His gruff voice was oddly soothing, but his words set me on edge. I shouldn’t be back. Prince Aleksander needed to stay dead to end the war. It was a decision I’d made of my own volition, and apparently it had been ripped away from me without my consent.
Curling my hands into fists, I stiffened in place. “Who are you? Why did you resurrect me?”
“My name is Talmage. I’m the guild master of Cruor. You’re alive because of Kostya.” With a nod, he indicated a man standing to my left wreathed in shadows. Just like outside the camp, he hadn’t made a sound. But this time, I could hear the subtle inhale and exhale of breath, the minute scraping of cloth on cloth as he straightened his tunic. The way his swallow seemed forced. Death had done something to my senses, and the unease in my gut ratcheted up several notches.
“I don’t want to be here.” Anger colored my voice. I hardly recognized it.
Talmage clasped his hands together. “That can be arranged. I won’t force you to live as an assassin of Cruor if you don’t want to.”
I ignored him entirely and glared at Kostya. He averted his eyes, unwilling to meet my gaze.
“I felt responsible for your death. I… I fear my words may have driven you to take such extreme action.” He cleared his throat and gripped the back of his neck. A beat later, he dropped his arms to his sides. “While it may have ended the war, you didn’t deserve to die. I thought, if you wanted a second chance…” His low voice was clouded with guilt, and some of my anger fled. Perhaps his words had been the catalyst, but the decision was my own. Mine.
“You chose your death. Kostya found you without armor, without weapons, and with a smile on your face. I can’t say this life will be easier, but it will be new. You can move on. You can forget. We leave everything from our past in the ground.” Talmage’s words hinted at a possible new beginning, at a life outside of the wars I’d grown so used to. But that was the thing—no matter how alluring it sounded, no matter how much he promised my previous life could be left in the dirt, there was simply no way a prince of the realm would be forgotten.
There was no outrunning who I used to be. Who I was.
Pushing myself into a sitting position, I bit back a growl. “I don’t get that choice. So long as I live, Rhyne will continue to fight. I died so my men could find reprieve. I died so all of this would end. You might as well kill me now, because I’ll walk right back to their forces if I have to. I won’t let my country suffer any longer.”
“We have ways of hiding your identity.” Talmage’s words were so soft I barely heard them. “The only people who would know of your past would be myself and Kostya.”
“And what of my body? I’m supposed to be dead. Rhyne won’t accept my disappearance as proof, and the war will continue.”
“About that.” Kostya gave a curt nod to my wet clothes. “They were transporting your body to the main ship on a rowboat when I came to…extract you. During the confrontation, the boat capsized. No one was seriously injured, but your body was lost to the depths of the ocean. Or so Rhyne thinks.”
“One of the men transporting your body was a high-ranking official. His word will be good enough for Rhyne.” Talmage steepled his hands together, and I pursed my lips. I wanted to believe in this absurd possibility of a different life, but what if they were wrong? What if Rhyne continued to fight?
“Aleksander.” Kostya crouched before me and leveled me with one look. “You’ve done enough. You’ve done more than any prince has ever done for the people of Lendria. You don’t owe this world anything else. If you truly wish to die again, then I’ll do it myself. But if you want a chance at living, at being someone other than the Frozen Prince of Wilheim, then take it. If at any point you change your mind, I’ll end it quickly. This I promise you.”
Silence stretched on for an eternity. Part of me was livid. I’d found peace in death, and they’d brought me back to a world where I’d done nothing but cause others pain. I wasn’t sure I could live with that knowledge. But another smaller part of me burned with a new hunger I’d long since forgotten: hope.
Hope was a funny thing. All it took was a moment of reflection. One second of attention. And then it was blooming and burning in my chest, overtaking the fears and doubts I’d carried with me to the grave.
Kostya stood and offered me his hand, already reading the answer on my face. “Well?”
I took it after only a breath of hesitation, and he pulled me to my feet. “If I change my mind, you end it. No questions asked. Understood?”
“Understood.”
Talmage straightened. “Before we take you to Cruor, we’ve got to see a mage about your appearance. But first, you’ll be needing a new name. You’re not a prince anymore, Aleksander Nocsis Feyreigner.”
You’re not a prince anymore. Nothing in my life had ever sounded sweeter. It would grieve my parents to no end that their son had died, and they’d probably spend weeks, maybe months, dragging the ocean for my body only to come up empty-handed. Guilt flared for a moment in my chest, but I buried it deep. A world without the man who sparked a never-ending war with Rhyne was surely better off. They’d find a suitable replacement to take the throne once they passed, and life would go on. This would be but a small note in history, and my new life was just beginning. With a tentative smile, I glanced between my newfound brethren.