now.”
“We were children,” Alex said. “It devastated Mother that you were gone. It nearly destroyed Father.”
“And you?”
“I couldn’t let it destroy me. I had to be the King.”
“That is the thing,” Lazarus said. “I think you did let it destroy you. It’s why I didn’t take her.”
“Who?”
“Your little fiancée. I was watching you both from the wood. It was easy enough to lure her cat into the trees, and once the cat was here, she followed. Predictable. I was going to kidnap her. But I realized something. In this dispute between the two of us, she’s...innocent.”
His brother seemed perplexed by the idea that Tinley’s innocence had affected him.
“She is,” Alex agreed. “And if you had put a hand on her... I would like for you to remain back from the dead, Lazarus, I would hate to send you back to the grave. And if you put a hand on her...”
“I thought as much,” Lazarus said. “Though that is not what stopped me. The way she looked at you... She loves you. Alex, I was taken into a society of people who despised me. Love is a rare commodity in the world. Love like she feels for you.”
“What does her loving me have to do with anything?” The very question made a streak of pain tear through his chest.
“Because the way that I was brought up, Alex, there is little but hate in my heart for anyone or anything. I was created to come back and destroy you. But my captor died. And...” His brother looked into the distance. “I don’t care. I don’t want to be a pawn. Not of the crown of Liri, and not against her detractors. There are truths about our family that would be difficult for you to stomach, I’ve a feeling. Truths that go back further than Father. All those wars we fought for all those years, all those mysterious deaths in the wood. Why do you think people are kept out of here? It’s not the wolves.”
“It’s not...”
“There are people here. Oppressed by this country. I was taken to be a symbol.”
“But you weren’t used.”
“Things didn’t go as planned. The woman Dionysus was with that night... She lured him into the wood. It was never wolves.”
“Is he...”
“He’s dead. I was not a part of that. You must believe it. And that, is where my fault lies. I cannot bring myself to kill you. Any more than I could’ve brought myself to kill him. Just as I couldn’t take your woman. She loves you. And you love her. Those are gifts that I will never have, Brother, for they were stripped away from me a long time ago. And I let that fester into hatred, of you, of this place. Which was exactly what my captors wanted. But I... I see a different path.”
“What path? I don’t understand.”
“You might be the Lion of the Dark Wood, but I am the Prince. And I have my own people to protect. And you and I... Well, we have some negotiating to do.”
“Surely that can wait.”
“It can. Though... I heard that you broke your engagement.”
“Yes. I did.”
“Why? As I said, it was clear to me there was a great deal of love between the two of you. You don’t have to stand in front of a fire to know it’s warm. I don’t have to be able to feel love to be able to recognize it.”
“You might have been raised to hate me, Lazarus, but you... You cannot possibly hate me more than I was trained to hate myself.”
“And is that why you can’t be with her?”
“She doesn’t deserve to be tied to someone like me.”
“She doesn’t deserve to be with a man she’s clearly in love with?”
“It is not so simple.”
“Life is actually quite simple,” Lazarus said. “You must live. Whatever it is that’s in front of you, take it if you can. For there are guarantees of nothing. I was born a prince in a castle, ended up raised in a shack in the woods. If you can have the castle, why are you choosing the shack?”
“What does that have to...”
“You can have love, you’re choosing not to. Don’t be a fool. You and I will have a meeting in a few days. But I expect you will have resolved things with your Queen by then.”
And just as quietly and suddenly as he had appeared, Lazarus was gone. And everything Alex thought he knew about the world had been turned on its head.
Lazarus made it sound