“Once or twice, but only during rare sightings of the coward when he journeys,” Rorn said. “Any attempt to warp inside the fortress he’s built for a quick assassination would only further rile his bloodthirsty people, should we even succeed.”

“And any heirs he has surely sired, too, and then the next to rise into power will come for you and your own heirs,” Dade said smoothly. “It never ends. Not until you gain enough strength to make them believe they will not succeed.”

“We had that,” Rorn snapped and turned for the window. His back bowed as he splayed his hands upon the sill. “At least, I thought we did. Then they started to flee, and we thought…”

The silence screamed of all he wouldn’t admit to himself—they’d never had this under control.

They never would.

“Rebuild and reinstate that strength in the ranks you have left,” Dade said, gruff as though tempted to shake some sense into Rorn.

I’d have liked to throw him from the window he’d cowered against. Instead, I kept watch on Aster and the emerald wolves. She was now staring at the ground, her regal posture stolen by the knowledge of yet another betrayal from Rorn.

I was tempted to tell her it didn’t matter. But it wasn’t about me. My reassurances wouldn’t help when it was about him and his never-ending deception.

My teeth gritted. Perhaps I’d throw him from the window after all.

Lost to thoughts of his broken limbs in a tangle around his insufferable head on the drive below, his blood dotting the gardens and his eyes staring unseeingly at the sky as he waited for a healer, for a chance he did not deserve, I nearly swayed backward when Dade spoke.

“Rebuild and refocus on what is important. Too much is at stake. Take the wards and let go of what is no longer within your grasp.”

Rorn remained quiet. So quiet that I sensed another refusal was heading our way.

Dade sensed as much too and sighed. “Do they know, Rorn?”

Rorn cursed as though tired of our presence and merely awaiting our exit. “I will hear no more, king.”

“Do your people know?” Dade enunciated each word with lethal quiet. “Do they know that your pride is larger than your desire to protect them?” Taking Opal’s hand, he hummed. “Perhaps they ought to know that you would keep your wife from happiness out of spite and jealousy, and you would therefore ensure their doom.”

“If you love that swan of yours, then you know what you ask of me is fucking impossible.”