“You speak as though the king has already denied your petition.”

“We’re preparing for the worst.”

“Sven, I can’t—”

He pressed his lips to mine, silencing my protest. On a different day I would have sunk into his arms and clung to the brief affection. My heart would’ve danced in thrilled intoxication. I used to crave Sven’s kisses.

But the intoxication didn’t come. Instead I was irritated. “I can’t make wishes anymore” was what I’d been about to say. I wasn’t sure I had the strength to try again.

I pushed him away. He hardly seemed to notice.

“Think about it. It’s a big decision, and I know it’d be a great sacrifice for you—”

“Wishes are complicated. Oma hasn’t taught me how to use them properly yet.” Why was I speaking as though I still had wishes to give? “You saw what happened to the canal.”

“I know! Unbelievable power! It’s crippled the king and turned more people to our cause. You’ve already joined us, supported us, enabled us. I ask for one more step. One more gift.” He lifted my chin. “I have faith in you, Myrthe. I love you.”

How ironic that when I was at my worst, my coldest, when I felt the most distant from him, that’s when he chose to tell me he loved me for the first time.

But he didn’t see me. He saw only my Talent. And his desire for a wish made him lie to my face. If he could truly see the future, maybe he’d see that I didn’t trust him. I didn’t choose him anymore.

I doubted that made a difference.

I couldn’t wait around for his timing. I needed to get to the Well. Alone. Which meant somehow I needed to convince him into giving up the location of the Well.

Asking hadn’t worked.

Maybe blackmail would.

Chapter 16
Bastiaan

Imbeciles. Bastiaan resisted the urge to kick a boulder. His foot thanked him.

Sven’s petition to allow commoners access to the Well would aggravate King Mattias. People were losing their homes and livelihoods because of the frozen canal, and Sven was feeding them a meal of misguided hope. “If you follow me, I’ll get you a Talent, and all your problems will be fixed.”

He was using tragedy as a tool.

Bastiaan never should have delivered Myrthe to him. He should have taken her to the king. Or, at the very least, demanded that she fix the canals. Yet if she hadn’t thawed them in all this time, perhaps she couldn’t fix them. She didn’t strike him as the type of person to leave them frozen by will.

When Bastiaan first entered Sven’s camp, he hadn’t been sure about Myrthe being the Wishtress. She hid it well. But then he listened in on part of her conversation with Sven.