Page 21 of A Bond of Ice and Glass (Crowned By Wings #2)

“There I was, hoping you were single.” The bartender sighs, still staring at him like he is a piece of cake.

Fury burns down my spine, and I gasp, seeing I’ve turned the stone by the fire into ice.

Thankfully, it melts quickly, and the bartender is too lost in my husband’s eyes to notice.

“We don’t have many rooms left. You’ll have to be in the one near the attic.

It’s small, a few holes I haven’t fixed yet, but it’ll do you for a night.

The bed is clean and dry. There is also a fire in there. ”

“Perfect. Food? We want feeding tonight and in the morning,” he adds.

“The cook made some broth and fresh bread only an hour ago. There should be some left. There’s ale I made myself, nice stuff to warm your belly for the night.

Gods above know it’s needed in miserable weather like tonight.

For a higher fee, you can have some meat and cheese,” she offers, pulling up a key. “It will be?—”

Erax drops a bag of gold with a thud onto the bar, and she stops mid-sentence. “Please take a seat, sir. I’ll bring it all over.”

“Thank you,” Erax murmurs before walking to me.

He sits at the table nearest the fire and waits for me to come and sit with him.

I unclip his cloak, hanging it over the back of the chair, shivering as I sit down.

The fire soon warms me up, and the bartender brings us ales first, water and a plate of meats, cheeses and grapes.

We both eat them, and I notice Erax only eats something after watching me to make sure I eat first. By the time she brings the stew and fresh bread out, our drinks are empty and she takes them to refill.

The broth is warm but lacks any flavour.

I mostly enjoy dipping my bread into it.

I clear my throat. “Thank you for the food.”

Erax leans back in his seat. “I’m sorry we are in this position. You’ve been cold for days and hungry. I should be doing this all better.”

It’s hard to hate him when he says things like that. “Well, thank you for this. I’m still not sure I needed you to save me from my best friend, though.”

“You did.”

His tone is flat. Angry almost. He pauses, his entire demeanour changing, his shoulders tensing. I frown, wondering what is happening when I see it. Shadows of people start moving around the room, and an eerie silence echoes. The noise from the other people has gone silent.

“They’re going to attack us and try to kill us because they think I have more gold.

Or they’ve figured out who you are. The hair gives you away, even though it’s one of my favourite parts of you.

” Erax sighs as my eyes widen. Four big men steadily walk closer, with at least another five more behind him.

“It’s going to look barbaric and like I’m an evil fucking bastard, but it has to be done.

Because I’ll do anything to keep you safe. ”

One of them charges right at us, and before I can even blink, Erax has pulled out his dagger, the blade flashing in the firelight as he stands, kicking his chair to the side.

He strikes the man straight in the face with the blunt end of the dagger, sending him spiralling back across the room.

How is he that strong? Erax cracks his neck as three more gigantic men charge together, deciding that overpowering him is a good plan.

It’s not.

Fire dances out of the fireplaces, like a snake in the air, and it slams into all three of them.

Right through their bodies, one by one, and they scream.

The fire burns them to a crisp in a second.

The other men run for the door, but Erax moves, getting there first. I feel frozen in my seat as I watch Erax fight five men on his own like it’s nothing.

They never stood a chance. He delivers a kick straight to the balls of one man, his dagger slams into the shoulder of another, and he spins like he is air itself.

He pulls his dagger out, jumping over the falling man and, in a swift move, he manages to grab the neck of one of the other men.

With one hand, he snaps his neck. I flinch at the snap.

Erax kicks one of the men in the face as he steps over him to the last one.

His eyes are glowing as he follows the last man standing, who is backing away.

Erax gets to him within three steps and fire bursts out of his hands, engulfing the man in flames until there is only ash on the ground.

Erax lifts his eyes to meet mine, and I breathe in deeply. “ How are you this powerful?”

“Dragons,” he answers flatly, his chest moving fast.

We stare at each other for a long moment as I realise he could have killed Loch and Noble. He could have burnt that entire castle and village down if he wanted to. He didn’t. He spared them and took me back… but why?

The bartender comes rushing round the corner, her eyes widening as she takes in the carnage. Erax unclips another bag of gold from his belt.

“For the mess, provided you stay quiet ’til morning. Otherwise, you’ll be joining them.”

“Yes… yes, my king.” She bows her head and takes the gold. “I was born in the mines, and I would never… I’m sorry they did this. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Mines? What mines?” I question.

Erax just looks at me for a long moment. “We will go to our room now. Again, I apologise for the mess.”

The bartender shakily nods as Erax takes my hand, and I don’t tell him to let go this time.

I know I’m a shaky mess, too. I’ve never seen anyone fight like that, like it wasn’t even a fair fight at all.

There is a number on the key, and Erax leads me up the three flights of stairs before we find the right door.

Thankfully, the fire is lit, and it’s warm when we go inside.

There isn’t much to the room, just a double bed that has been wedged into a triangle-shaped room, peeling wallpaper, and a grey fur rug that has mud on it.

The boards of the ceiling are falling off in places, and some have been literally taped back together.

At least the boards above the bed look in good shape.

There is a window, a small one, and it overlooks the forest.

I walk across to the other door in the room, next to the fireplace, and find a bathroom with buckets of cold, clean-looking water and a toilet cut into the ground. It’s better than nothing, I guess. It all looks clean too, and it’s just one night.

