AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And then she’d carried his legacy. She’d broken this bitter kingdom open to try to shape it into something new.
“Let me tell you just how foolish Lysander was.” His grin was wicked and pointed. “I was standing with him once in that ballroom below. You were holding hands with that little girl, trying to teach her to waltz.”
The memory of a winter solstice dance, of Honor running among the crowd of dancers with her hair tied up in a bow and streaming behind her, rose like a ghost. I had to rack my mind to recall holding her small hands to dance with her, and the memory of her begging me to dance with her before that. An ache opened in my chest, remembering the way she used to look up at me with so much trust and affection. I’d never been worthy of that wide-eyed, open look; she looked at me if I could carry her the moon.
“Some of the nobles clearly disliked your presence, since you were just his page, his pet. He didn’t acknowledge any of their looks, and they never would have dared criticize.”
“Is there a point to this story?” I knew what his point was; he wanted to make me feel as if I were trash.
He was undeterred. “But he was just pretending he didn’t see them. I know he noticed, because he looked at the two of you and said he hoped one day, the kingdom would value character above all, that one day his daughter would marry a man like you.”
For the first time in the conversation, I felt shaken.
Lysander had hoped Honor would marry a man like… me?
What the hell did that mean?
He shook his head. “But of course, Lysander died, and so did his dream, and having seen Honor attempt to dance tonight—well, it seems neither of you ever learned well to fit into the court. Pity, because if she had the support of the nobles, maybe things would go differently for you both.”
“What have you done, Camet?”
“Kallus needs her, and he’s willing to pay handsomely.”
“You betrayed her.”
“Betrayed? You are so dramatic.” He still seemed amused by me; that wouldn’t work out for him much longer. “Of course she would go to her uncle. It will be no surprise to the kingdom when she disappears back to the poison kingdom. She’s ruined our magic…there’s no future for her here.”
“What’s Kallus’s plan?” I didn’t trust Kallus, but Honor was convinced he was genuinely fond of her. And after the way Kallus had killed Joachim for hurting her… I couldn’t make sense of the Grey King.
“I don’t care what he intends to do with that ridiculous bitch. I just care that he leaves the isle—and leaves me wearing a crown.”
“It’ll be your corpse wearing a crown,” I promised him.
“We’ll see,” he said, the moment before he raised his magic, which swirled around his hands.
Ah, that was always his plan. Not guards, but to beat me with magic when I had none.
He saw something behind me, his eyes jerking toward it. It was my opening.
I threw the blade that I’d slipped from my sleeve as we were talking. His eyes widened in horror and he jerked his hands up, his gaze sliding back to me, but he was too late.
The knife slid into his throat, smooth as butter. Blood sprayed across the room. He crumpled to the ground, making a desperate, choked sound.
Jaik’s crown glittered on the dresser. I gripped it and threw it at Camet.
“Wear it now,” I barked out. “AsIpromised.”
I spun to face whatever had distracted Camet, expecting a servant or a shocked companion who had come to pleasure him.
Instead, I met Honor’s wide eyes.
For the first time since I saw her being taken, fear pulsed through my chest. What would she think of what she’d just seen?
CHAPTER59
Honor
For a second,Damyn looked disconcerted. Camet’s dying body lay behind him, the would-be king letting out sputtering gasps that expelled spurts of blood. The crown shifted every time his chest heaved desperately, trying to draw a breath.
