Page 127 of Thorns and Echoes

“Thakris, secure the manor.”

With the assassin went half of her soldiers. There had only been twenty-five inside. Two fled with Zara. A few others ran. There were still eighty hostiles out there. The captain and a few soldiers checked on survivors and wounded while those remaining guarded the door.

Castien moved to her side. “My Queen.” His tone was grim as he surveyed the bodies. A flinty, brittle look claimed his eyes. Streaks of red stained his armor and his face, but he appeared unharmed. A small knot in her chest relaxed.

Blood dripped from his sword. His fingers gripped the hilt too tightly.

She called me a weapon.

Anais had turned him into a weapon first. A dancer into a fighter. A lover filled with rage. Arrogance into defeat.

If he wanted to hate someone, it should be her. Not himself. Not someone far away that he couldn't touch.

Her hand closed on the crest. For the moment, while her soldiers checked the rooms, they were almost alone. The cold Queen said, “If you are anyone's weapon, anyone's tool – you are mine. I commanded you to join me here. To fight. I made you an Escort. Don't try to take the blame for this.”

He slowly fetched a strip of cloth from his pocket and wiped his blade clean. Sheathing the sword, he pulled out another length of fabric and held out his hand.

Mother hens. Every single one of them.

With her hand in his grip, he spoke. “I asked you not to burn the world for me.” He tightly bandaged the small cut on her arm. “Did you take that literally?”

“It had to be done.”

Tying off the bandage, he uncurled her fingers and grasped her claws. His dark eyes captured hers. “How many died in Nadraken? How many lives in exchange for mine? How many more for the war you started with Akerami? All for me.”

He had too firm a grip on her claws. If she tugged, she'd cut him. “Akerami hasn't declared war yet.” Not exactly.

“Vern disagrees.”

She mumbled, “I'm glad the two of you are talking.”

“Don't change the subject. Before me, you had things under control. You had a plan. The lives of the people were improving. Slowly, but nonetheless.” He swept out an arm. “These people will not live to see a better world.”

She dropped the crest into a pouch and clasped his hand. “Before you, I was letting servants die by the hundreds. Before you, I was frozen in inaction. The world needs to change. Perhaps bloodshed is the only way.”

Perhaps if Damon came to her now, she would have listened to him.

Castien let go and slipped out of her grasp. His focus went to the corpses. “Just don’t do it only for me.”

“For you. And everyone else.” She angled his chin back to her. Her gaze flicked back and forth between his eyes. His chaos wasn't so dark at the moment. Softer by the second, in fact. She licked her lips, and his eyes tracked the motion hungrily. Perhaps cold wasn't the right path. “I need you beside me. I need you to remind me what I'm fighting for. Before you, I was growing colder and colder every day. Practicality and necessity are no way to rule a people. Drantar needs humanity.”

He laughed without humor. “And you think I can advise you? Or even more ridiculous, that I can influence you? I don’t want to change you. I think you’re beautiful, my Queen, in every role you play, no matter how dark, how necessary.”

She smiled. “You make me laugh. You remind me what it is to live – as myself, not the Queen. Who else knows people better than a courtesan? You know their hearts, their desires, what satisfies and satiates them. Even better, you know how to give them what they want. To become what they need. That is how you can advise me, prince.”

The light tone she had used on his title affected him the wrong way. He flinched and stepped back. Turning to their prisoner, his jaw clenched. “I can't forget what I did. I can't forget every horrifying moment of watching you drink the poison I put in your cup. I can't forget the look on your face as I held a blade right next to your head. I'll never forget, Anais.”

For a moment, he had felt close. The hungry darkness in his eyes whispered that his heart still wanted her. That he wasn't completely lost to despair.

“Castien–”

Several loud thumps snapped her attention to the front doors.

“Queen Anais! The manor is surrounded. Come out peacefully, and you will not be harmed.”

She knew that voice.

Chapter 41