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“Theirs?”
“Didn’t they build it?” I clarified.
“No,” Fin said. “It’s leftover from before the Ending—the Turn, I mean. They used towers like this one to watch for forest fires and monitor the danger they posed as they spread.”
Fin was filled with knowledge about the old world—the time of abundance and extravagance before the Turn. His people had held that knowledge close, aided by Jake, one of the few people—possibly eventhe onlyperson—left alive from those ancient times.
“Ishould know that.” I shook my head, frustrated by the useless knowledge filling my head about made-up traditions, while the true history of the land and people who had made us into what and who we were remained unknown to me. “My peopleshould know that.” I laughed under my breath and grumbled, “Not that they’re reallymypeople anymore.”
“Maybe you should let them decide that,” Fin suggested. “Seems to me the people in the Seven Kingdoms have lived for far too long under the rule of leaders whoclaimedtheir power. People like Eduart and Nolan, and even your mother. Why not try something new—like letting the people decide who’s in charge?”
“A democracy? In the Seven Kingdoms?” My brow furrowed. “None of the other leaders would go for that.”
“Who says they have any say in the matter?” Fin countered. “Without the support of the people within the Corvo Kingdom, neither you nor Nolan have any power. And withouthispeople’s support, King Eduart is powerless too. If you can keep the people’s loyalty, you can keep a kingdom, and the person whowantsthe power becomes irrelevant.”
“Huh.” I peeked back at Fin over my shoulder, wondering when he had found the time to read up on political philosophy during all the chaos and strife of the past decade.
“What?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
I faced forward, returning my attention to the trail ahead, appreciation curving the corners of my mouth upward. He was different from how I remembered him. He wasmore. “Nothing,” I said, keeping my thoughts about him to myself.
Fin snorted softly. “Whatever you say, tough stuff.”
* * *
The final third of the trail was completely exposed, climbing a wandering path up the only passable route to the top of the rocky peak. The higher we climbed, the windier it became. But all of that was forgotten when I saw the view. It was incredible, with evergreen forests and craggy mountains for as far as the eye could see. It was so different from the wooded hills, sprawling fields, and endless ocean I was used to from the castle windows.
The lookout structure was a simple, one-room hut perched on a raised platform about thirty feet above the top of the peak, with a decaying deck wrapping around the building. It was in surprisingly good shape for a three-hundred-year-old building, likely thanks to the boarded-up windows and the patched roof.
“Did your people do the repairs?” I asked Fin as we ascended the wooden stairs. The boards were sturdy and appeared relatively new.
“A few years back, yeah,” Fin said from close behind me. “We travel this route a lot when trading with Noctem.” He paused, then added, “At least, we used to.”
A narrow catwalk of newer boards laid atop the older, rotted platform allowed us to walk around the deck safely, and my breath caught at the staggering view. We were so high, and the sides of the peak weresosheer. I had never considered myself afraid of heights, but then, I had never been this high. Up here, with the wind tugging at my hair and pulling at my clothes, and with what appeared to be the entire world stretched out below, I seriously reconsidered my stance on heights.
“It’s breathtaking.” I inched backward, away from the unprotected edge and closer to the hut’s exterior wall, except it wasn’t the wall that stopped me but Fin’s body.
His hand settled on my hip, and his nose brushed against my ear. “It is,” he whispered.
I craned my neck to look at him, but his focus wasn’t on the view. It was locked on me.
His hair whipped wildly around his face as he leaned in, and my breath caught. “Do you want to see inside?” he asked, his lips grazing my cheek as he spoke.
My heart hammered, and my voice lodged in my throat. I licked my lips and nodded.
Fin claimed my hand and pulled me back the way we had come, to a boarded-up door on the same side of the lookout hut as the stairs. He wedged his knife between the wide board and the exterior wall. Nails creaked in the wood as he pried the board away. It was a smart, if rudimentary, way to detect if anyone had disturbed the lookout in his people’s absence.
As soon as the board was free, Fin tossed it aside and tugged the door open.
I followed him in, my pulse pounding in my ears, fear battling with excitement within me. The kiss the previous night had been one thing when unwieldy emotions had ruled me, but now, while my rational mind prevailed, memories of another man pushed their way to the forefront of my mind. A man whose touch had never been kind.
The wind caught the door, slamming it shut, and Fin and I were ensconced in instant darkness, almost no light filtering in through the boarded-up windows. Fin was little more than a shadowy figure, his outline suddenly looming.
It was so easy for my mind to play tricks on me. For me to believe he was someone else. Someone who had only ever hurt me.
“Fin?” I said, my voice high and tight. My chin trembled, my heart racing. I reached for him with shaking hands, and he pressed his lips to my palm. “Do you have a light?”
“Yeah,” he said, and lowering my hand, I heard him drop his pack onto the floor and removed his shotgun from his back holster. “Why? Are you afraid of the dark?” he teased. Fin unclipped his bag.
