Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,128
no idea.”
His laugh was bitter. “I’ve always been good at pretending to be who I’m not.”
“You’ve never attended school before?”
“Homeschooled in Beira, after the Snow Queen rescued me. The kingdom’s got a good educational system in place—they just tend to be heavily politicized in one direction, as you know.”
“And before that…?”
“Homeschooled too, but differently.” He laughed again. “Much differently. Many of my foster parents do the basic minimum because social workers like to quiz me on the curriculum, but they’d rather not bother most of the time. They were more keen on demanding I repent for whatever sins they decided I’d done that day so they could flog me into shape.”
“Oh my god,” Tala said, horrified.
“They padlocked the fridge so I wouldn’t eat more than they wanted, locked me in my room all day, hit me if I didn’t move fast enough.” He looked away. “When the Snow Queen found me, it felt like a blessing. She let me watch as she punished them. I helped her rescue more kids like me. I’m committed, Tala. And I’m telling you this not because I want to sound vulnerable. I don’t know how else to promise that I won’t harm you unless I told you why I was.”
Tala looked down at her meal. She couldn’t trust him just because he had a sob story. But there was a particular rawness to his tale that felt authentic. “She saved others?”
“Hundreds.” He stared into the fire. “My mother…died while I was in foster care. Riots broke out shortly after she was forced to return, and she was one of the casualties. The Snow Queen protected her grave so I could visit, promised me she would do everything in her power to make sure fewer people would go through what I did. Your Royal States—they think they’re the good guys. But there’s more to being good than just telling people that you are. The Snow Queen is honest, at least. I’ll follow her anywhere.” He lifted his head to meet her gaze. “All she wants is the firebird. She doesn’t even want Alexei. If he would let her take it, things would be a lot easier for all of us.”
Tala remembered the way Alex looked, their last argument before the ice had given way underneath their feet. Like Ryker, Alex had a vendetta; like him, her best friend would not be deterred from this path, and she was afraid of where that might lead him. “I don’t think so. You’re not the only person to suffer loss. Alex blames your guardian for it, and he’s just as committed to seeing her brought to justice.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry you got involved in this.”
“I was always meant to be involved in this, whether you wanted me to or not.” She hesitated, before finally asking the question she had wanted to ask her father. “Why did Dad leave the Snow Queen?”
“She doesn’t talk much about it. The one time I’ve seen someone broach that topic, she flew into a horrifying rage. Seemed like your father had a differing opinion about how Mother should have conducted herself in the First World War. It was one thing to fight your enemies, but it was another to allow foreign kingdoms access to Beiran spells to terrorize the population and bring about civilian deaths.” He chuckled, but there was no mirth in the sound. “She gave the Ottoman Empire access to some of her glyphs, and it resulted in the Armenian genocide of at least three million. Did you know why? Avalon was initially neutral in the conflict, but sent healers to where the fighting was at its worst. That was all she wanted, to increase the fatalities and cause Avalon more grief.”
“And you champion someone like her?”
“I understand her murderous rage, then. She would have done things differently now. I forgive her the way you forgave your father.”
She didn’t reply to that. “Is he all right? When we left, the ogres…”
His laughter this time sounded more genuine. “Did you even need to ask? Your father’s a tough sonofabitch. He’s survived centuries with the world literally against him. A boy and his ogres aren’t even a blip on his radar.”
Tala muffled a quick sound of relief. “And the Katipuneros?”
“Alive and breathing when I last left, though banged up some. They cost me another ogre and a whole squadron of nightwalkers. For old men and women, they’re quite spry.”
They were alive. She had that, at least. “If you’re lying…”