320 The Towers of Arinel

~ ASH ~

Eleven days. Eleven days of the most stubborn, beautiful, determined bullshit I'd ever seen.

Zara acted like she was already in love with the King, which was ridiculous. And yet, she wouldn't be moved. If I so much as raised a question about what might happen here, she kept repeating that line. She was here for the King. She was not going to listen to me declare myself. And if I pushed the point, she would hiss a vicious reminder of my broken vow.

As if I didn't already carry the weight of that.

I was aware of my position of privilege—but it was a position I wouldn't even have attained without the Physicists. And King Davide Alexander Janus de Clare barely knew my name.

He'd sworn me in—accepted my vow, as Zara was insisting on reminding me.