The Hidden Princess by Katy Moran Read Free Book Online Page B

the second and final time.
You will never be by my side, child, always away
. I’ll hear those words in my mind till my last day on earth, till the day an iron blade finds me at last. I hate him. I hate his cold cruelty and the ruthlessness that keeps the Hidden race imprisoned in the Halls, the mortals too afraid to grant our freedom. A cold ball of misery sits heavily inside my belly. I hate my father but I love him beyond words. I don’t want him to die, and yet I can’t see another way of ending this. He’ll never change his mind. Even if he did, the Fontevrault would never believe he was no danger. They don’t trust us, and we will never trust them.
    “If Connie lets my father out and he releases the plague, do you really think the Fontevrault will just allow it to happen? Don’t be a fool, Nicolas. You’re right, the Fontevrault don’t need any encouragement to attack the Hidden. If my father has his way, they’ll destroy us one by one till we’re nothing but a memory, just as they destroyed my mother. There’ll be no one to even remember us except you and Lissy. All the mortals will be dead too. I’m afraid that the Fontevrault will only leave us alone if he
is
dead, and no threat to them. Save Lissy, you’re the only one who can kill him.”
    I can’t believe those words left my lips.
You’re the only one who can kill him
. My father.
    Nicolas mutters a curse. “Unless your father’s plague destroys the Fontevrault first, before they have a chance to retaliate. Knowing him, it’s probably rather potent. In that case, the Hidden will have the earth to themselves once more.”
    “Are you willing to take that risk?”
    “I’m not going to do it, Larkspur. I’m not going to kill him. You know what I owe your father: he gave me a life worth living. What’s wrong, are you hungry for the Swan Throne after all these centuries of waiting for it?”
    I’m on my feet in a second, hauling him up to face me. “I don’t want the throne. I’ve never wanted that and you know it.”
    “
Let go of me
.” Nicolas takes my wrists in his hands, but I’m still a little stronger than he is and we stand locked together, holding on to each other. He lets out a long breath, controlling his anger, a feat that I can scarcely help but be impressed by, but even so, I don’t let him go. “Look, I’m sorry,” he says at last. “I know you don’t want the damned throne. What you want is for him to forgive you. Isn’t it?”
    “He never will, and I can’t see another way.” If I had not wept every tear I had years ago, I would be weeping now. “As long as my father lives, so does the risk he might release the plague.”
    “You should have let the girl die and you know it,” Nicolas says, his voice harsh. “If she hadn’t become Tainted we wouldn’t be in this damned mess now. What if she’s appeared to your father already? He’ll use her to get out of the Halls. Jesus Christ, did you
look
at her, Larkspur? A girl that age, with a face like that? When she sees the Swan King, she’s going to think he’s all her idiotic dreams come true – without a clue that he’s actually her worst nightmare. She’ll do anything he asks. Mary, Mother of God, Larkspur – you should have known better.
You should have let her die
.”
    I let him go, turning away. He’s right. “She was just a little girl when I saved her. Only eight years old. Mortal lives are short enough as it is.”
    Nicolas gives me one of his narrow-eyed looks, and whispers another curse in a native tongue that no one else even speaks any more. “You’re exasperating, Larkspur – do you know that?”
    I sigh. “You’d have done the same and saved her if you could. Don’t try and tell me otherwise.”
    He stares into the fire again. “Why are you so sure? I’ve killed more mortals than I can count.” I know he never forgets their faces, though. Still staring at the guttering flames, he speaks again: “I’ll kill her too if you ask me.