coerced to do what terrifies me for the good of others?”
No one can force you to bow to their demands. It is only the strength of your own will that commands your actions. Freedom is always within your grasp should you but choose to ignore the consequences.
She winced as she mentally acknowledged the truth of that, and the action exposed the strength of her resolve. Her heart told him clearly that she would never willingly ignore those consequences. She acted because she chose to—because she could not, with a clear conscience, do otherwise. The lives of others depended on her, and the consequences of her failure would be far more than she could bear.
But somehow, despite her own impossible situation, she focused on him, with a dogged determination that frustrated his every attempt to discourage her.
“Then I am a prisoner by my own choice,” she whispered. “But you—you are the prisoner of another’s will. Another’s magic. This is so wrong, and yet, what can I do?”
Stunned into even mental silence, he regarded the princess much as he might have surveyed an astonishing new species of bug.
She was supposed to fear him. Should have been thoroughly unnerved by his ability to know her thoughts and feelings. Instead, she saw him as an object of compassion. Comprehended the horror of his prison and considered only how it affected him, not how it endangered her.
He could not decide which angered him more—that she saw him for the monster he’d become, or that she refused to recognize the danger she was in. She needed to understand what he was capable of if she was to be safe, even if that was not how he wished her to see him.
And the fact that he cared how she thought of him enraged him more than all the rest.
But she interrupted his fury and self-loathing with another question.
“Do you report on my thoughts and actions to your master?” she asked bluntly.
So she did grasp the danger. To a point, at least. Then how could she face him so calmly? At least she’d given him the opportunity to convince her that he was the greatest threat to her safety. But how did one lie to a person who could read him as easily as he read her?
I serve as I am compelled to do. No more. No less.
She shivered, and he knew she’d grasped his meaning. Only the darkest of magics could enslave a mind to such a degree, and only the darkest of hearts would put it to a use such as this.
Perhaps now she would understand that she was never safe. That the Raven was no more than an extension of his sovereign’s will.
If commanded to betray her, he would do so without hesitation. No matter how he might feel about it. She should… she must be made to understand this.
But instead? He felt from her a brief flare of hope, and knew that he had no choice but to crush it, as ruthlessly as he had ever crushed the king’s enemies.
Do not fool yourself, princess, he told her harshly. I am no one’s ally, even if our enemy is the same. There may be a moment when our purposes align, but when the time comes to act, I will act for myself. I will not always be a slave, and when that day comes, those who dared to cage me will die. Those who stand in my way will die. Those who have merely waited and watched will die.
“They would never let you live, after that,” she whispered, her voice gone hollow. As if the thought made her sad.
She should not be sad. If he were dead, she would be safer.
Is not the ultimate freedom the ability to choose death?
When she lifted her eyes to gaze into those empty slits in his mask, her lashes were wet.
“You were right,” she said softly. “I know nothing of cages. You’ve been trapped in an existence so terrible it makes you long for death, and even that is denied you.” She bowed her head. Blotted her face with her sleeve and looked back up.
“But, you’re also wrong.” She might weep, but she still did not bend. “The ultimate freedom is to choose between hope and despair. As long as you feel you have no option but despair, you will always be a prisoner.”
Do not speak to me of despair. He lashed out across their link. Not while you have the ability to fight and choose not to. Not