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“No,” Dawsyn says again, her voice clearer. The King nods to Jorst and Ryon, who step toward her. Her voice hitches. “I wish to run.”
“Ryon?” the King queries, his eyebrows raised in amusement. “You wish to hunt the girl?” Ryon only nods while others titter. It is clear they share the King’s bemused sentiment. The King chuckles. “Very well, half-breed. You’ve surprised me thus far.”
“I presumed as much. Unfortunately for you, I am your best chance of getting off this mountain alive.” Derision bubbles from her lips. “Ha! Is that so?” “It is,” the Glacian presses, his eyes darting to the sky. “As it happens, I need to reach the valley just as much as you, girl.”
“You know what they say – keep the violent, ax-wielding females close.”
“I do possess some morals – it’s true,” he tells her. “But no, girl, I do not leave Glacia to stem a bleeding heart. I leave it so that one day, I might return… and burn the fucking place into the Chasm.”
He smirks. “It means, beware the female whose desire to hurt burns hotter than her desire to heal.”
He swallows and feels the knife press more firmly. “Maybe I just really like your blade.” She huffs her amusement. “You accuse me of exaggerating my skill? Where are those quick hands you speak of? Only stupid men goad women with knives.” He smirks – he cannot stop himself. “I’ve made worse decisions.”
But he cannot keep her, she cannot keep him, and the thought is a gravity he must walk with.
She has watched every person bend to help her, traces of guilt in their words. They have been generous, kind, accommodating, as though groveling, atoning. For what do they atone? What have they done?
“Ryon,” she says, swallowing hard, “why did they carve my grandmother into stone?” He pauses for a long moment before he answers, “She was their princess, Dawsyn. The crown princess of Terrsaw.”
She looks exactly like the woman he first saw in the Glacian palace – like a warrior, like destruction. Like she should be his. Or he should be hers.
And in every second that he knows he should stop, leave her be, he also knows he cannot possibly let her go. Because she is his. And he is hers.
