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“Good evening, my bride.” Fearsome claws trailed a shiver-inducing path up my spine. “I trust you slept well.”
I shoved off his lap, escaping those tickling claws. He took no notice as he leaned over, sweeping back the curtain.
“Welcome home.”
My lips parted, but nothing came out. I’d seen many maps of the faelands, and all of them had a huge, looming shadow where the kingdom of Wind and Wild should be. There was nothing else there could be for every cartologists who crossed the border never made it back alive. I understood why in that moment.
“It’s dead,” I breathed. “Everything... dead.”
There were a million words to describe the frozen wasteland surrounding me—smothering me. But none would capture the sight so completely asdead.
Snow blanketed the hills and mountains, wiping away any trace of greens, browns, reds, oranges, or any sign life once existed beneath the ice. Twisted, snarled, bare stumps reached for the skies, their skinny frozen branches beseeching the sun for warmth.
That was it. The world had washed away. Summer, light, laughter, and warmth disappeared, and all that was left were dead trees, mountains, and ice.
“Is this the curse?” I pressed my fingertips to the glass. The cold seeped into my bones, chilling me to the core. “This is what it does? It sucks the life out of... everything.”
Alisdair didn’t answer. I couldn’t be certain he heard me. That was fine. He didn’t need to explain himself. My supposed new home said all that needed to be said.
This is what we’ve fought a thousand years to prevent. This land of winter and death, where we’d roam forever as mindless beasts. And somewhere, buried under the unmarked ice, was Shadowsoul’s wretched, still-beating heart.
No wonder our fae forces couldn’t find it. No wonder we could never stop trying.
“Enough,” I announced, facing him. “No more games. No more stories. This is not my home. It can’t be. I need to get back to Lyrica. I have—”people who need me.
The rest of the sentence wouldn’t come out. Seemed Princess Emiana did not have anyone in Lyrica who needed her. Well, I did, and I wouldn’t be a bird in Shadowsoul’s cage any more than I’d be a pawn in Emiana’s escape.
“—important things to do,” I finished. “Take me back, or Meya bless it, open the door and throw me out here. I don’t care. I just need you to let me go. What will it take for you to dub this the shortest sham marriage in fae history? Name your price.”
“To make such a statement one must have something to bargain.” He leveled that hated smirk on me—the one that said Iwas being a funny little bird again. “What will you give me if I let you go?”
“You can tell everyone—all the nations—that I, Princess Emiana, am responsible for breaking the treaty. I have let down my people—nay, the entire fae race, and I should be named and condemned for the selfish, manipulative witch I am.” Of course the curse let me say that. Every word of it was true.
“Hmm,” he vocalized, tipping his chin. The act drew my attention to how full and chiseled it was. A sharp fist clench and nails piercing my palm made me stop. “This is awkward for you, little bird, because I already ordered my people to spread that very truth throughout the kingdoms. Nearly word for word.” He cocked his head, studying me in that unsettling way. “What else?”
“This can be your chance to prove the whole world is wrong about you. Deep down, there is goodness and kindness in your soul. What price can be put on your redemption—?”
“No.”
I bit hard on my lip, penning in a stream of foul words. Something about his nos put me in a chokehold. My survival instincts sensed pushing him would have dire consequences.
“I—I will...” I cast my mind for something—anything. “Lie,” I blurted. “I will lie to King Salman, assuming he still lives, and tell him the heart no longer resides in the kingdom of Wind and Wild.”
His grin melted away, but mine widened. I had his attention now.
“I’ll say I witnessed you unearth it, put it in a chest, and tossed it in the sea. It now lurks at the bottom of the ocean, never to be recovered.” I leaned forward in my eagerness, bumping my knees against his. “One lie from these lips will end the war and grant peace—true peace—that your kingdom hasn’t known inover a thousand years. What say you?” I held out my hand. “Do we have a bargain?”
He eyed my hand, expression unreadable. “What you speak of is treason, my queen. Deliberately misleading your former king, acting as spy, and spreading false information to the detriment of their war effort. If discovered to be untrue, you will be tried and executed in a cauldron of molten iron.”
My throat seized. I was not aware of the punishment.
“Knowing this, you’d make such a bargain all for the sake of returning to Lyrica to attend toimportant things?”
The most important.
“Yes,” I said clearly. “I will.”
I thrust my hand out farther. “Do we have a bargain?”
