Page 82 of To Kill a King
Troop depots were highlighted. The major shipping routes were also marked, along with a red dotted line, which meant…She consulted the legend again. Famine supply lines.
Was there a food shortage she didn’t know about? The lands they’d traveled through seemed healthy enough. The people had plenty to eat.
Perhaps the elves were planning to do something to the realm’s harvest as part of their war strategy.
She couldn’t allow that. Thousands of innocents would die. She pulled the paper closer, trying to absorb every detail.
All this info on the human realm, its strengths and weaknesses. This must have taken Elessan years to collect. Lead pooled in her gut as her blood turned to ice. The map trembled beneath her fingers. Aliya yanked her hands away, balling them into fists at her side as Lindir rolled up the parchment. “He’s a spy.”
It shouldn’t feel like a huge betrayal. He was an elf, after all. And it’s not like she was exactly human. Her vision went watery. She blinked hard, forcing the tears back. But he had seemed like such a nice guy…
How could she be so stupid? Not only did she fall for someone plotting to destroy her realm, but she let him manipulate her into marching straight into enemy territory for the elves to use as a hostage, and, as icing on the cake, she’d slept with him. Because she actually thought he had feelings for her.
Heat flooded her face. She swallowed past the lump in her throat.
She wouldn’t cry in front of Lindir. Having already made a fool of herself with one elven male, the last thing she needed was to look foolish here, too.
Her father, Hart, and now Elessan.
She’d swear off men for the rest of her life.
“Come on, Svialto!” A feminine voice drifted through the doorway.
Valek! Her panicked gaze met Lindir’s.
He waved to the far side of the room. “Quick! Behind the bed.”
Aliya scrambled around and ducked down between the mattress and the wall as Lindir shoved the map into the backpack. He leaped and landed on silent feet beside her.
She should’ve burned the blasted map while she had the chance.
“Princess Enorathil!” Lady Cressida’s exclamation cut through the curtain of vines over their door. “A word? Mountain elf, you’re excused.”
“No, Svialto.” The princess was closer now. “Stay.”
“I’ll just go get you that thing I told you about, Tsara. You two can talk.”
The vines brushed aside with a whisper as he approached the bedroom. Aliya hunkered as low as she could to the floor and held her breath as Elessan stopped in front of his pack.
“Valek,” he murmured. “I thought I put this away.” Something heavy landed on the bed. Footsteps receded.
Lindir relaxed beside her with a sigh.
“Here’s your map, Tsara, as promised.” The voices faded.
Aliya peeked over the edge of the mattress. Elessan’s backpack sat on the blankets, the intricate sealing knot re-tied as usual. It was as if everything could go back to normal and Elessan hadn’t been lying to her since she’d met him. As if sleeping with her hadn’t been the final step to his plan.
And now her one shot to destroy the map and possibly save her realm was gone.
She really was a terrible judge of character, but it was hard to refute evidence seen with her own eyes. She’d known better than to fall for him, the first person who’d been kind to her after her wedding. When did she quit listening to that little voice of reason?
Ice water surged from the Elessan-shaped hole in her heart, threatening to overwhelm her.
She turned away from Lindir as her tears overflowed, cascading down her cheeks. With a jerking motion, she flung the liquid from her face.
“I need to be alone,” she mumbled. After a few jolting steps around the bed, she escaped the inn and fled into the trees, not caring if he followed.
The sun was a finger’s-width lower in the sky before the stitch in her side dulled the sharp pain of betrayal. She collapsed to all fours, sobs alternating with deep, heaving breaths.