To Kill a Kingdom (Hundred Kingdoms, #1)

by Alexandra Christo

TECHNICALLY, I’M A MURDERER, but I like to think that’s one of my better qualities.

“Let’s leave the prince to be a prince for once. Besides, I need a drink, and I feel like I’m messing up this pristine room just by standing here.” I nod. “I do feel poorer just looking at you.”

They howl at the possibility of death and how much company they’re going to have in it. They’re insane and wonderful.

“My kind of people.” Kye raises his fist in the air like a toast. “Your kind of people aren’t anyone’s kind of people,” Madrid says. “You’re uniquely idiotic.” “You had me at unique,”

there are few things that can’t be solved with both sleep and rum.

“How did you get the map?” she asks. “My charm.” “No, really.” “I’m really very charming,” I say. “I even roped this lot into sacrificing their lives for me.” “Didn’t do it for you.” Madrid doesn’t look up from her deck. “Did it for the target practice.” “I did it for the hijinks of near-death experiences,” Kye says. “I did it for more fish suppers.” Torik stretches his arms out in a yawn. “God knows we don’t have enough fish every other day of the year.”

“You’re thinking too much,” Madrid says, settling beside me. “I’m making up for the people on this ship who don’t think at all.”

“The water isn’t warm,” she says. “But Kye wasn’t lying about the soap.” “It beats jumping in the ocean,” Kye argues. “Unless you want me to fashion a new plank?” “No,” I say. “We’ll save that for the next time you threaten me.” He scowls. “If the captain wasn’t watching, I really would pitch you overboard.”

“Fine. I look forward to you laying down your life for mine, comrade,” at which point I debate whether or not to push him back down the stairs.

“I know enough about knives to stick them where the sun don’t shine if you aren’t careful.”

The smell of dawn smokes through the air, and with it the grayness seeps in from the outside world.

I have to be cautious and clever, which is lucky because I like to think I’m always both of those things at any given time.

Lira can keep secrets but she can’t, by any stretch of the imagination, keep peace.

Some people burn so brightly, it’s impossible to put the flames out.

“Where are you hurt?” Again, I lick the crack in my lip where Tallis struck me. The blood is warm and bitter. “I’m not.” I angle my face away so he doesn’t see otherwise. “You bled all over me.” Elian’s laugh is more of a scoff. “Charming as ever,” he says.

“Could we continue this conversation after you kill me?” I ask.

I say the first thing I can think of, mirroring his words to me from Eidýllio. “I’m pretty sure I got rid of you already.” Elian’s cheeks dimple and he casts a look over his shoulder. Kye, Madrid, and Torik are gathered in a tightly grouped line behind him. They came. Not just for their captain, but for the stowaway. The strange girl they found floating in the middle of the ocean. They came for me.

I laugh and consider what smart comment I could make—telling her that it’s not really my style, or that maybe I already have it in gold—but then Lira’s eyes quiver back and there doesn’t seem to be much point in being funny if she isn’t the one to hear it.

I’m glad to be sent away so the medic can work, free from staring at Lira’s limp body and thinking about how I’ve never seen her look so vulnerable. So capable of being finite.

They stayed. They came for me and they stayed.

Everything is murkier now. And Elian made it that way in a single second, with an action as easy as breathing: He smiled. Not because I was suffering or bowing or making myself malleable to his every whim and decree like I’ve done with my mother. He smiled because he saw me. Free and alive, and already making my way back to him.

Love and madness are two stars in the same sky.

The mirror of the frozen sky against the white water, flecked by tufts of ice and snow, makes for a kingdom that is beautifully void of darkness. Even in the dead of night, the sky turns no darker than a mottled blue, and the ground itself acts like a light to guide the way. Snow, reflecting the eternal tinsel of the stars.

“Try not to breathe,” I tell her. “It might get stuck halfway out.” Lira flicks up her hood. “You should try not to talk then,” she retorts. “Nobody wants your words being preserved for eternity.” “They’re pearls of wisdom, actually.”

“If that is what pearls are worth these days, I’ll make sure to invest in diamonds.” “Or gold,” I tell her smugly. “I hear it’s worth its weight.” Kye shakes the snow from his sword and scoffs. “Anytime you two want to stop making me feel nauseated, go right ahead.”

“I could swear that I’m on a life-and-death mission with a bunch of lusty kids,” he says. “Next thing I know, the lot of you will be writing love notes in rum bottles.” “Okay,” Madrid says. “Now I feel nauseated.”

“I want to know what you were thinking before,” I say. “Threatening to kill a princess in her own kingdom like that. It’s not your best attempt at humor.” Lira snatches her hand from mine. “Kye thought it was funny.” “While I’m glad the two of you are bonding, you should try to remember that Kye is an idiot.”

“Do you really believe killers can stop being killers?” “I want to.”

Elian turns to me, and suddenly just looking at him hurts. A dangerous longing wells, and I dare myself to tell him over and over in my mind. Reveal the truth and see if humans are as capable of forgiveness as they are of vengeance.

It feels like the worst thing I’ve ever done and the best thing I could ever do and how strange that the two are suddenly the same. How strange that instead of taking his heart, I’m hoping he takes mine.