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“I didn’t mean it as a criticism of you,” Amara said, sounding sincere. “But it’s interesting you take it that way. Do you consider yourself uncaring of your kingdom’s people?”
He was silent for a moment, considering her question, and I noticed he didn’t refute the sense of responsibility her phrasing had implied.
“I don’t care like you do,” he said at last. “You seem to be genuinely interested in each individual and care about their state and their emotions.”
Amara nodded. “I do. But that’s because connecting with people comes naturally to me. It isn’t the only way of caring, though.” She paused. “Tell me, Prince, after choosing to leave the capital, why have you spent a year and a half roaming the most remote regions of the kingdom?”
Nik looked away, either unable or unwilling to answer the question. But whether or not he realized it, he had already told me the answer. He thought the people of regional Tartora were forgotten by the crown. He might not think about it the same way Amara did, but he clearly cared—for some people, at least.
“How about this question, then,” Amara said. “Why have you tracked Grey so single-mindedly?”
“He’s abducting children and creating a threat to the entire kingdom. And now he might be involved in poisoning our food supplies. How could I not work against him?”
“Exactly.” Amara nodded in satisfaction. “You do care. You’re just motivated in a different way from me. We don’t all have to approach situations and people from the same perspective—different motivations can lead to the same outcome. What matters, at the end of the day, is that you’re helping people, not hurting them. Not everyone loves in the same way.”
“Love?” Nik scoffed, looking away into the darkness.
“There are different kinds of love,” Amara said, her words a rebuke. “For example, the love a king has for his people.”
Nik’s head whipped around, and he stared silently at her for an extended period. I held my breath, wondering if one or both of them was going to bring up the mysterious reason for his current status. But neither spoke, the popping of the fire the only accompaniment to the more distant sounds of the night.
Eventually Amara suggested sleep, and we all spread apart, banking the fire and preparing the camp and animals for the night. I stepped out of the firelight to check on Acorn’s tether and arms encircled me, pulling me close.
My squeak of surprise was muffled by Nik’s chest, and I fell silent, letting him hold me tight. My arms were trapped at my sides, but I didn’t try to free them, merely resting my head against him.
His body was tense, and I could tell without needing to see his face or hear him speak that he needed comfort in this moment. The longer we stood there, however, the faster my heart began to race. When I heard his heartbeat meet mine, he abruptly let me go and stepped back.
“I’m sorry.” His voice was low and gruff.
“No.” I put a hand on his arm, stopping him from escaping. “I can’t promise to watch over you or protect you from any danger, but I can do this much, at least. If you need someone, I’m here for you, Nik.”
He hesitated for a long moment before speaking again, even lower than before. “Thank you.”
He swept me abruptly into a second embrace, this one even tighter, but far shorter, than the last. When he released me, it was with a low growl, thrusting me away before striding off into the darkness.
I peered after him, my eyes finally adjusting after the brightness of the fire, but he was already lost to the shadows. And he didn’t return that night.
ChapterFourteen
Most of our journey had been through farmlands, with farmers busying themselves with the harvest. Their industry only highlighted the tragedy of the empty, still sections of blackened earth.
And although talk of the blight had been severely contained by the efforts of the crown and Guild, the issue couldn’t be concealed from the villages at its center. As we moved further from the capital, the villages became more and more unsettled. All conversations circled back to the blight, and endless debates raged on what the response from Tarona should be. Some blamed the king, some blamed the Guild, and others declared that a disaster had struck the kingdom beyond the ability of either to fix.
The worst were the empty houses, where families had packed up and gone north into Calista, with no one new arriving to take their place. Since Calista had so far been spared from the blight, those who remained talked of it in suspicious tones that matched the way the southerners had viewed Grey’s influence.
Nik’s mood grew grimmer by the night, and Amara wasn’t far behind him.
“It’s worse than I realized,” she finally admitted as we camped on the western bank of the Viridian River. We had passed the last of the farmlands, entering the hilly grazing lands of the northern border region.
“Why do you think I proposed such a desperate plan?” Nik’s eyes lingered on me, discomfort in their depths.
As the weeks had passed, he had grown more and more reluctant to speak of the plan he’d suggested or of what might await me in Grey’s camp. No amount of reassurance seemed to convince him that I wasn’t going to change my mind, or that I was perfectly capable of healing myself if something unpleasant befell me.
“I’m sure Amara will agree to my going,” I said. “Now that she’s seen the state of things up here. You will, won’t you, Amara?”
Amara grimaced. “I find myself growing anxious to meet up with Hayes and Clay and hear their report from the capital.”
“How much longer will it take us to reach Eldrida?” I asked, trying to picture the coastal city and failing.
