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He’s sorry? “Don’t be. You were trying to protect me. I’m more upset that you’re here.”
“The No One beast inside me will soon take over again, so you need to listen to me, Lake. Listen closely.”
I inhale deeply and nod. I couldn’t be more invested. I’m here. Talking to Bard. I never dreamed…
He continues, “I used to believe that a No One death sentence was the worst that could happen; however, that is untrue. A vow broken in the name of saving someone you love is not a fate worse than death. It is far worse to turn your back on them. Do you understand?”
“You’re saying you don’t regret it,” I reply solemnly. “But becoming their king? Why?”
“Fate’s hand called upon me.”
“How can you say that, Bard? You are a good man. You deserve a beautiful life—cooking, camping, hunting, making coffee. This place is not where you belong. It’s not fair.”
“Lake, you are still thinking like a human who comes from a land of human rules. This is Monsterland. It is kill or be killed. And you are a queen now.”
“So?”
He lowers his voice, and I feel him all around me. His strong, calming energy. “In this land, you can make the rules.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“How was it?” Tiago asks early the next morning after Bard leaves me in the spot where my journey began last night.
I sit on a boulder near the smoldering bonfire Tiago must’ve built while I was gone. I have no words to answer him, so I won’t try.
“It was…not what I expected.” I extend my cold hands near the coals to warm them up. I notice the other giants are giving me strange looks. Is it because I spent the night deep in No One territory with the No One king and I still have my face?
Tiago grabs his sword from the ground and straps it on his back. “Did you help him find peace?”
He’s trying to be casual about his question, but I know he’s fishing. The truth is that Bard has no intention of settling down by a trickling stream in No One Land, fishing quietly for No One trout. He’s just getting started.
Maybe I am, too.
I shrug. “Sure. I guess.”
Master trots up and starts licking my arm. I think he was worried. That or he’s hungry. Lakey-pop for breakfast.
“Did you tell him he will be in our thoughts?”
Oh, he knows what you think of him. Bard gave me the dirt. All of it. It cost me another chunk of skin, which I had to take with my very own teeth from that meaty part of my hand between the thumb and index finger. Imagine the horror of feeding a piece of your skin to a carnivorous beast who now occupies what’s left of a man you once loved?
But when I closed my eyes and listened to his deep voice tell his story, it was still him. His energy, the quiet strength, his loyalty. Not even becoming the No One king took that away.
Bard told me how, as eldest, he should have been next in line to be king of the War People, but apparently, during a time when the kingdoms were debating the sanity of the Proxy Vow, Bard’s mother spoke out against it.
“A true War Woman, who always stuck to her beliefs,” he said. His mother believed the Proxy Vow was rushed into and not well thought out. She said if the kingdoms were truly interested in lasting peace, they’d be better off finding a solution that shared power among the kingdoms, rather than concentrated it under one ruler who might someday abuse it.
Smart, smart woman.
For this reason, she went against Bard’s father, who supported continuing the Proxy Vow since he was king at the time and didn’t want to relinquish power. He banished her to my world as punishment.
“How can you do this to my mother? Your very own wife?” Bard said he argued to his father. “You swore to always protect her.”
“I also took a vow to protect the War People. This takes precedence,” his father argued back.
“Perhaps for you, but not for us.”
“You mean to challenge me, boy? You think your brothers will side with you?” The king laughed.
“Why not? My sister has. She prefers to risk crossing the bridge with the child in her belly than staying here with you under the rules of the Proxy Vow.”
“She is a woman. Stupid. Just like her mother. And your brothers will not follow any of you.”
“You think?” Bard challenged.
“I do.”
“Once I cross the bridge,” Bard told him, “you will be left all alone. Anyone who matters to you will be gone. The kingdoms will turn against you once they see how your own family does not support you or the Proxy Vow.”
The king smiled. “Idiot. I did not rise to be the ruler of twenty savage kingdoms, including the War People, because of your support. I know how to make an example of my enemies.”
