The Heart of Betrayal (The Remnant Chronicles, #2)

by Mary E. Pearson

It was almost a mocking whisper that I had nothing, not even a fingernail, to defend myself. All I had was a secret name that seemed as useless to me right now as the title I was born with.

I had been silenced far too many times by those who exerted power over me. Not here. My voice would be heard, but I’d speak when it served my purposes.

“My brother was going to be a great king one day. He was kind and patient in all ways, and he believed in me the way no one else did.

“I know what burns in you, Lia. They’ll pay for this. All of it. I promise. One day they’ll pay.” But I knew what he meant. That Kaden would pay.

We’ve had a terrible start—it doesn’t mean we can’t have a better ending.”

Kaden, whom I had favored over Rafe. I’d actually made the mistake of nudging her in his direction. I had liked his calm demeanor. I had told her his eyes were kind. Everything about him had seemed kind. How could I have been so wrong? It shook me somewhere deep. I had always thought myself a good judge of character, but Kaden was the opposite of kind. He was an assassin.

From this moment forward, I would make my brother’s pillaged goods my strength rather than my weakness.

“Do you always take such an intimate interest in your prince’s affairs?” “Only when it suits me. Do you always dance with the girl you plan to murder?” His jaw clenched. “I never liked you.” “I’m wounded.”

“I know enough,” I said. I know when I get these chains off, I’m going to kill you.

yet here we were—because of him. I couldn’t make it easy for him. I wouldn’t.

“So this was the life you promised for me? How wonderfully charming, Kaden.”

I conjured a sip of poison for each one who had pushed me here, the Chancellor, the Scholar—even my own mother, who had knowingly suppressed my gift. Because of them I had suffered years of guilt for never being enough.

I knew he was leaving. Rafe was going home. It should have been a comfort, but instead it felt like a terrible loss. I wasn’t with him. He was leaving without me.

He peered out to check whether anyone had seen me, then turned back, crushing me in his arms, holding me like he’d never let me go, until suddenly he stepped back as if unsure his embrace was still welcome.

The royal son and the royal daughter of two kingdoms that had only warily trusted each other.

This is Prince Jaxon Tyrus Rafferty kissing my hand, and I realized it mattered not one whit to me. He was still the person I had fallen in love with, crown prince or farmer. He was Rafe, and I was Lia, and everything else that we were to other people didn’t matter to us. I didn’t need to fall in love with him again. I had never fallen out.

“The choice words always come first.”

He chuckled, and his smile transformed his face. My eyes stung. I wanted that smile to stay there forever,

I wanted Terravin. I wanted Pauline and Berdi and fish stew. I wanted anything but this. I wanted my dreams back. I wanted Rafe to be a farmer and Walther to be— My chest jumped, and I choked back whatever was trying to shake loose. Something is looming.

the more I avoided him, the more the burn grew in me. All I wanted to do was turn and watch him.

The kind of performance that could rip out a heart a piece at a time. Rafe didn’t look at me again for the rest of the night.

“Thank you for my boots, Eben. They mean more to me than you can know.” He nodded. “I cleaned them too.”

“You owed me nothing, Eben. I took care of your horse for me as much as for you.” “I already knew that,” he said, and hurried ahead of me.

I’d had another one of Rafe leaving, but it had more detail than before. He was dressed in garb I had never seen, Rafe, a warrior of frightening stature. His expression was hot and fierce, and he wore swords at both sides.

Not exactly the behavior of an uninterested court confectionary.

It’s not enough. It will never be enough.”

Now I understood why Sven preferred soldiering to love. It was easier to understand and far less likely to get you killed.

Yes, Lia, you were and still are a challenge. But damned if I hadn’t felt a surge of admiration for her too, even as sweat ran down my neck and I silently cursed her. That was not what I would call sitting tight. Did she ever listen to anyone?

“A charitable act is no reason to sell your soul to someone.”

When he returned, he was sprayed with blood. I knew it was their blood. He was true to his word. And I was glad.”

Because three days alone with him now seemed like the gift of a lifetime. I’d do anything for it. We’d been apart for too long.

“Am I not free to own anything? Not even my thoughts?” “No,” he answered. “Not anymore.” And I knew he meant it.

I could return home to Lia.

“That’s not enough. I want a lifetime with you.”

I wanted her more than life itself.

“The minute you walked into that tavern, I knew you were trouble, Prince Rafferty.” I wove my fingers through her hair and pulled her closer. “As I did you, Princess Arabella.”

“Someday we’ll go back to Terravin, won’t we, Rafe?” “We will,” I whispered, because that was what she needed to hear, but as the door shut behind her, I knew if we ever got out of here, I would never take her back to anywhere in Morrighan, including Terravin.

Only one thing felt certain in my heart. Three women were torn apart. Three women who were once family.

“So you’ve heard the news? I’ll assume you’re here to offer your congratulations.” I lunged.

“You knew! You knew how I felt about her! But everything you already had wasn’t enough! You had to have her too! As soon as I turned my back—” “Then what are you waiting for?” His eyes were fiercely cold. “Slash my throat. Be done with it.”

Only Lia. For me, Venda hadn’t existed as I flew into this room.

“You’re hurt, Kaden. I’m sorry. Truly. But life is hard. Pull your Vendan head out of your ass and get used to it. Didn’t you spit out very similar words to me back in Reena’s carvachi? Well, I get it now. So should you.”

My mother was dead. It sickened me that her death gained me more credibility.

“She’s embraced it. She told me.” I snorted. “Then it must be so. We both know Lia always tells the truth.”

“You walk freely through the Sanctum now, Emissary?” “A lot has changed in a week, Assassin, for both of us. Welcome home.”

There was a connection between us that I didn’t quite understand. It wasn’t the same feeling I had for Rafe, but I knew that with our last kiss, I had led Kaden to believe there was more.

There are no rules when it comes to survival, I reminded myself. But I wished there were. The betrayals seemed never to end.

This world, it breathes you in . . . shares you. Please share me with Rafe. I do this for you. Only for you.

He dropped to one knee and took my hand, kissing it. “Your Highness,” he said again, this time with greater emphasis. “We’re here to take you home.”

You’re everything he said you were.”