The Forbidden Wish(85)

“I know,” she groans, rubbing her temples. “I’ve been such an idiot. My first duty has always been to our people, Darian, and I thought I was fulfilling that.” She lifts her eyes to meet his, and tears dangle from her kohl-lined lashes. “I can’t expect you to forgive me, but I must beg it of you anyway. I’ve been monstrous to you.”

“Cas . . .” He opens his arms and she runs to him, her body shaking. He embraces her tightly, one hand around her waist, the other caressing her hair. “Cas, it’s all right. Look, I believe you. I know Father will too, once we have a chance to talk about it. Everything just happened so fast today, we panicked. And you ran. Why did you run? It only made things worse for you.”

“Like you said, it all happened so fast.” She lifts her face to look at him. “I panicked too.”

“Oh, Cas.” He wraps her in his arms and kisses her hair. “This is why you need me. Ruling is difficult enough for a man—a girl like you can’t expect to carry this burden on your own.”

“You’re right,” she says softly. Her hands run down his back, gentle and inviting. “I’ve been such a child. So naïve. No wonder I fell for the thief’s lies.”

“Marry me, Cas. Forget him.”

She tenses. “You . . . you’d take me back? After everything I’ve done?”

He smiles and lifts her chin. “It wasn’t your fault, love. He manipulated you. You were alone and afraid, and he offered you strength. Naturally you were drawn to that. But he was a lie, and I am the truth. Let me be your strength. Let me help you see through the deceptions. I can protect you, Cas.”

He bends his neck and presses his lips against hers. Her eyes slide shut, and she melts into him.

“I love you, Cas,” he whispers.

“I know,” she says. “I’m sorry.”

He pulls away, his brows drawing together. “What?”

“Oh, cousin.” She cups his face in her hands, her eyes filled with pity. “You want so desperately to be loved. If you’d stop being an ass for five minutes, maybe someone could.”

He begins coughing, and his legs weaken. He topples forward, and Caspida supports him.

“You whore . . .” he gasps.

“Sh. It’ll go easier if you don’t talk.”

Darian’s lips and fingernails are turning bluer by the second, and he fights to breathe. Caspida gently lowers him to the floor, stroking his hair and murmuring consolingly as he gags and twitches. She pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes the rest of the creamy red crimsonleaf poultice from her lips. His eyes fix on her, wild and frightened.

“You’ll pass out, then wake in an hour,” she murmurs. “You’ll have a terrible headache for days, but you’ll live. I could have killed you, Darian. But we were friends once, you and I, so I’ll give you this one chance.” She kisses his forehead, then bolts upright when shouting breaks out down the corridor, from Sulifer’s rooms. Dropping Darian, she flees.

Footsteps pound after her, and Sulifer’s angry shouts ring out. Torchlight begins bouncing wildly on the walls behind and ahead. Caspida is trapped.

The princess skids to a halt, her braid whipping as she looks back and forth between the guards sprinting toward her. Then she runs to a window, kicking out the carved trellis covering the opening. She gets one leg over the casement as Sulifer, flanked by guards, runs into view and calls out, “Stop her!”

Caspida throws herself out the window.





Chapter Twenty-Four


WE’RE ON THE SECOND STORY, and her landing is painful. She hits the ground and rolls, but still the impact knocks the wind out of her and wrenches her ankle. Sucking in the pain, she is up and running by the time the guards reach the window.

Arrows slam into the ground around her. Caspida ducks and runs faster, hopping on her wounded ankle.

“Kill her if you must!” Sulifer yells. “She is a traitor!”

The palace grounds are extensive, thick with night guards and with little cover to shelter Caspida as she flees across the wide stretch of grass in front of the palace. A storm of shouts fills the air, and torches flare up along the outer wall, toward which she is sprinting. The lamp bounces on her back until I am quite dizzied.

Two guards intercept her, and the princess doesn’t hesitate. She swings the cloak with the lamp inside, clouting one on the head—and sending sparks of pain dancing through me—while she uses the momentum of the swing to whirl into a kick. Her foot strikes the second guard’s jaw and sends him reeling. Without waiting to finish him off, Caspida dashes the rest of the way, grimacing with pain.