Kingdom of Sea and Stone

“As long as it doesn’t go against the king’s orders, I’d be happy to help you, my lady.”

I hated using a human being like this, but while I was at dinner with Ceren, it was the perfect time for Elspeth to get the key to Ceren’s study. I gave her instructions to retrieve a package from Lady Hyacinth without telling her what it was and made my way to dinner.

I was surprised to find the long table set for just two people. Ceren sat at the head, idly twirling a small box in his fingers and ignoring the few servants who milled about on the periphery of the hall.

I cleared my throat and Ceren immediately put the box in his pocket, then rose from his seat and bowed. His silken blond hair fell forward, obscuring his features.

I curtsied out of habit and went to my chair, but Ceren insisted on pulling it out for me. I watched him from the corner of my eye.

“Thank you for coming,” he said as I sat down. “And for wearing the gown.”

I turned to look up at him. “Where is everyone else?”

“Perhaps I sent them all to bed without supper,” he retorted. “What does it matter?”

I shrugged. “It doesn’t.”

He took his seat and waved one of the servants forward. She filled his wine goblet without him having to ask. “I have some bad news to share, unfortunately. I’m afraid Talia has decided not to wait any longer to start this war. She’s bringing her canons up to the base of the mountain as we speak.”

My stomach sank at his words. I had hoped we would have more time, that Talin might convince Talia to delay. “Then what are you doing? Shouldn’t you be preparing for battle?”

He tossed a long, silky lock of hair over his shoulder. “I have plenty of time for that,” he said, draining his goblet of wine and rising from his chair. “I have a gift for you.” The small box was in his hand again, procured from his pocket when I wasn’t looking.

I turned my head to look at him. “I don’t want any more gifts from you.”

“But I had it made especially for you.”

Just as I started to rise, he lifted his hands over my head. I saw a flash of something stretched between them, like a rope, and I was sure he was going to strangle me in my seat. I surged backward, hoping to catch Ceren off guard, but he pressed me down with his forearms. A scream died in my throat as I felt cold metal against my breastbone, and a matching chain against my neck. I reached up to touch the pendant, my fingers finding the facets of a jewel.

I peered down at my chest, where a red gem pulsated with light.

“Before you ask, I’m not going to use it on you,” Ceren said. “But I wanted you to have it.” He pulled my hair away from my neck, out of the chain. The cold slide of his fingers on my bare skin sent a chill down my spine. “You’re free to take it off yourself. But you should know it looks beautiful on you.”

I could feel something thrumming in my veins, like the distant crash of waves on shore, a sound I’d only heard briefly in my life. Ceren went back to his seat, still gazing at me intently. The servants stood like statues against the walls, clearly under Ceren’s control, their bloodstones pulsating in a slow, rhythmic beat, in time with my heart. I wondered if they felt the same warm rush of blood through their bodies that I did, as if there were a dozen hearts in my chest, instead of one.

“Nor.”

The voice sounded far away. I struggled to focus on it.

Ceren was smiling at me. “It takes a bit of getting used to, I know.”

I shook my head, trying to clear it. “What are you doing, Ceren?”

His long, pale fingers were reaching across the table for mine, and it was as if I was watching from above, no longer in my own body. “I thought you hated me when you stabbed me in the crypt. I was going to find you and kill you no matter what it took. But then the visions started, and I saw your memories of what you went through as a child. I started to realize that we weren’t so different after all. I was wrong to try to force you to marry me. I knew it then. But I didn’t believe there was any other way.”

The pleasant buzz in my head was beginning to recede, replaced by a sick feeling in my stomach. “Ceren—”

“You wouldn’t have come back if you hated me, Nor.”

It was an effort not to close my eyes and succumb to that lovely thrumming in my veins. “I didn’t come back willingly,” I whispered. “You forced me.”

His fingers circled my wrist, immediately finding my pulse. Whatever he found there seemed to satisfy him. “I was so relieved when you returned. I hated seeing you weak and starving in the dungeons.” His eyes met mine. “I hope you know that I would do anything for you, Nor. I would give you the blood in my veins, if I thought it would help.”

Something about his words cut through the fog in my mind. Moving was like struggling against a tide, but I forced myself to my feet.

Sit down, Nor.

It was a command, not a request. He was trying to control me with the bloodstone, despite his promise. But if he was using the same force on me as he did everyone else, it wasn’t having the desired effect. I reached up to my neck and fumbled at the chain, searching vainly for the clasp with numb fingers.

“Don’t you understand?” I asked, though my voice sounded slurred in my head. “This isn’t how it works. You can’t force someone to love you.”

“You think I don’t know that? If I could, Talia would have loved me like the mother I never had. Instead, she despised me.”

It was easy to think of him as the same Ceren I’d known before, weakened by the mountain. But he loomed above me, a mountain in his own right. I could see the frustration on his face as I began backing toward the exit, as if he was mentally commanding me to stop. But his voice in my head was nothing but a low buzz, and with every step, I pushed it farther away.

Some of the feeling was coming back into my limbs. I glanced around at the guards, but they were still frozen in place. Two stood before the exit, blocking my escape route.

“So you attempted to kill Talia for not loving you?” I asked, trying to distract Ceren from controlling his men. He may not be able to stop me with his mind, but Ceren was still physically capable of overpowering me.

“I lived with that woman for years knowing she despised me. If she hadn’t gotten pregnant, everything could have gone on that way forever.”

I stared at him, my mouth open as I searched for words. “So you decided to kill your own sibling? You didn’t even know it was a daughter.”

“Talia always knew it was a girl. And whether or not anyone else would believe that girl had a legitimate claim to the throne over me, my father would have. He was always going to choose Talia over me.”