The Frozen Prince (The Beast Charmer #2) - Maxym M. Martineau Page 0,64
this?” She shook her head. “Noc, I’m fine.”
“The bounty was placed on you, Leena. What do you think the oath is trying to get me to do?”
Her brow furrowed, and she stared off without really seeing anything. After a moment, she shivered. Voice quiet, she turned her gaze back to me. “I’m not going to die.”
Everything we’d just talked about outside surged into the forefront of my mind. I so badly wanted her to understand how real this was. How dangerous I was. And yet I couldn’t tell her. Couldn’t explain the way Amira and Bowen were urging me to end her life. Couldn’t articulate the feelings they stirred in my chest.
“This is serious,” I said.
“Kost and Oz are with us,” she said, gesturing to my brothers. They nodded their agreement. “Nothing will happen to me.” She dropped her hand and turned to them, gaze snagging on Kost for a fraction too long. He met her stare head-on, but said nothing.
Pivoting back to me, she asked, “Anything else?”
I paused. “What do you mean?”
She let out an exasperated sigh. “Noc, I know you. You wouldn’t have waited this long just to tell me about these…feelings if you thought I was in danger. You would’ve acted.” After a beat, she tilted her head. “Why did you ask me about Gaige?”
While telling her about my past didn’t spark the same magical compulsion to be silent, the words were reluctant just the same. “He might know something.”
“About the oath?”
I shook my head.
She pressed her palm flat against my heart. “Tell me, Noc. We’re not in Cruor anymore. The people in this room—your brothers, me—can handle the truth.”
“It’s not a matter of whether or not you can handle it.” The words left me in a rough exhale, and I rubbed my temples to get my thoughts in order. “Leena, this truth? It could put you in danger.”
She threw up her hands. “Everything puts me in danger!”
“Not just you. Cruor. Maybe even Hireath and the Council.”
Her hands fell to her sides. “Why?”
“Because of me or, rather, because of who I used to be.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and caught the glint of silver on my finger. Such a hazardous truth.
“Noc, you mustn’t—”
Kost barely spoke before Leena ate him alive. “Don’t you dare. No more secrets. No more hidden agendas.” She glared at me with the intensity of one of her beasts. “What. Is. Going. On? I’ve waited long enough, Noc.”
Time seemed to slow. I needed to tell her. I couldn’t keep pushing her away. I’d lose her entirely, and that was the exact opposite of what I was trying to do. “My name isn’t Noc.”
Her brow twitched. “I swear to the gods if this is some kind of joke—”
“My name,” I braced myself for her rage and let out a slow breath, “is Aleksander Nocsis Feyreigner, Frozen Prince of Wilheim and rightful heir to the throne. Our royal adviser took over after my parents passed. His son, Varek, now rules over Lendria.”
“For gods’ sakes,” Kost muttered. He removed his glasses completely, setting them on the table and staring off into nothing. Ozias’s jaw hit the floor, and he slumped into a chair, nearly splintering it in half.
Leena’s face was carefully blank. “Explain.”
Gesturing toward the two open chairs at the table, I urged her to sit. She refused to move. “I died fifty years ago during the war with Rhyne.”
Ozias’s throat bobbed. “You were murdered.”
“He sacrificed himself to end the war.” Kost clenched and relaxed his hands, still staring at the empty chair across from him. “It was honorable.”
“You killed the Golden Princess.” Leena’s voice was as sharp as a blade and severed my heartstrings with its edge.
Sinking into the chair across from Kost, I nodded. “The curse did, yes. But no one believed me.”
Realization slowly filled her expression, and she took a step back. “The priestess.”
“Amira’s death was the beginning of it all.” I rotated the ghastly ring around my finger. “Years and years of carnage. I couldn’t stand it anymore—soldiers fighting and dying for a prince they didn’t even believe. It was all my fault. So I ended it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her hazel stare was entirely too damning. Lies. Secrets. My reason would mean nothing to her.
“To protect you.”
“I’m so sick of that excuse!” Her fist slammed into the wall, and rosewood light exploded from the back of her hand. The air throbbed with power. “When will it end? How many more secrets are there?”