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“But you don’t know me.”
Her lips pursed.
I sat back, exhaling heavily. Respect for her took root. “You’re a decent person, Princess. That’s why you care.”
“And you’re not a decent person?”
I huffed. “I’m many things. Decent is rarely one of them.”
Her nose scrunched as she appeared to mull that over.
It was time for me to get back to what she wouldn’t speak of. “You’re not going to tell me what the Duke did, are you?” I stretched a bit. “You know, I’ll find out one way or another.”
A faint smile appeared. “If you think so.”
“I know so,” I said, and that prickle at the nape of my neck came again. My grip on the chair relaxed as we sat in silence for a few seconds. The strangest, most inexplicable feeling came over me. “It’s weird, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
Our gazes locked, and I felt it again. That prickle at my neck. A hitch in my chest. The sensation that I… “How it feels like I’ve known you longer. You feel that, too.” The moment the words left my mouth, I thought I should perhaps punch myself in the dick. They sounded foolish. They were foolish. Didn’t change what I felt, though.
Her lips parted, and I thought she might respond. Or, at the very least, laugh at me. She did neither, apparently having more sense than I did and keeping her innermost thoughts quiet. She looked away, her gaze dropping to her hands.
I decided to change the subject. “Why were you on the Rise?”
“Wasn’t it obvious?”
“Your motivation wasn’t. At least tell me that,” I persisted. “Tell me what drove you to go up there to fight them.”
She was quiet as she relaxed her fingers, sliding two of them under her right sleeve. “The scar on my face. Do you know how I got it?”
“Your family was attacked by some Craven when you were a child,” I said. “Vikter…”
“He filled you in?” A tired smile appeared as her hand slid out from under the sleeve. “It’s not the only scar. When I was six, my parents decided to leave the capital for Niel Valley. They wanted a much quieter life, or so I’m told. I don’t remember much from the trip other than my mother and father being incredibly tense throughout the whole thing. Ian and I were young and didn’t know a lot about the Craven, so we weren’t afraid of being out there or stopping at one of the smaller villages—a place I was told later hadn’t seen a Craven attack in decades.”
I stayed quiet as she spoke, my focus solely on her. I didn’t even blink.
“There was just a short wall, like most of the smaller towns, and we were staying at the inn only for one night. The place smelled like cinnamon and cloves. I remember that.” Her eyes closed. “They came at night, in the mist. There was no time once they appeared. My father…he went out onto the street to try and fend them off while my mother hid us, but they came through the door and the windows before she could even step outside.”
My grip on the arms of the chair tightened as she swallowed. Good gods, she must have been so terrified.
“A woman—someone who was staying at the inn—was able to grab Ian and pull him into this hidden room, but I hadn’t wanted to leave my mom and it just…” Her brows knitted together as her face paled. “I woke up days later, back in the capital. Queen Ileana was by my side. She told me what had happened. That our parents were gone.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, and I meant it. “I truly am. It’s a miracle you survived.”
“The gods protected me. That’s what the Queen told me,” she said. “That I was Chosen. I came to learn later that it was one of the reasons the Queen had begged my mother and father not to leave the safety of the capital. That…that if the Dark One became aware of the Maiden being unprotected, he’d send the Craven after me.”
My jaw ached from how tightly I clenched it. I had absolutely nothing to do with what had happened to her family. I hadn’t even known about her at that point.
“He wanted me dead then, but apparently, he wants me alive now.” She laughed, and it sounded pained as she looked at me.
I forced my tone level. “What happened to your family is not your fault, and there could be any number of reasons for why they attacked that village.” I lifted a hand from the chair, dragging it through my hair. “What else do you remember?”
“No one…no one in that inn knew how to fight. Not my parents, none of the women, or even the men. They all relied on the handful of guards.” She rubbed her hands together. “If my parents knew how to defend themselves, they could’ve survived. It might’ve been just a small chance, but one nonetheless.”
