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I sat in the pool while she stormed away, stunned into my own thoughts. Her words invaded my mind, attacking my deepest insecurities.

You talk of protection and honor, but they mean nothing without kindness.

Not true. Protection and honor were everything. Kindness had to come second to them. Didn’t it?

You fear what you do not understand, and you let that fear rule you.

That, perhaps, was true. I hated to admit it, but I was terrified of what I could not control, what I could not protect from. That fear led to every regret I had… but not every sorrow. And if I had not fought to protect my people, they would suffer even more.

The drekkan is no monster compared to the beast that lives in your heart .

And that was my shame. I could not even argue it. Radira’s dying words had cursed me to suffer “the effects of my own monsters.” Was it a surprise that her daughter made the same accusation thirteen years later?

Her daughter. Callista had touched me in ways I never expected. She might not want to ever see my face again, but perhaps I could try to lessen her pain.

No, her pain would never lessen. My parents had been dead longer, and it still made me angry.

But her pain was my fault. I could be kind to her. I could make her life comfortable in the fortress. I could—

My eyes flew to the path she’d marched down at least ten minutes ago. A frozen, ice-covered path into a forest full of monsters.

I jumped out of the pool and crashed through the same path, breaking crystals and smashing plants that blocked my monster-sized body. The bond hadn’t warned me of her fear, so she should be safe, but I still worried. There were too many—

My thoughts broke away abruptly when I saw her. She had found a dry, not frozen, patch of ground surrounded by part of a massive, ancient, gnarled tree that had grown around a large crevice, providing shelter from the winter wind.

I stopped a hundred feet away from her. “I know you don’t want to see me, but I don’t want you to freeze to death. Or get eaten. Can I take you back to the fortress?”

She folded her arms and leaned against the tree. “I thought my entire purpose here was so you could kill me. Does it really matter if another animal gets to me first? My brother wouldn’t know.”

The tree’s empty branches shook, as if threatening me if I answered wrong.

“I don’t want you to die,” I ground out.

“Really?” She stood taller and glared at me with puffy eyes. “You killed my mother. Tried to kill my brother. And almost killed me.” She rubbed her chest. “Bound me as a death option. But you don’t want me to die?”

I clenched my hands and ground my teeth, burying a growl that tried to escape. I wouldn’t be able to convince her. No matter what the truth was, the evidence against me was too condemning. I crouched and leaped into the air.

She jumped out of her little crevice. “Wait! Where are you going?”

I flapped my wings to hover. “To tell Mylo to find a way to get you home before you die out here.”

Her brows pursed together. “Can he fly?”

“No. He will have to descend the pillar and cross the lake.” The thought of Mylo attempting to fly was ridiculous… though, perhaps I could fly him to the shoreline. That would make it a little easier—

“Will you take me?” She placed a hand on the tree as if thanking it, and then stepped closer to me. She raised her chin. “Will you, Your Majesty?”

I swallowed through a tight throat. She had spoken in a polite and respectful tone, but my title felt like a curse on her lips. Or an accusation. I was the king. I should have protected the people in my borders better—even if they were fae.

I stretched my arms toward her, and she lifted hers. Once I held her firmly in my grip, I took to the sky.