Page 55 of A Cursed Son

He nods. “I know. I forget I’m used to it. But it’s important because now you can count on their protection.”

Right. If I ever fall into a river, I guess I’ll be safe—if I don’t drown first.

He stares at me again, that searching stare. “She spoke into your mind, didn’t she?”

“Yes.” I don’t see the point in denying.

His stare unnerves me. “It disconcerted you. What did she say?”

The fact that he noticed how shaken I was is enough to wake me up from this stupor and remind me to stay alert. I smile at him. “If it had been meant for us both, she would have said it out loud, right?”

He tilts his head. “Maybe.”

“Why did you present me as the queen of the Crystal Court?”

“Some people don’t recognize my brother as the king.”

I find it strange that he would refer to the nymphs as people. They felt like something else.

“For them,” he continues, “I’m the king. You’ll be the queen as long as you’re my wife.”

As long as… So it’s not forever. It makes sense now. “Meaning until you defeat Renel, or in seven years, right?”

“That’s when you can choose to leave, yes.”

Choose. As if the decision was mine, and I know it isn’t. “You mean I can choose to stay and then you’ll be stuck with a pathetic failed seductress for a wife? And queen?”

“Exactly.” His voice is so flat that I don’t even know if he’s joking or serious.

“One day you’ll want to fall in love, you’ll want a real marriage.”

He looks away and shakes his head. “It’s too dangerous. Anyone who’s attached to me will have a target on their forehead, will have enemies at every corner.”

I get up. “Oh, so I can be a target, and you don’t mind?”

He gets up and towers over me. “I told you I was sorry for that, but it’s your doing. You have nobody but yourself to blame, wife.”

I clench my fists. “Nothing is my doing. Why don’t we just stop this farce, and you take me back to my kingdom? I can even promise never, ever, ever, to tell anyone about any of those secrets of yours, of which I know nothing!”

“They won’t take you back. It’s done. You’re stuck here, stuck with me, and yes, your life is in danger, but as you can see, I’m doing the best I can to protect you.”

“Safe, but without freedom.” Without love. Perhaps that’s what’s bothering me the most, the fact that I can’t even hope, can’t even make up love stories in my head. “What’s the point?”

“Were you free before? Were you? You were raised in a tower, a prisoner just like…” He pauses, a shadow crossing his eyes.

“Just like whom?”

“A prisoner. In a tower. That’s what you were.”

“Yay. Now I’m a prisoner on an island. With my life in danger. Sounds so much better.”

“We won’t stay here long. I never spend longer than a month in a single place.”

This is something I can work with, something I came here to find: information. I try to keep my voice level, even gentle. “So there are other hideouts?”

“Obviously. You’ll soon get to know them all.”

“Then you’ll let me walk away with that knowledge?”