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“Don’t apologize to her,” I snapped again. “She killed Master Leo.”
Aislinn’s expression soured.
“I know,” she said. “You told me.”
We both turned to Lady Cara. She met our gaze but didn’t say anything.
“You don’t have anything to say to that?” I asked, anger flaring in me once again. “He was a good man, you know. Blameless.”
“He was,” Lady Cara replied, leaning against the wall behind the bed and looking up at the moldy ceiling. “But he was figuring things out, asking around about matters that the queen didn't want to be dug out.”
“So he deserved to die?” I snapped again. “You killed him. Don’t you feel guilty about that?”
“Guilt is useless,” Lady Cara replied. “I do feel it. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s of no use. I feel guilty about taunting your sister before we went to the trials. I feel guilty about pushing that girl off the bridge to win the contest. But I did all that to survive. I could have forgiven myself for things I did to survive.”
She seemed like she would go on, so Aislinn and I didn’t say anything.
“But I can’t forgive myself for killing Master Leo,” she continued. “I couldn’t. He had done nothing. And I only did what the queen told me because I knew it would benefit me. That’s it. The queen would not have killed me if I refused, I was the Silver Lady, a champion. So it wasn’t about survival. It was about power. I hoped to gain her favor. I killed a man for power. I couldn’t forgive myself for that. And neither should you.”
“I saw you,” I said.
“I know,” she replied.
“Why didn’t you kill me too?” I asked.
“That’s not what the queen wanted,” Lady Cara replied. “She only wanted him gone.”
“The queen thought she could trick Feremir,” Aislinn intervened.
“And she did,” I replied. “Multiple times.”
Neither of them said anything.
“I won’t forgive you for what you did,” I turned to Lady Cara again. “I can’t. I loved Master Leo. He was a good man. He didn’t deserve to die.”
Lady Cara nodded. She did not seem surprised.
“But I will let you help us,” I said. “The queen knows two things she should have never known. She knows who the hero is and she knows how to find the former monsters in hiding. And that is because of me. I made an enemy out of Hogan and he took his revenge, like Master Leo said he would. I led them right to Yeen. I did all that and now, the queen has an advantage.”
I lifted a hand to stop Aislinn when she seemed like she was about to object.
“Now, it’s up to us to level the playing field,” I said, forcing a confident smile on my lips.
