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“I mean, do they know you’re…” Elma lowered her voice, “theprince?”
He chuckled, leaning toward her conspiratorially. “It might shock you to learn that they do. I try not to let the expectations of royalty cast a pall over the joys of life. Nor did my father. He’s the one who brought me here when I was young. It used to be his favorite tavern. He wanted me to know our kingdom and our people, to understand them. Not just as my future subjects, but as individuals.”
Elma was suddenly embarrassed. She had been so eager to pick apart this new Rune, to find cracks in the facade of Slödava. But so far, all she’d done was highlight the humanity in Rune and his people. “Your father was wise.”
“He was.” Rune studied her face, his brows drawn. “I wish I could say the same of yours.” It wasn’t spoken as a joke or an insult, but simply fact.
Elma’s throat tightened. “So do I,” she said, looking away. “My father had many defining traits, but… none were wisdom.”
“He can’t have been all bad,” Rune said.
“You don’t need to placate me,” said Elma. “I’m well aware of my father’s sins.”
“I only mean that he raised a wise daughter.”
Heat burned Elma’s cheeks at the unexpected compliment. She reached for her drink, letting the steam curl around her face. “I don’t know if I’d say the same.”
“You came here on a mission of peace,” Rune said, matter-of-fact. “Against the direct wishes of your advisors, with a Slödavan assassin at your side. You chose to risk your life and your reputation, on several fronts, just for something you believed in.”
Elma sipped her drink. It was hot and sweet, honeyed, with a hint of ginger. “I had no other option,” she said at last.
“The option was war,” Rune said. “You would have had an entire kingdom behind you, and all of your advisors. You’d have been cheered and applauded up and down the streets of Frost.”
“Maybe I was just being selfish.” Elma spoke quietly, thinking that maybe if he didn’t hear, if she said the words anyway, she might be absolved.
Rune cocked his head. “Oh?”
She sipped her drink again, not meeting his eyes. “I wanted to arrest Bertram and Ferdinand. More than anything. My heart, my gut,everythingtold me that I had to put them down. But the reality of it, two lives would have been taken… their blood would be on my hands. And most painful of all, it would have meant that our deal would be done. And that you would leave.” Gripping her tankard with white knuckles, she stared hard at the wine-stained wood of the bar. “So, I found another use for you.”
Anxiety twisted in her gut, a horrible knot that wouldn’t relent. Rune would hate her, she knew. He’d realize that everything she’d done was for herself, her own interests. And while she did want peace, there was no telling if she would have made the decision to travel to Slödava on her own unless Rune was there with her.
Rune’s tankard slammed on the bar, hot droplets flying everywhere. But instead of going cold and turning away or denouncing her as a villain, he was grinning. His face was flushed with mirth, eyes shining.
“Why are you smiling?” she asked, accusing.
“Because,” he said, leaning toward her as if they shared some terrible secret. “There’s something I haven’t told you. Something about our deal. When I said the involvement of your advisors was incidental in my mission to kill you, what I meant was… they weren’t involved at all.”
Elma stared. “How strong is this drink you’ve given me?”
“I know,” he said, shaking his head, “and I’m sorry. I never outrightliedabout it, exactly. When you came to me in the arena and told me you suspected your men of betraying you, I simply allowed you to continue believing it.”
“But…” Elma couldn’t make sense of this. Her mind was lurching along, trying to remember every conversation she’d had with Rune, every suspicious glance from her advisors. “But Ioverheardthem. They were talking about me, how I wasn’t fit to be queen. And they mentioned you. And… Cora’s evidence.” Elma blinked, staring at Rune with incredulity.
Rune’s expression twisted at the mention of Cora. “I’m certain that you did overhear your men speaking ill of you. And perhaps they did, or still do, want you dead. But they never came to me about it. And I, well… I stopped wanting you dead the second I laid eyes on you. But rationality has never been my strong suit. My mother always said I’m relentlessly romantic.”
“Cora’sevidence,” Elma said again, refusing to allow the puzzle pieces to fall into place.
“That, I can’t explain.” But Rune’s expression was clear enough.
“You think Cora betrayed me,” Elma murmured. “That she manufactured the evidence.”
“It wouldn’t be out of the realm of things Rothenians have done,” Rune said, his tone apologetic. “I tried interrogating that assassin about it in the high tower. Someone paid him to look like a Slödavan; he admitted that much. But he was well-trained, and his tongue didn’t budge after that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Elma asked, too lost to be angry.
Rune reached out as if to lay a comforting hand on her,then thought better of it and withdrew. “It’s only a hunch,” he said. “No more than a guess. I just… saw the way you two argued. She was the one who claimed to have seen a Slödavan assassin. Your advisors are far too bumbling to have orchestrated two assassination attempts, let alone three. And who, other than your maid, had full access to your chambers? Edvin didn’t sneak in there on his own merit, I can tell you that much.”
Just then their dinner arrived, steaming bowls of stew and hunks of warm bread. Elma’s stomach turned, the blood draining from her face. The mention of Edvin made her gut roil even worse. Rune had killed his own man for her. Forher.
