“Despite the months of grime, your likeness is uncanny. I have to say: your eyes are much more unsettling in person.” He gestured to the picture. “They’re almost transparent. Perhaps silver. Even still, I assume you resemble your mother more. Besides the hair color, I see nothing of Toma or Johan in you, although, not much is known of the woman who bore you.”
My mouth clamped shut with an audible click. My mother was a peasant woman. Unworthy of a prince, she sufficed as a mistress and Toma had taken her to his bed. Unfortunately, she soon became pregnant, then died giving birth to me. After my father’s death, my uncle took me under his wing, but he never let me forget my lineage.
I never spoke of my mother. No one did.
A smug smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “If you wanted the crown so badly, did you really think encroaching upon our dungeons would gain my brother’s attention?”
Rage infused my tone. “How dare you—”
“Or were you going for pity with this look?” His gazed lowered to my clenched fists.
I gave up all pretenses, realizing they were useless. “I didn’t want any attention at all, Your Highness.”
“Then why did you come?”
“I didn’t come to your kingdom to stay, but to pass through. It was your men that stopped me.”
He closed the file with a snap. The hard lines of his face deepened as he regarded me. “Passage amid our two kingdoms has been forbidden for many years, Princess, due to the wars fought against your uncle to keep our lands safe from his greed.”
The muscles between my brows pinched, but I kept my voice as even as possible. “The war is over. Peace has been established. Our roads should be reopened to allow safe passage.”
He leaned forward, pressing his hands against the top of his desk. “Did Johan tell you that? Neither kingdom has seen peace since before the demon wars, over twenty years ago. Treaties have just begun. Your uncle’s offering of his only blood relation was a way of beginning that treaty.”
“I—” I couldn’t form the appropriate sentence. “I was not aware of any offering…” At least any offer that had been made. As far as I knew, he had only mentioned the idea to me the day of my escape. That was the very reason I had fled my kingdom, but I would never have run toward a country we still were at war with. It made no sense.
“And why would you want to leave your country?” the prince pressed.
I swallowed. “My reasons are my own.” Phantom pain slid through the burn at my neck, touching upon the others that would stay unseen.
“They must not have been that important. You barely put up a fight. Only an ear was lost before you gave up. That’s nothing for you.”
Tired of this interrogation, I slid on a fake smile. It was the face I displayed when necessary. A mask to hide what weakness lay beneath. “I didn’t want to be recognized.”
“That’s right. Because Eira’s Demon Daughter would be recognized within my kingdom. How old were you when you started fighting for king and country? Fifteen? Sixteen?”
I was twelve, not that I would tell him.
He continued. “Your name is one of legends.”
“Legends can be deceiving. I do not own that ridiculous title.” Or at least I didn’t want it. I didn’t want any of it. “Surely you must know there’s no such person. Just stories spread to incite fear among the enemy.”
“Stories spawn from somewhere, Princess.” He threw down another piece of paper. A sketch. And I froze.
“As you see, not everyone who has seen your face has died. This was created by someone who saw you and lived to tell the tale.”
The blood drained from my already paled cheeks. I stared at a terrifying sketch of me—or what appeared to be me—in full battle gear. Flames haloed my body in a harrowing depiction of what I believed was my inner beast. How the artist managed to draw such amazing detail was beyond understanding. Only one had ever called me the Demon Daughter of Eira to my face, and I had killed him. Is that what I really looked like? Who else knew?
He smiled wickedly, exposing a perfect set of white teeth. “Obviously, the artist leans toward the dramatic, but it’s close enough.”
I glared, my mind spinning an escape through a castle I didn’t know.
The prince’s gaze did not flinch. “This whole time you’ve been here, you have not stated who you are, tried to reach out to your uncle, or made any attempt to flee.”
“Your cells are incredibly cushy.”
He ignored my flippant reply. “Why?”
I turned away with a lift of my chin, unwilling to tell him, to expose myself any further.
With a sigh, the prince sat down in his chair. He leaned back, placing his hands behind his head. “When my father was alive, he made several attempts toward peace negotiations, but Johan resisted and continued in his campaign against us. Why now do we find our prison cells holding a silent princess? Why now does your king send you as an offering?”
Why indeed. If I had an answer to that question, I wouldn’t be sitting across from a scheming magician.
He waited, seconds that felt like hours. “In the king’s attached letter, it speaks of a woman well versed in literature and who loves to recite poetry. Will you not speak so I can continue hearing your lovely voice?”
Humiliation grew to anger. Pride pricked at the back of my eyes. “What answer could I give that you would believe? It’s clear you do not trust me, and I have no reason to trust you. I have no answers for your highness.”
“Then you agree we are at an impasse?” When I again didn’t answer, he gathered my uncle’s sketch and tucked it away in his folder. “At one time, we would have no difficulty hanging you for the crimes you’ve committed against my people—”
“What crimes have I committed? We were at war.”
“—but now that Johan declares a desire for this so-called peace, I have no choice but to send word to your king that you are here.”
Lady Anna
I shot to my feet. The blood ran from my face. “No!”
Prince Castiel’s eyes narrowed at my outburst. “If your uncle chooses to uphold this peace, we will permit you to leave with an attendant. Until that time, you will be given room and proper clothes. We can’t have your kingdom think you were mistreated within our home.”
My head spun. I could feel his walls, my uncle’s walls, pressing against me, worse than any cell anyone could lock me in. My breathing deepened as I mentally assessed my situation. I was in no condition to kill the prince, unsure of what additional magic he possessed. Even if I could manage, I didn’t need two countries vying for my head.
He stretched one long leg out to the side. “For the time being, you are our guest and will be treated with the utmost respect while you remain, Princess. For your safety you will go by Lady Anna—daughter to an unknown country lord, recently deceased. You were attacked by rogue bandits and mistakenly imprisoned with the captives.”
My face grew hot beneath his steady gaze. “Why the charade?”
“That’s rather obvious, isn’t it? No one knows who you are, but I wouldn’t put it past anyone to figure it out and take revenge on a sworn enemy. Don’t leave your room unattended, and even then… don’t leave your room.”