“She tells the truth,” King Kance affirmed. “Kalen and I were estranged for a while. We talked of many things that day. About my father. About his life in Kion. But mostly, we talked about Tea.” He smiled wryly. “Did you know she had a brief infatuation with me once? I never realized. She was always so quiet and polite.”

The letters had mellowed the king, and further convincing from both Lady Zoya and Lord Fox had the soldiers withdrawing their weapons from my throat. But the king was still suspicious, and a few of his men idled nearby “for my own protection.” We were to reach the base of the Hollow Mountains in the morning, but the king showed no desire to sleep in preparation.

His distrust also did not prevent him from inquiring further about the letters and Tea, particularly the gaps in his knowledge from her unexpected disappearance to her sudden emergence in Daanoris. His hostility softened as we spoke, and I caught glimpses of the prince he might have been when the Dark asha had been new to the Willows, neither none the wiser about the future ahead of them.

“These letters,” he noted, “are unfinished.”

“We could not recover the last few pages, Your Majesty.” I was still ashamed to admit.

“No matter. If the bone witch arrives as you claim, then it is easy enough to ask her what follows myself.” He stared into the fire. “That was another one of my mistakes. It is easier to criticize the crown when its weight isn’t heavy on your head, I suppose. My father—he was not as good a man as the people think. But he was not always a villain. Tea, I believe, is the same. I wish we could have talked then; instead, I gave in to my anger and sent her away. I was inconsolable. It felt like an abyss had opened inside of me and directing my rage at her would somehow close that chasm. I had every reason to blame her. But…the situation has changed.”

“You are no longer angry?”

“We have come to a…tentative understanding. I understand her better now than I did then. I am sorry about her sister. Fox thinks she can no longer be trusted. He is afraid that the Dark bides its time, waiting to take over again and find another victim. He doesn’t want her dead, but he sees no other recourse.

“I think differently. She raised my cousin from the dead. It is a feat of silver heartsglass no other Dark asha has ever repeated. For that alone, she has my eternal gratitude. She loves Kalen—fiercely, wholly. And I can understand her agony. If she succeeds in her attempt at shadowglass, if she can find a way to take the Dark out of her, then I will pray for her success.”

The king allowed himself a smile, grim yet full of promise, spreading across his face like calligraphy. “After all, who better to understand a kinslayer but another kinslayer?”