cliff. The siege was quick, killing anyone who resisted, and the transfer of power was complete. The citizens went on with their lives—as if nothing had happened. Rutherford took the Capital, his other supporters claiming other kingdoms. That was over twenty years ago now.”
She experienced shock, a hardness to her features that seemed permanent. The ripples in the water stopped because she failed to breathe. The reaction was genuine, like she had no idea that her home had been taken with force and blood. “The paintings on the walls…the names in the books from the library…”
I stared.
“It never made sense…”
I shouldn’t pity her, but I actually did.
“That means…this is where I’m from…”
I gave a subtle nod.
She looked away, clearly overwhelmed.
The silence seemed to last for an eternity, but I gave her all the time she needed to come to terms with the revelation. Her entire life, everything she knew about herself and her family, was a lie.
“Do you know what I am?” She slowly turned her head to regard me, all the fire gone.
“A Plunderer.”
“And what are they?”
“They live on the other side of the pass. They’re human—but barbaric. Rutherford and Faron left their kingdom to overthrow my family, and once they were successful, they abandoned their own people. They’re still here—and still pissed.”
She gave a slight nod, as if she didn’t know what else to do. “How did they make it up the cliffs?”
“That I don’t know.”
“Nobody could climb it, right?”
I shook my head. “Impossible.”
“The tunnel?”
“That wasn’t there until I built it.”
“You built it?”
“Took a really long time.”
“I can’t even imagine…”
I could feel her sunken mood, feel her despair, feel the damage my words caused. “I hope now you understand. Your father took everything away from us, banished us to this frozen hell, and it’s all we ever think about.”
When the fire died down, I threw another log on top, the flames growing to a new crescendo that filled the room with a burst of heat. The sound of the roaring fire was so loud that I didn’t hear her behind me.
I dusted my hands on my breeches then got to my feet.
She sat on the edge of the bed, wrapped in just a towel, her hand gliding over all the furs on top. “You have a mattress… It’s soft.”
Her hair was dry now, just a little damp near the scalp, and a good bath had given her beautiful skin a new shine. In the little towel, her petite figure was noticeable, but also the small muscles of her arms and thighs.
Last time we were together, I was so focused on the heat that I hadn’t noticed the other smaller details, like the sun-kissed freckles on her shoulders, her little feet that barely reached the floor because of her small stature.
“How do you get out of bed every morning?” She pulled back the covers, revealing sheets underneath the fur blankets. As if she couldn’t resist, she got inside, tossing the towel on the floor once she was done. Her eyes immediately closed, and she released a sigh of contentment.
