Princess of Thorns

Fresh tears as fat as winterberries drop from her eyes. “He is safe. He has suffered, but he will live,” she says, wringing another sob from my throat, a sound of pain and relief and mourning mixed together. “We swear he will live. And we swear to aid you both in escaping to freedom tonight.”

“What?” I nearly shout the word, so confused it feels as if I’ve awoken in a world where my dreams and nightmares have married and given birth to hideous children. “What is this? What are you playing at?”

“Quiet.” Nippa’s whisper is harsh, but with fear, not anger. “These are the human guest quarters and few of our kind come here, but you must not attract attention. If you are discovered, Princess, we will be unable to save your life, or your brother’s.”

I swallow, my gaze flicking from Nippa’s kind face to Ekeeta’s tearful one, unable to find anything false in their eyes.

“Explain yourself.” I drop the knife to the table where it lands with a dull thud.

“Our brother, Illestros, is five hundred years our elder. He was a powerful priest long before we were born,” Ekeeta says, making no move to rise from her place on the floor. “He has cha

“A hundred years,” I finish, impatient with this story. “I know the prophecy.”

Ekeeta nods. “But none of that matters now.”

My throat muscles clench. “My mother is dead,” I force out, “and my brother and I have lived in exile, only able to see each other for a few weeks each year, because of that prophecy. Jor was taken captive and our fairy friends killed and I have spent the past three weeks … I have risked my life and my friend’s life …”

I squeeze my eyes shut, fighting for control. What if this is real? What if, for some unfathomable reason, Ekeeta truly means me no harm? Then all of this has been for nothing. Niklaas’s mind and will and last chance at a human life have been stolen away for nothing. Nothing!

“You must listen,” Ekeeta says. “There isn’t much time. We will be missed if we stay away too long. We regret these things, but we ca

I open my eyes. “You mean the prophecy?”

“The prophecy is not a true prophecy,” she says, rising to her feet. “He has lied before, but we didn’t want to believe … But now there is no doubt that this divination did not come from our goddess. We know not what Illestros hopes to accomplish with the rise of darkness, but it is not to open the gates to paradise.”

I cross my arms at my chest. “Of course it isn’t,” I say, not bothering to hide my disdain. “He wants the Fey dead and humans so weak they can’t fight back. He wants to rule Mataquin and is willing to drive our world to the brink of death to do it.”

Ekeeta flinches. “We wish we had seen things so clearly. Our only comfort now is that it isn’t too late to set things right.”

“Set things right,” I echo, acid in my tone. How can she expect me to believe she wants to set things right? She, who assassinated my father, drove my mother to take her own life, and who has made Norvere a place of fear and desperation ever since. “Why this sudden change? After all this time?”

A beatific smile lights Ekeeta’s face. “We were in the garden late last night, with our creatures. We were lost and afraid and we begged for wisdom, no matter what the cost, and then … we felt the goddess moving within us. Her presence guided us to the truth, to peace so wide there is no way for doubt to swim across it.”

“You’ve found peace.” I don’t know whether to scream or cry. In the end I laugh, a strained sound that makes Nippa eye me strangely. “How lovely for you.”

“We know we are the last soul in the world who deserves salvation,” Ekeeta whispers, bowing her head. “But that is the glory of the goddess. Even the most wretched can be made pure if they trust in her guidance.”

“And what does the goddess guide you to do?” I ask, glaring at her with undisguised hatred. I hate her still. I might even hate her more.

How dare she? How dare she come to her enlightenment now, when my mother is dead, my brother scarred, my dear friend and first love both robbed of their senses, and myself cursed to a lifetime of regret? How dare she talk to me of peace, when I know it will forever be beyond my reach?

“The goddess does not wish for death or pain or for one people to destroy another,” she says. “Human, ogre, Fey—we are all one in her eyes, and paradise will come to each of us, in its time, in its own way. The only genuinely holy quest is to nurture peace in our own hearts, and do our best to love each other.”

She lifts her arms, as if offering an embrace. I instinctively cringe away. Her words about love and unity are all well and good, if she means them, but they are still coming from the mouth of a monster.

Which reminds me …

“Your new peace will make mealtime difficult,” I sneer, enjoying the way her skin pales at mention of her voracious appetite.

She presses her lips together and breathes sharply through her nose. “We shall no longer feed upon the souls of man, and will ensure our brothers and sisters make the same promise.” Nippa comes to stand at her elbow in a silent show of solidarity. “Ogres can be sustained by simpler foods. We may perish sooner, but better a hundred years of life lived in love than a thousand in fear and greed.”

I shake my head numbly. She means it. I can tell. She’s going to stop killing, and she’s convinced at least one other ogre to do the same. So …

“Then you’ll let us go?” I ask, finally daring to hope our escape may be far simpler than I’ve dreamed. “My brother and … and me?” I almost let Niklaas’s name slip but stop myself. I can’t let her know Niklaas is my ally. If I do, and this turns out to be an elaborate trick, I will have ruined our last chance at escape.

“We can’t let you go, our brother would never allow it,” Ekeeta says, “But we can help you escape. We will send Nippa to you as soon as darkness falls. We will fetch Prince Jor and meet you at the docks. You will have our fastest ship and two of our trusted guards to sail it. Thank the goddess, it was our personal guard who found you in the fountain this morning. They will keep our secrets and aid you well.”

“We won’t need the guards.” The fewer ogres involved, the better. I’m sure Ekeeta’s brother isn’t the only ogre who will loathe the idea of giving up living for centuries and ruling the world. “Jor and I can sail a small ship together.”

Ekeeta long fingers tangle in front of her. “Hopefully he will be able to sail. We sent healers, but some of his wounds … We’re afraid some of them are deep.”

I clench my jaw. “I can manage on my own. He’s alive. That’s all that matters.”

It isn’t all that matters, and she can be damned sure I’ll have my vengeance if she’s broken my little brother, but for now his life is enough. I can wait to plot my revenge—and devise a plan to reclaim my kingdom—until Jor, Niklaas, and I are safe on Malai.

“But I want Niklaas of Kanvasola on board when we set sail,” I say, realizing how I might save Niklaas without giving our co

“The prince will be punished soon enough,” Ekeeta says. “His eighteenth birthday draws near and there is nothing we can do to lift the burden of his curse.”

“Then I will have to dispense justice quickly.” I meet her tearful glance with a cruel one, imagining it is she who will be my prisoner. “Have him stowed beneath the deck of the ship. No one betrays me without paying for it.”