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“So says the Blade of Ice,” he retorts.
“Blade of Ice?” Bowman all but whispers it.
“The elves believe I am Queen of the Third Realm,” I tell him as I reach for the blade sheathed at my back. I pull it free, and the metal glints in the fire between us. “This is the Blade of Ice.”
Bowman all but lunges to his feet and moves around the fire to my side. He reaches out, and I offer him the sword. But the moment he touches it, the metal and steel give way to clear ice. “Amazing.”
“Why are you surprised?” Lacrae questions. “You’ve always known who she was.”
Shock turns my blood cold. “You knew about it?”
Bowman glares at the elf, a hardness in his eyes I’ve only ever seen in my father. For a moment, he’s all I can see. “We all did,” he replies, though he doesn’t elaborate.
I pull the blade in closer. “You had better start talking, Bowman.”
He runs a hand through his white hair. “Lacrae believed that you were the prophesied queen the realm had been waiting on. So when you were born, he brought the blade in a case made of wood. While I wasn’t there for the initial meeting, I know Father was furious at what Lacrae insinuated and refused to let you anywhere near the sword until we’d all held it.” He swallows hard. “Alex was first. He grabbed the hilt, and the thing remained cool as ice in his hands. Same with me, Dierdrech, and Ethan.”
“Did he let me near it?” I demand, hanging onto every single word he’s saying.
“Yes.”
“And it solidified?”
The answer is betrayed in his eyes before he ever speaks a word. “Yes.”
The wind is all but knocked from my lungs as I realize what this means. Not only did Lacrae lie to me, but my entire family kept this massive secret from me. And, they were planning to marry me off instead of letting me fulfill the destiny that was laid out for me since before I was born.
I jump to my feet.
How twisted is that? They knew I was meant for more and were still going to let me settle for a life with Patrick.
“You all knew? Is this some kind of cruel joke?”
Bowman stands, too. “Why do you think I made it a point to train you all those years? That I treated you as more than a prized cow to be married off.”
My glare turns molten. “Prized cow?” I growl.
“I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. What I meant was—”
“I know what you meant. I should be thanking you for training me even though you were more than willing to let me be married off, despite who legend said I was. I always longed for a life bigger than what you all planned for me, and this entire time, I had it. You just wouldn’t let me live it.”
“I couldn’t tell you. And your marriage to Patrick had nothing to do with your destiny. If anything, it only made you more valuable for securing an alliance.”
“More valuable.” I shake my head. “As though my value was for nothing more than what’s between my legs.”
Bowman pales. “You know good and damn well that’s not true!”
“Do I?” I roar back as I sheathe the blade and go toe-to-toe with the man I thought had been my only true ally growing up. Now, I see him for what he is: a liar just like the rest of them. And that guts me.
“I swore an oath to our father not to speak of it again after that day. We all did. And if we’d broken it—”
“You were going to let me marry a man I didn’t love and hide away from my one chance to put the pieces of our realm back together!”
“We all have to do things we don’t want to do!” he yells. “That is the cost of being a royal."
His choice of words stops me cold. “I’m not marrying Patrick.”
Bowman takes a deep breath. “Yes. You are. That is as much a part of your destiny as that damned blade is.”