I come back and stare at the bed, at the plush red sheets and pillows.

“We could make a pillow wall.”

“I’ll sleep on the floor.” Erax huffs and heads for the door. “I don’t trust the others sleeping here not to come and stab us in the night.”

He plonks himself down in front of the door, resting his head against it before he begins to yank his wet boots off. I sit on the edge of the bed, pulling off my boots too. “Why did they attack us? It seemed a little random.”

“Because this area once was a very rich, populated town. After what I did, after I got rid of your parents, it’s not a rich town anymore.

The bartender is a survivor of the mines, but the rest of them?

They lost out. The poor people in my kingdom, which are the majority, love me.

But the few that profited off what your parents did, like the ones living in this village, where this inn probably brought in thousands of gold pieces before?

They hate me and they always will because I’ve turned them into normal people with no power or gold.

” He pauses. “Want to know more? You won’t like it.

I told you to ask me for the truth when you were ready, and this conversation will lead to those answers. ”

I need to know.

“What did my parents do? I’m too young to remember, and…

they kept me sheltered.” It still hurts to say that.

Sheltered doesn’t even come close. More like imprisoned, now I’m realising.

“My childhood was spent locked in the castle, and I rarely left the grounds. I didn’t have people to communicate with or ask.

The servants were too afraid, and any nobles I asked, I suspect my parents paid them to lie.

” I cross my arms. “I’ve never understood why the people loved you so much and hated my parents. Tell me why. Tell me the truth.”

“Are you sure?” His tone is gentle. I nod.

“There were mines in your kingdom. Huge mines. The first five layers were pretty much riddled with gold. The next were full of crystals and gems—rubies, diamonds, starquartz the size of your hand. Your parents kept your people as slaves to mine every inch of it. All twenty layers of them.”

He watches my reaction closely. I try not to show how much his words are horrifying me. I feel sick.

“Anyone who rebelled and broke the endless laws your parents made up,” he continues after a moment.

“Even anyone who was simply out of place in their perfect world, was sent there to work the mines until they died. Women, children, sick people. The elderly. They’d also send their entire family and close friends if they were opposed.

The turnover of people in the mines was huge because people died often.

“Anyone that betrayed them, anyone they wanted to punish, poor people who just stole food to survive, would be sent there. They all knew that, the moment they went in there, they were going to be whipped and caged every night when they slept. They were going to be treated like cattle. Babies were born in the mines. They never saw a day of sunlight in their lives and worked from the second they could hold a pickaxe.”

“No,” I whisper, but I know it’s true. I remember the man who broke into the castle in the night and how he just wanted his family back.

He was trying to get to me, to use me to bribe my parents to let his family out of the mines.

All the rubies of my mother’s crown, dresses, and even dotted around the walls of the castle.

The diamonds, the wealth… it was all soaked in blood.

“Yes. I had no intention of overtaking your kingdom, not until I heard what was going on in the mines, and even then, I tried to negotiate with your parents. I told them, if they closed the mines, we could make trade deals. There are many mines in my land too, ones where people can leave freely and come back to work, but they did not want that. They had a treaty with the witches, to whom they were trading crystals for money and protection. They were extremely rich and thought they were untouchable. The only thing they cared about was making themselves and their heir richer. If they lived, they would have turned you into a monster.” He clears his throat.

“I became a monster to stop your parents. I stole dragon eggs from the witches and made myself a rider. I made a small army of riders and saved them all. I saved you too… even if you didn’t know why. ”

I made him into a monster in my mind. I made him the villain.

“I didn’t know.” It feels pathetic to say that.

But what could I have done? I was a child.

“I thought you did, and I thought you might be just as evil as them. I never came to see you because I feared I’d be putting you on a throne alongside me when you might be like them.

But you’re not. I was slow to figure it out, but you are not like your parents, and I suspect you would have stopped them somehow when you grew older. ”

I nod. “I would have.” I frown. “Do the witches hate you then, too?”

“Yes. Long ago, they were the dragons’ protectors, but then they had them magically bound to them so they couldn’t hatch.

I stopped that. I took fourteen eggs away from the witches and let them breed.

Let them be free. The witches are angry with me and want the dragons back, but that isn’t happening.

I believe Loch and his brother are using that as an excuse, saying I’ve brought this war upon everyone.

I refuse to rule any kingdom that knows nothing but misery and pain. ”

He shakes his head, and runs a hand through his hair.

“The witches sent someone to me. She’s a rider now and flew with me to rescue you. She was essential to finding you. I’m actually starting to believe we might find peace with the witches in the future. Once this is all over.”

I look down at the ground, thick hot tears pouring down my cheeks. “I didn’t know.” I begin to sob, covering my face with my hands.

His hands cover mine, gently pulling them down.

The king is kneeling between my legs as he wipes my tears away.

“Mist…” He breathes out that nickname for me like a prayer, and I like it.

Gods, I like him. “The one thing we have in common is that we were born from monsters and bathed in the blood they spilled. But we have the crowns now, and we can do better. We are better and we can fix this world. The truth is, the moment I married you, I knew I’d give up the crown, my kingdom, just to keep you safe.

Don’t cry for their sins, Maelena. You. Are. Not. Guilty.”

I lean forward and kiss my husband, the man who burned a kingdom down to save millions of people. The moment his lips meet mine, the moment I accept who and what he is, every stolen memory slams into me.

Erax… is my king. And we won’t be separated ever again.