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“I did not realize when I married you I would be required to always be at your side.”

“Required?” he countered. “Is it such a chore?”

“You know that is not what I mean,” I snapped.

“Then it seems we are both good at twisting words,” he said.

Silence stretched between us, and after a moment, I took a deep breath.

“Do you agree that I will have to return to Lara?”

“Yes,” he said.

“And if you come with me…when will we be able to return?”

“WhenI come with you,” he said, “it will be when we feel safe in our own country.”

I ground my teeth. I wanted to argue with him that Lara was my country too.

“And what about Nalani?”

I feared bringing up my mother’s island, but I needed to know he had a plan for them.

“Isolde—”

“Tell me they are part of your plan,” I said.

He was quiet.

“Adrian?”

“I am aware of what you want, Isolde, but I cannot give you everything you ask for all at once, no matter how I wish to.”

“I am only asking to know more about them,” I said. “You sent Sorin to scout the entirety of Cordova. Could you not send him to Nalani?”

“Say I did,” he said, “and he came back with information you did not like. You would be restless to save them, but who do you choose? You swore to protect the people of Revekka and Lara. You never swore to protect Nalani.”

“I swore to protect my people,” I said.

“Can you even call them yours?” he said. “They do not know who you are.”

I felt the heat drain from my face at his words and rose to my feet. Only then did he seem to realize what he’d said.

“I did not mean—”

“I think you should stop talking,” I said, and he grew silent. “They may not know I exist, and I may not know their ways, but I still belong to them…more than I ever belonged to you.”

I left and considered going to the library, but any research I attempted would be futile. I was unfocused and frustrated and far more restless after my conversation with Adrian. In many ways, I knew he was right. I had to be strategic about how I chose to help any of my people. I also wished he had chosen different words to communicate how he felt about my return to Lara and my concern over Nalani, because I was tired of his apologies in the aftermath of my pain.

I wandered the halls, wishing it were not so cold and snowy so that I could seek the solace of the gardens. Instead, I lingered near the windows, staring out at Revekka’s frozen landscape, wondering what horror Ravena planned to unleash on us next, hoping we would be prepared and knowing we wouldn’t.

I moved on from the window, and as I made my way down the hall, I noticed I was not alone. Sorin lounged in an alcove, one leg propped over the other, a book open on his lap. He was dressed in a tunic and leggings and his feet were bare.

“I thought you didn’t read,” I said.

Sorin met my gaze, the serious expression he had worn while reading fading away into a sweet smile.

“I distinctly remember telling you I was kidding, my queen.”