Page 84 of To Kill a King

Elessan stepped out from around the tree. His eyes widened as he stared at her fireball. “What are you doing?”

She took another step away. “Stay back! I won’t be the elves’ prisoner of war.”

He rubbed his hand down his face and sighed. Meeting her gaze, he put his hands up and scooted back. “Aliya, you know me. I would never allow such a thing to happen. I would kill anyone who tried.”

“Lindir says you and the sun elf princess are plotting to trade me to Malkov. And your map—”

“Lindir? You trust the lovesick kid over me?” Anger flashed across his face, replacing the crestfallen expression. “Look. I promised I’d protect you, and I’m a man of my word.” He paused, taking a deep breath.

She clenched her jaw against the stabbing pain that slashed through her heart at the betrayal in his eyes.

“Princess Tsara is young, headstrong, and not as wise as her father. But the sun elf king and Lady Cressida are sensible. They both agree having the human queen as an ally outweighs any advantage the elves would gain using you as a hostage. You have nothing to fear.” He took a tentative step forward.

She matched his advance with a stride back of her own.

Elessan’s shoulders dropped. “I understand you have trust issues, after what your father did. But haven’t I earned the benefit of the doubt by now?”

Aliya sighed. Perhaps. But she wasn’t willing to gamble her safety and freedom. “But the map…”

“Valek.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes and shook his head. “Aliya, that was all from before.”

She wanted so much to believe him, but… “Before?”

“I’ve spent years, decades traveling the human realm, gathering intel and allies for the sun elf king. But then I met you and—” He swallowed and gestured to her neck. “Do you still have your mother’s necklace? The one with the symbol of friendship on it?”

She clutched the pendant through her tunic and took another half-step back. “Yes. Why?”

“It doesn't actually mean friendship. It’s my family crest. At the beginning of the war, a Larimar saved my mother’s life. She gave that to him to mark the debt.”

Her fingers itched to pull the medallion out and study it, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off him. She’d long-since memorized its image, anyway.

“I met you, and it started out as merely the chance to repay her obligation. But the more time I spent in your presence, things changed.” His eyes caught hers. “I developed feelings for you. I won’t let them hurt you, and I certainly won’t allow them to turn you over to King Malkov.”

His words were like a silk caress over her skin. Her heart ached to believe him, to bury her face in his shoulder and let him wrap his arms around her. “But you still gave the map to the sun elves.”

He leaned against the same tree she had moments before and brushed his fingers through his hair, pulling it away from his face. “I had to. My mother still lives with them. If I fail in my duty and it gets her exiled—or worse, imprisoned—we have nowhere else to go.”

Her stomach plunged to the ground. She’d had no idea things were so precarious for him, or that they were holding his mother over his head. “They’d really kick her out?”

Elessan nodded. “If they thought I betrayed them, they might do more than that.” He tilted his head and studied her. “What were you going to do? Leave, without saying goodbye?” His voice was too calm, his words too carefully chosen.

Aliya propped herself against a young sapling, dropping the magic. She could summon the fire again at a moment’s notice. But she didn’t relax, either. “I was…” She swallowed past her dry throat. “I was going to borrow your shape to sneak back into Filathas to grab my things, my money, and ask Lindir for an escort to the edge of the forest. Then I planned to lose myself among the humans until I figured out a way to get close enough to Malkov to—” her voice faltered— “murder him.”

Elessan bit the inside of his cheek. “I understand the desire to run. I know how tempting it can be to avoid responsibility. Truly, I do. But you swore an oath that will kill you if you don’t fulfill it.”

“A coerced promise. They threatened to let me die if I didn’t.” And now both of their lives hung in the balance.

He nodded, conceding her point. “But you promised, nonetheless. Are you a woman of your word?”

She sighed and stuck out her lower lip as her chest burned with indignation. “Yes.” He should at least know that much about her.

He met her eyes, the earnestness in his gaze combusted the ice in her gut until the flames roared in her ears. “You aren't alone. If you can get me close to Malkov, I'll kill him for you.”

She shook her head, exhaling forcefully to drown the hysterical laugh threatening to burst from her throat. Getting near the king was going to be just as hard if not harder than actually killing him. She may be a shapeshifter, but she was still a mage, and he had that magic-detecting tattoo that would warn him of her presence well before Elessan could get close.

As she studied Elessan’s face, an invisible weight lifted from her shoulders. He was serious—he would murder Malkov for her. And doubtless for the elves and whoever else he worked for, but something about sharing the responsibility made it feel less overwhelming.

She opened her mouth but he raised a hand, interrupting her. “Not everyone is cut out to take another’s life, and that’s not a bad thing. The realm, no, the world will be better off with you on the throne.”