Kingdom of Sea and Stone (Crown of Coral and Pearl #2) - Mara Rutherford Page 0,9

guards found him, they believed he was dead. They brought him up to his room, where the royal physician removed the knife. The wound had clotted around the blade. He was alive, but barely.”

“My blood,” I breathed. “It saved him.”

“Yes.”

Hot tears seeped out from between my closed eyes. All this time, I believed I had saved Ceren that day at the lake, only to kill him beneath the mountain. The truth was, I had stabbed Ceren, only for my own cursed blood to save him.

“There was a pearl in the hilt of the coral blade,” Talin said after a moment. “A bright red pearl, I’m told. Ceren had it ground down. He consumed that as well. It helped significantly. He healed in two days.”

The pearl had come from the oyster I’d been diving for the day of the incident, when I saved Zadie from drowning and sustained the injury that caused all of this. It made sense, I supposed. If a pink Varenian pearl had strong healing properties, a pearl like the one in the coral knife must be even more powerful. I should have pulled the blade back out when I ran that night. He would have bled out faster, and he wouldn’t have had the pearl to help him heal.

Fear and anger built in my chest until I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. “Damn it!” I shouted, slamming my fists against the bench.

Talin’s grip on my shoulders never faltered. “I’m so sorry,” he said quietly. “So very, very sorry.”

I leaned forward and buried my face in his tunic. “I’m sorry,” I whispered against the soft fabric. “I should be grateful I don’t have his life on my conscience. But I can’t be.” My voice broke on a sob.

“He did unspeakable things to you, Nor. He brought all of his suffering on himself.”

I nodded, more to ease his pain than my own. It had been difficult enough believing I had killed Ceren. Now I had to process his survival.

“What’s going to happen?” I asked when my tears were spent.

Talin sighed heavily. “Ceren is King of Ilara.”

“And you?”

“I am a wanted man.”

My head jerked up. “What? Why?”

“For aiding a criminal.”

I laughed mirthlessly. “Me, I suppose.”

“I helped you escape,” he said. “Ceren sent his guards after me as soon as he could speak. Grig and Osius came with me. They’re on the boat, waiting.”

“Thalos,” I breathed. “And the rest of your men?”

“Most of them didn’t know that I’d helped you. I can only hope Ceren spared them.”

Fresh tears filled my eyes.

“It’s not your fault,” he insisted, taking my hand. “Even if I hadn’t helped you escape, I’m wanted for ‘conspiring with the woman king.’”

Woman king was a moniker people attributed to Talin’s mother, Talia, who had fled New Castle after Ceren tried to kill her. She’d later given birth to Zoi, Talin’s little sister, who was the rightful heir to the Ilarean throne and the true woman king. “He knows she’s alive?”

Talin nodded. “I had sent word to my mother immediately after you left. For two days we believed Ceren was dead, and my mother and her forces were nearly at the Linrose Lakes. Then Ceren made his miraculous recovery, and everything changed. I had no choice but to flee.”

How difficult it must have been, to get so close to victory, only to see it snatched away. “Where is your mother?”

“She halted her advance once she knew she wouldn’t be able to take the throne uncontested. Some of her troops are in Pirot, and others are back in the south, waiting for their next orders.”

I took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. This was bad, but not as bad as it could have been. Talin was alive, and so were his mother and sister. There was still a chance to regroup and defeat Ceren.

“Does your brother know where you are?”

“Osius, Grig, and I were able to make it across the border into Pirot, thanks to the soldiers there. Ceren still believed Lord Clifton’s men were on his side. We lost Ceren’s guards. I assume he thinks I joined my mother’s army.”

I tensed at his words. “But he might guess you came to Varenia, which means you aren’t safe.”

“And neither are you.”

A chill ran over my scalp. “What do you mean?”

“He’s told everyone you tried to kill him. There is a price on your capture, and mine.”

I remembered Ceren’s face when I stabbed him, his jaw drenched in blood, his eyes burning with sheer hatred. Even before that, my choices had