Page 38 of Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2)

Mikail

The Western Pass, Khitan

Euyn rights himself as I try to keep Sora from killing him…again. I hold her as gently as I can, restraining her at the elbows, but she struggles with all her might to reach him. If I’m honest, a part of me wants to let her go.

I need to figure out if I heard him correctly. We just lost the sleigh and barely survived an avalanche. It’s been an eventful minute and a half. Did he really say that Sora and her sister’s indentures were never legal? That he knew this the whole time? That—yet again—he’s more of a callous monster than I imagined?

Stars, I really thought we’d hit the low already. Apparently, there’s an Eleventh Hell.

Sora stops struggling and controls her breathing. From the look in her eyes, though, she’s ready to throw him off the cliff, even if it means falling with him. I stay ready, because someone willing to die to commit murder is the most dangerous kind of killer.

Euyn holds snow against his jaw where Sora hit him—and he’s still half buried.

“Sora,” I whisper.

She exhales and looks away. I leave her for the moment, assured at least for now that she won’t try to kill him. I stoop down and help dig Euyn out, using my arms like shovels.

“Tell me because I got distracted—did you just say that Sora’s father never signed the indentures?” I question him as I drag the heavy snow to the side.

“That is what he told me,” he says, meeting my gaze. “I wasn’t able to confirm it, what with being locked in Idle Prison and all.”

I study his face—he’s telling the truth. Chul said this, but Euyn dismissed it.

“You didn’t think to mention it while we were in Yusan?” I raise one brow.

He blinks. “What good would it have done?”

I stare at his confused expression. I can’t figure out if he simply has no empathy or if there’s a reason it wouldn’t have mattered.

Sora comes up next to me, seething by my shoulder.

“What good?” Her hands ball into fists at her side. “I could’ve freed Daysum! She wouldn’t be trapped in a pleasure house right now! She wouldn’t be—”

She lets out a haunting scream, and I jerk my gaze up at the mountains, worried she’ll start another avalanche. But Sora doesn’t care at this point.

“No, she would not have been free,” Euyn says, pursing his lips. At least he has the decency to look sorry.

She lunges for him again, but I catch her. Barely.

“Let him explain, please,” I murmur.

She stares right at me and shakes her head, disgusted. She’s going to kill him. Whether it’s now or later, poison or not, her resolution is clear in her raised chin. It’s going to take a lot of effort to keep him alive if I can’t defuse this. And I already have too much to do.

I take a steadying breath. “You need to explain now, Euyn, and take care with your words. What makes you say Daysum wouldn’t be free? You just said the indentures weren’t valid.”

“I believe they aren’t, but with Dal dead, Seok is the most powerful nobleman in the realm.” He frees his legs and backs an extra step away from Sora, which is not easy with so much snow piled up around us. “The word of a commoner wouldn’t matter, especially since Chul murdered the only man who could’ve testified on his behalf. There’s not a court in Yusan that would believe her father over Seok. Especially not when Seok can claim he paid a fair price and Chul already confessed to killing the magistrate.”

As much as I disagree in principle, Euyn is correct. A Yusanian court would look at the murder of the magistrate as an admission of guilt. They would see a convicted commoner who sold his daughters for gold and who now seeks to renege. Seok would be believed without question.

“I thought it would upset you for no reason, Sora,” Euyn says. “I swear—that is why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to dredge up the past because knowing the truth doesn’t change anything.”

He really should stop talking to her now. We all know it wasn’t the only reason. He wanted to save face and not admit he hunted her father. He wanted to avoid the consequences of his actions.

She stares at him and takes a step closer. I wait, ready to restrain her again.

“The truth makes no difference to you ,” she says, voice shaking. “It means everything to me.” She pauses, and tears well in her eyes. Then she leans forward. “I pray that every single thing that happens to Daysum happens to you, Euyn. In this life or the next.”

Sora walks away, fur blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Her head is high, and she looks more regal than the prince even as she pushes through the deep snow. Euyn flinches as she passes, but she doesn’t touch him. She doesn’t need to.

I let her put some distance between us, and then I look Euyn in the eye. “Any more secrets that you’re holding on to?”

He swallows hard and shakes his head. “No.”

“Good. This is the last time I save you from one of them.”

“But don’t you think…” he begins. He studies my face, and something in his expression shifts.

“Don’t I think what?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Nothing.”

We walk along the cliff together, even though I’m certain he’s lying to me again.