It’s all I can do to keep from jerking away from her. “No. Please.” Now that the men are gone, my adrenaline is catching up, and my heart beats a rapid pace in my chest. “It’s nothing—”

“It’s not nothing.” When Evalyn looks up at me, tears have formed in her eyes. “The inn is all we have.”

Freya joins her. She takes my other hand and kisses it. “Again, you protected the children. I would offer my service, my lady, as a lady-in-waiting, or a servant, or—”

“No! No. No, thank you.” I don’t know what to do with this. They’re being genuine—after I made it all up—the kingdom, the armies. I have nothing to offer them in reality.

Desperate, I look to Rhen for help.

He’s watching me with a kind of bemused wonder. “My lady.

He gives me a bow. “I, too, offer you my gratitude.”

I am going to punch him. Stop it, I mouth. Help me.

He looks across to Coale. “Innkeeper,” he says. “The princess has endured much travel over the last two days. I believe she may need a space to rest. Could I trouble you for a room for a short while?”

“Yes!” says Evalyn, leaping to her feet without even waiting for her husband’s response. “Yes. My lady, allow me to prepare a room immediately.”

“I will prepare a plate for your room,” says Coale. He hesitates. “Your Highness … will you be joining the princess?”

I open my mouth to say no, but Rhen is quicker.

“Yes.” He smiles. “Princess Harper and I have much to discuss.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

RHEN

Fate is surely playing a trick on me. Fury and fascination wage war in my thoughts.

Fury that armed men are terrorizing my people.

Fascination that this reckless, maddening girl stood up to them.

We’re back in the room I used last night. A fire has been freshly laid in the hearth, and Coale left a platter of food beside a pitcher on the dresser.

Harper’s face is a shade paler than usual, her eyes a little wide. “That—that was—” She lets out a long breath and drops onto the side of the bed. Her palms press together in front of her mouth. “I can’t believe that worked.”

Nor can I. Everything she does is so unexpected. Even now, after boldly facing those men, she surprises me by looking like a loud noise would send her bolting from this room.

“If I knew no better,” I say, “I would have believed you myself.” I give her a sideways glance. “Are you born of royalty? In your world?”

“No.” She gives a short, humorless laugh. “Definitely not.” Her eyes lift to settle on me, almost as if she’s just realized I’m here. Her eyes narrow. “I’m still mad at you.”

“Truly?” I fold my arms and lean back against the door. “Then let us resolve that.”

She stands, her expression fierce. “You told Grey to cut off my arm—”

“I did not.”

“—after telling me that bringing someone food was going to start an international incident—”

“My lady.”

“—and then you rode off without telling us where you were going—”

I sigh. “Are you quite done?”

“No! And when you got here, you sat by the fire and wouldn’t even speak to me until some armed men came barging in—”

“Which you stopped.”

“Which I almost screwed up because I don’t know what a stupid regiment is.” Her cheeks are flushed, her breathing rapid. She pushes a stray lock of hair out of her face, but it falls right back. “Is a thousand soldiers not a lot?”

“In an army? No.” I pause, fixated on the one part of her tirade that’s taken root in my head.

You sat by the fire and wouldn’t even speak to me.

For that to matter, she would have to care, at least a small amount.

She’s still glaring up at me. “Is your name really Vincent Aldrhen or was that made up, too?”

“Such questions you ask.” I would be insulted if she weren’t so candid. “Why would I have need to invent a name? I truly am the Crown Prince of Emberfall.”

“Then who are those men? What’s a Karis Luran?”

“Karis Luran is not a what. She is the Queen of Syhl Shallow.” My shoulders are tight. This day has been long and exhausting already and seems to have no end.

“Okay, what’s Syhl Shallow?”

“It’s a country far northwest of here. On the other side of a mountain range.” The mountains should be impassable at this time of year. My father never had a quarrel with Karis Luran—but then, he was alive to prevent such a thing. Harper made a good show of presenting the King of Disi as a bloodthirsty tyrant, but Karis Luran truly has to be. Her country is landlocked, with brutal winters and dangerous game animals. It’s no wonder her men destroyed Freya’s house and threatened her children. They would have done the same here if Harper hadn’t tricked them.

“What do they want here?” says Harper.

I frown. “I have no idea.”

She gives me a cynical look. “You have no idea why some queen could be sending soldiers here?”

My jaw tightens. “Do you not understand that my entire staff, my entire armed force, consists solely of Commander Grey? I have no advisers. No couriers. I once had soldiers stationed at the border cities, but I have no way of knowing if they still stand. The mountains should provide a natural barrier to the west, and open sea to the east, but … given a strong enough force, there very well could be dozens of regiments behind those men who came here.”

That seems to shock her into silence.

Frustration has built a camp in my chest. I’ve spent over three hundred seasons trying to save my people from a merciless creature, and it’s left me with no way to save them from outsiders.

Perhaps this is the reason for Lilith declaring this season to be my final chance. Perhaps she knows. My country will fall to enemy forces.

Perhaps this is the true curse. She is not destroying me. She is destroying Emberfall.

“So what are you going to do about it?” Harper says.

I raise my eyebrows. “Unless you truly are the Princess of Disi and your father does have thousands of soldiers standing ready, I am unsure I can do anything at all.”

“But you might have soldiers guarding your border cities? Is that the same as an army? Could you—”

“It is not the same as an army.” There’s hope in her voice, and that’s almost as surprising as everything else. I hate to destroy it—but that’s clearly all I have talent for. “There may be soldiers standing guard, but with no way to swiftly communicate with them, I have no way of knowing if those guard posts still stand.”

“But—but can’t you pay people to take messages—”

“Surely you must realize that I cannot simply put a person on a horse with a sensitive message about military movements. Especially not now.”

She chews at the side of her lip. “What happens if Karis Luran takes over?”

“I do not know. My lands have not faced the threat of a hostile takeover since my great-grandfather’s reign—and he defeated the invaders and expanded Emberfall’s territory.”

“Well, aren’t you technically the king now? Can’t you do something?”

I look away. All my love for strategy is proving fruitless now. “I have nothing, my lady. Nothing I can offer.” I pause. “While we were able to chase those men off this time, that will not prevent them from coming back. I worry what will happen when they do.”

She swallows. “I know. I thought about that.” Her hands press to her cheeks again. “Oh, these poor people.”

Her tone of voice cuts straight to the core of me. She knows nothing of my subjects. Nothing. By all rights, she should hate me and everything I represent.

Then she says, “Can we stay?”

The words shock me into stillness and I find myself picking them apart in my head. Can we stay. Can we.

We.

I shift away from the door and give her a narrow look. “You wish to stay here? In the inn?”

She nods. “Just for tonight?”

At this very moment, I would deny her nothing. “Of course.”

Relief lights her eyes, but it’s short-lived and she grimaces. “I know it’s stupid. Like with the food. We can’t stay here forever. Just because they’re not burning this inn doesn’t mean they’re not burning an inn a mile down the road—”

“My lady.”

She must hear the gravity in my tone, because she blinks in surprise. “What?”

I step closer, until I’m right in front of her. “For now, we can help some. Not all, but some.”

She inhales sharply as I feed her words back to her. “Rhen …”

Her voice trails off, and I find myself wishing that she truly was a warrior princess from a distant land. I believe she would make a formidable ally. She faced those men without fear. She faces me without fear.

I reach to tuck that errant lock of hair behind her ear. “I did not intend to upset you earlier.”

When my fingers brush her temple, her breath catches, just the tiniest bit, but she doesn’t pull away. “Which time?”