Veils of Storm

38. The Heir

At some point during the night, Leila brought Kat some water and a loaf of bread. She drank, but she couldn't hold anything down, so she refused the food. She didn't even bother to ask where the girl had found it. It didn't matter. Nothing did anymore.

As she lay on the sand, hugging her knees to her chest, her empty gaze sailing across the seas, Kat cried. For the cruelty of fate, the emptiness inside her chest, and the love she'd lost.

Even if she refused to believe that Cage would abandon her, as the hours ticked by and the seas stayed calm, her traitorous mind started to wonder, aided by the whispering voices in her head.

Was she really that special to him? He'd claimed he'd never loved anyone before her, but could it be true? Was she only convenient because she was there when he was forced into isolation? Afterward, when he could finally reclaim his life, was it the magic holding them together?

She knew she loved him with everything she was. That didn't mean he felt the same. He must not have, or she wouldn't be here with only Leila for company. If it were her, she would have never given up on him, no matter what. She'd be fighting to find him.

For a few blessed hours or days, she'd thought he might be doing the same. But the sea was clear and he had magic. There was nothing holding him away from her except his own desires.

Leila, who sat next to her from time to time, mumbled about Cage's betrayal, how she'd loved them together and how, in the end, he didn't deserve her. Because he was weak, and a coward, and ran in the face of her greatness.

Kat ignored her. There was nothing great about her. Even if she was the heir of Endir, it was through no merit of her own. It didn't mean she had any clue about what it meant to rule outside what Cage had mentioned while denying his own heritage. How ironic that it had to be them. The heirs of warring kingdoms. Two people who wanted nothing to do with it. Two people who were in love. Or at least she had been.

"Kat, you can't just lay there," Leila said after what felt like at least a couple of days.

"You're not bound to me," she mumbled. "You may go as you please."

"I'm not sure you're aware of who you are."

"I'm a peasant girl from a small town in Iride. It doesn't matter who my parents were."

"It matters more than you know," Leila snapped. "Do you have any idea what the people of Endir have been going through over the past thirty years?"

No, and she didn't care.

"You think Iride has had it rough ever since Fherras closed the borders. What they failed to teach you is that Endir was dependent on trade with Iride to survive. We do not grow crops. We specialize in stone and steel. Food is scarce."

She truly hadn't known that because, of course, they never learned things about Endir. The place was almost as taboo as magic. But it made no difference.

"Yes, and how would I change any of that?"

Leila clicked her tongue, obviously out of patience. "The Steward hasn't been much better than Fherras at handling the people. Since his military was destroyed, he needed money to form a new army. And since trade was cut, he found more lucrative ways. Like selling young girls as slaves."

Kat shuddered, remembering Jinx's story as well. She'd mentioned young ladies being sold off to powerful men. What she hadn't mentioned was what those powerful men would end up doing with them to keep their fortunes.

"So you see, Kat, we need a leader who would stop the abuse against the people and want the kingdom to grow. Not starve for military ambitions and the desires of fat, old men."