A Thousand Heartbeats

I discovered I could communicate with Inigo and Blythe with a single glance. When I passed them sparring with a group of soldiers outside, that was all it took to get their attention. I kept walking, moving to the outskirts of the grounds, knowing without looking back they were following me.

I stopped at a boulder, trying to gather my thoughts. I might not have been shaking outwardly, but everything inside felt like it was shivering, cold and unsteady. I turned to find them both there, waiting.

“Their prince is dead,” I told them.

Blythe covered her mouth, her eyes conveying her joy. “I wish I could tell Rami. I wish she could know. . . .”

I couldn’t tell her why this didn’t feel like good news to me, why it felt like a part of my heart had been heavy ever since I’d heard.

“There are reports that the king is also dead,” I said quickly, not wanting her to see—and worse, question—my discomfort at the news about Escalus. “If not, he’s close to. Their princess has been named regent. I don’t know if that means the king actually lives or if they’re buying time to prepare her before announcing his death. Either way, it would seem she’s alone in that palace.”

Inigo’s eyes were on the grass, but I could see him squinting, tracing lines in the ground as he tried to find the end of his thoughts.

“What you’re saying is, we only have to get rid of her? That’s easy,” Blythe said. “I could do that.”

“No!” I said quickly, before catching myself. “Apparently while we were on the Island, Kawan waited out the torrent with someone from Kadier. Whoever that person is, they’re going to get rid of her.”

There was a charged moment of silence. Then Blythe laughed.

“This . . . this is exactly what we were hoping for, right?” she said.

Her head was whipping back between Inigo and me, waiting for one of us to confirm her guesses.

“We can’t be sure. Not yet, anyway. I need to see if we can learn more about what’s happening. If she’s . . .” I swallowed. “If she’s even still alive, and if the person Kawan spoke to was reliable. There’s no way of knowing at the moment.”

I saw Blythe deflate a little. “Of course. You’re right.” She sighed, looking back at the old castle. It seemed even grayer than usual today. “I just saw a flicker of hope, and I got worked up. Whatever you say is best, I’ll follow, Lennox. We all will.”

I looked at her, touched by the sincerity in her voice. “Thank you, Blythe.”

“I mean it,” she insisted. “The recruits, especially the younger ones . . . they’re asking about you. I feel like we have a real chance now.”

My smile was weak, but I gave it to her all the same.

“Blythe,” Inigo finally said, “would you please give us a moment? I need to ask Lennox about something personal.”

Her face was as surprised as mine, but she nodded and went on her way.

Inigo watched until she was well out of earshot.

“What are you going to do about it?” he finally asked.

“About what?”

“What are you going to do about your girl?” he asked firmly.

I looked at Blythe’s retreating figure in confusion, holding up an arm in her direction. “Nothing? She seems just—”

Inigo slapped my hand down. “Blythe is crazy for you, so she can’t see the truth right in front of her. I can.” He stared at me, his eyes neither accusing nor angry. “What are you going to do about your girl?”

I swallowed, feeling my pulse pick up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You can keep this secret from everyone else, Lennox, but not from me. If we’re about to storm a country with you at the helm, and you’re not going to be able to remove the last stumbling block between us and everything we’ve ever said we wanted, I need to know.” His words could have been cold accusations, but they weren’t. He said everything with patience and concern. So much so that it made it all the more frightening for me. He pointed into the distance. “If we could run there right now, would you go for the throne, or would you go for her?”

Tears stung at my eyes. “How did you even know?”

“If a blind man could regain his sight, I imagine he’d look the way you did the first time you saw her in the forest. A half-naked girl escapes our castle and goes running across the continent, and you come home without her or your cape. We’re in the middle of our first full-on battle, and you’re blatantly searching for a familiar face in a place where there shouldn’t be one. When we sailed back from the Island, you checked your pocket for a piece of lace at least six times that I counted. And just now you could hardly get out a sentence about her dying without your voice breaking.

“I need to know what the plan is. Because both you and I are tired of fighting a war without victors.”

I allowed myself a sharp breath, pushing down tears. “Inigo . . . what do I do?

“I took her mother’s life with my own two hands, and she forgave me. She forgave me! She told me the darkest secrets of her life; she trusts me.”

He made a face. “That girl has dark secrets?”

I sighed. “I wish I didn’t know about them. It hurts me to remember.”

“You say she trusts you. Does she love you?”

I let out a long breath, thinking of her fingers in my hair, her wrapping my cape around her shoulders, her kisses that she gave so freely. “If she does or she doesn’t, my heart would be wasted on anyone else.”

He nodded. “Lennox. I swore my allegiance to you long ago. I’ve been waiting for you to be ready to lead; I’ve known for years you could do it. So give me an order. Tell me what you want, and I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen.”

I looked away, unable to bear his faith in me. It filled me with indescribable hope and pride, but there would always be a measure of fear right alongside it.

“We need our home back, Inigo. And I need her to live. If she dies, I die. I can’t have her. I understand that. But Annika has to live.”

Inigo crossed his arms again, back to being a soldier. “Understood.” He looked down and then back to me. “What about Blythe?”

I swallowed. “I . . . I don’t . . .”

“Because if she’s fair game, you really ought to say so.” And without another word, he marched off, leaving me stunned at how much Inigo might have been sacrificing for my sake all along.