Page 52 of Curse of the Sun and Stars

Alastor sighs. “He’s hated them for a while. He never even wanted to meet them, but King Respen didn’t give him much of a choice.”

“But why?”

I don’t really expect him to answer, but he surprises me. I’m starting to realize Alastor only holds things back on pain of death.

“I suppose you wouldn’t know that Leon’s parents were killed about fifteen years ago.”

I count the years back. I would’ve been a child, still completely confined to Gallawing since I hadn’t yet found the passage to sneak out to Otscold. My knowledge of the outside world was very limited back then. I certainly can’t think of a reason why anyone would tell me about the deaths of a fae prince or princess.

“No, I didn’t. So it’s just him and his grandfather?”

“And his older brother, Fairon—now the crown prince,” Alastor says, though he moves swiftly on. “Prince Keleus and Princess Helena were visiting Trova at the time they died.”

This story isn’t going where I thought it would at all.

“They were murdered by a rebel group—one of the early ones from before the Hand of Ralus was formed. Leon’s parents weren’t traveling with a big entourage like usual. In fact, I don’t think many people knew they were in the country at all, so it’s possible the rebels had no idea who they were targeting. Whatever happened, the Hand killed them.”

“And he blames my parents for that?” I glance at Leon, his back still resolutely to us. If he can hear our conversation, he’s giving no sign of it. “Why?”

“The rebels had been around for decades at that point. But they were still a relatively small force. The Angevires had their chance to quash them, and they didn’t. Rumor has it they were even helping the rebels behind the scenes. It makes sense. I doubt the crown liked how powerful the Temple was becoming, and the rebels’ sole goal is to undermine it.”

“So their choices as rulers led to the murder of his parents,” I say. “He sees them as responsible.”

“Yes. Now imagine you have to go look in the eye the people you blame for your parents’ deaths,” Alastor says.

I can imagine it all too well, because not so long ago I believedIwas having to face my parents’ murderer too. In my case, though, I wasn’t there to be diplomatic. How concerned was Leon with that? Were his orders from his grandfather enough to keep him from taking his revenge when he got his chance?

I stare at the back of Leon’s head, wondering.

Did he take my parents’ lives, just as they took Leon’s parents from him?

Chapter17

Morgana

Idon’t ask Alastor any more questions. I don’t know how much more Iwantto know. As the mountains loom closer over the next few hours, I spend the time contemplating what this information means for how I view Leon—and my parents.

Is that why he was so hostile with me from the beginning? I think about the time he held a sword to my throat when I accused him of their murder. Was he angry because I was wrong—or because I was right, and he saw what he’d done as justice? Or was his anger simply that I have my mother’s face and remind him too much of the woman he blames for the loss of someone so precious to him?

Part of me wants to come out and ask him, but we’re at the base of Mount Kalas before I can work up the courage.

The brown mountains I saw from far away look grayer up close, the rock shaped in tight ridges that form gullies and narrow cavities between them. We skirt the base of Mount Kalas for about half an hour before Leon and Alastor locate what they’re searching for.

When we get close, I can see an opening in between two spurs of rock—a cave that must lead to the tunnels Alastor talked about.

We dismount, and I feel again Leon’s eyes on me as I accept Alastor’s hand down from the horse. I find it hard to believe he’s actually annoyed by me accepting Alastor’s help after rejecting his. Maybe he just hates not being in control.

It must piss him off, then, that I refuse to follow when the fae remove their packs and supplies from the back of the horses and start to walk away from them.

“You’re just going to leave them here?” I ask, appalled.

“Yes,” Leon replies, not breaking his stride toward the cavern.

“You can’t just abandon them,” I call after him.

Alastor stops, giving me a sympathetic look.

“We can’t take them into the tunnels. They’ll panic. But there’s plenty here for them to graze on, and water in that brook over there. People come this way all the time; soon enough, some lucky smuggler will discover them and become the proud owner of two new steeds.”

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