Thorns of Frost (Fae of Snow & Ice, #2)(60)

I nodded. “Yes, I did, but a lot of that hatred came from believing you’d killed them. I wouldn’t have reported you if I’d known they were still alive and that you’d saved them.”

“Even if it would disrupt the entire Trial and potentially stop you from being forced into an arranged marriage?”

My breaths grew faster. He knew how much I despised the thought of being forced to marry, but that accusation still stung. “Do you believe me that selfish? That ungrateful?”

“No, but I hardly knew you when I brought you here. I needed to see more of your character. I needed to learn if you could keep a secret.”

“And you now believe I can?”

“I hope so, but if we’re being truly honest, that’s not the only reason I took you there tonight.”

Mate.

The unspoken word hung between us again. That had been the deciding factor for the prince. He wanted me to accept him, so he’d made his decision to share that secret oasis with me because we were mates, because he knew I would never accept him despite the bond if I continued to believe he’d killed my family.

Breaths coming faster, I brought my glass to my lips and took another burning swallow. My heart was beating like a beast now. “But why would your father want to kill my family? And why did he make it sound like you were the one deciding to deliver those executions?”

A rumble of the prince’s magic vibrated the couch as he scowled heavily, and a moment of relief hit me that his power was swiftly returning. “My father knows of the unrest that’s been growing as of late. He wanted it squashed, so when fae began arriving to the castle, voicing their concerns and worries, he wanted them silenced. He ordered me to execute all of them.”

My jaw dropped as everything I’d believed of our king came into question. “Could he be behind the fae who’ve gone missing of late if it wasn’t you?”

Norivun scratched his chin, drawing my attention to the cleft in its middle. “I’ve been starting to wonder the same. It doesn’t make sense for Wormiful or Crimsonale to kill them. They want the unrest to grow, but my father . . .” He shrugged. “He wants talks of war banished.”

“If it’s him, that means he sent whoever tried to attack me in the hall that night. But why me?”

Another rumble of his power shivered beneath the sofa. “I don’t know.” His lips thinned into razors.

“If the king is behind it, how do you suppose he’s killing the fae he’s caught?”

“My guess is he’s using his personal guards to discreetly remove and murder any fae speaking out. His guards are loyal to him and will do as he commands, but if the public were to learn of it, he’d have to deny any involvement and execute his guards for appearance’s sake. It would explain why the disappearances have all been so clandestine.”

“But how did his guard, or whoever tried to attack me, disappear?” I paused, remembering that strange smell that had accompanied that night. It’d smelled like rot. I’d never smelled a fairy like that before.

“Perhaps they mistphased?” The prince’s frown grew as I pondered the situation more.

“It’s so extreme, to openly attack and kill innocent fae. And all to quiet an uproar? But I wasn’t trying to create an uproar, so again, why me?”

His eyebrows drew together so tightly, a line formed. “You’re right that it doesn’t make sense, but to understand any of this, you have to know my father. He doesn’t like his hands being dirtied. He likes that the fae of our land love and support him. It’s part of the reason he’s been able to stay in power for so long, which is why he’s raised me to be the villain.”

“He does that just to maintain the love of our fae?”

The prince nodded.

“So if he orders you to deliver all of the executions he wants, have you killed any fae who’ve attempted to cause dissent?”

Norivun’s easy expression vanished. His look became haunted, as though a thousand ghosts tortured his soul. “Not those fae, no, but there were others in the past that I was forced to kill. Many winters ago, before I created that village in the Cliffs of Sarum, it was either kill them or—” He brought his drink to his lips again.

“Or what?”

“Watch my mother be tortured.”

I gaped, my mouth falling open so completely that I had to force myself to snap it closed. “What in the realm are you talking about?”

The energy around him grew. “My father isn’t who the public perceives him to be. He likes to control me. I’ve always been kept on a tight leash. He’s used my mother to ensure I stay obedient.”

A sick feeling grew in my stomach. “What do you mean?”

“From a young age, he knew of the power that lay within my veins, and he knew that once my affinities fully manifested, that he wouldn’t be able to stop me if I truly unleashed them on him. He knew I could take control of his throne—something he will never willingly relinquish—so many winters ago, he taught me what the consequences would be if I didn’t adhere to his rulings.”

The sick feeling inside me doubled. “By using your mother?”

He nodded. “If I don’t do as he commands, he forces her into isolation. If I refuse to kill fae that he wants disposed of, my mother is starved, and then there’s the physical beatings. He’s beaten her to within an inch of her life more times than I want to remember, and it was all because I hadn’t done exactly what he’d commanded.”