You didn’t want to leave them, and yet you did. You felt you had no choice.”
“I was glad to leave them,” Rielle snapped, pressing her fingers against her forehead. Miniature storms of power crackled between her knuckles. “I should have done it sooner.”
“You forget that you visited my palace, Lady Rielle,” said Obritsa. “I saw all of you together. I saw you with Prince Audric. King Audric, now. The love between you was not a lie.”
Rielle’s heart pounded in her ears. “Our love was not a lie then,” she said stiffly. “Now, it would be.”
“If you say it, I suppose it’s true.”
“I could disintegrate you with a snap of my fingers, and you know it. Considering that, it seems odd that you would insist on provoking me.”
If Obritsa felt fear, Rielle could not see it. The shadows under Obritsa’s tired eyes made her face look sunken, yet her poise was impeccable. She was a spy, Rielle knew—a weapon planted on the Kirvayan throne by revolutionaries determined to overthrow the elemental ruling class. And now she was the prisoner of an angel.
Rielle looked away. The girl was an asset, nothing more. She deserved neither admiration nor pity.
“He’s busy, maybe even distracted, but he won’t be for long,” Obritsa said quietly. “If you want to see Ludivine and Audric again, you should act quickly, and you know it.”
Rielle rose unsteadily, hating the new plumpness of her body. Thoughts of the child growing inside her crested bitterly, but she fought against them. She couldn’t think about the life inside her just yet, nor the danger it might pose. She couldn’t think about how furious she was with Corien for keeping the truth of her child from her, even after he had promised her no more lies. He had apologized; she had accepted. That should have been enough.
Rielle paced. Corien was up on the deck, overseeing his new, gray-eyed crew. She knew that even as he worked his mind would be elsewhere, in a thousand different places across the world and in the Deep. It was possible that, right now, in this moment and perhaps for a few more, he would be distracted and not looking at the captain’s quarters, where Obritsa’s words lingered in Rielle’s ears, and a seed of doubt had begun sprouting slowly in her heart.
But the girl was right; at any moment, he would return to them. In an instant, he could reach for her, and hear everything they said.
“It’s taken us weeks to travel this far,” Rielle said quietly. “I wouldn’t be able to get to Celdaria and back before he realized we were gone.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Obritsa agreed.
“He’d find us before we could get very far.”
“Most likely.”
“And punish us. You most of all.” She blew out a sharp breath. “What a stupid idea. You’re stupid for suggesting it.”
“Undoubtedly.” A beat of silence. “But wouldn’t it be worth it to try?”
Rielle breathed slowly through her nose, fighting for calm as nerves bubbled hot in her chest, rising higher and higher. Was it worth it to attempt leaving? She imagined being back in Celdaria, in the familiar halls of Baingarde. She could confront Audric, know for certain that he was alive and well. Demand an apology for what he’d said to her on their wedding night.
Punish him, if she decided to. Reject him forever.
She could plant her feet on Celdarian soil once more, ride Atheria up to Mount Cibelline’s highest slopes and gulp down the crisp mountain air until her lungs burned.
But what would she find beyond that? What life could she find there after everything that had happened?
She turned to the nearby wall, pressing her palms against it, her head pounding in time with the rocking of the ship. “I cannot.”
Obritsa’s voice tightened with impatience. “You claim to want freedom, and yet you allow him his chains.” Then, in an urgent whisper: “Lady Rielle, if you’d seen what I’ve seen at his base in the north, the things he does in the mountain beneath his fortress—”
Then, abruptly, Obritsa stopped speaking.
Rielle whirled just in time to see the girl stiffen. Her eyes glazed over, and she slumped back against the wall.
The door flew open, and Rielle hurried toward it, met Corien at the threshold with a kiss.
“I want to get rid of them,” she said breathlessly, her mouth against his, “as soon as we have the casting and take it to…what do you call it? Your base?”
“The Northern Reach,” he said, voice flat, not responding to her touch.