Page 113 of What Fury Brings
“Wait outside,” the queen said to her own guards, who left the room as quickly as they came. The queen didn’t draw herself closer to the two. She observed from a distance. “Olerra, it is only a matter of time before Atalius learns where his heir is. He will come for him.”
“I know.”
“You need to push aside your feelings and think like a leader.”
“A leader? It’s a bit late for that, isn’t it?”
Sanos’s heart broke for the woman before him. He loved her, but he couldn’t help her. This was the first time he felt truly powerless in Amarra.
She turned back to him. “You’re going back home.”
“Wait, please—” he said.
“I think you’ve said plenty. And you let me say plenty. All those times when we were drawing closer physically and you’d pull away? I thought you were traumatized in some fashion. That someone had hurt you! No, you were guilty. Guilty when I’d say your brother’s name.”
“I didn’t want to ruin things for you. To take your mind off the succession.”
“And yet, here we are, and I was blindsided. I take responsibility for my own secret, but you? You ruinedeverything.” Olerra turned to the queen. “Auntie, please take him away. I don’t want to look at him.”
“Olerra, wait.”
“No, Prince. You wait. You wait in some dark, dank place until I decide what to do with you.”
The queen called for her guards. He didn’t put up a fight as they took him away.
Sanos.
The man she thought she’d loved was Sanos.
And he was a liar and a schemer. A betrayer.
She kept trying to process it, and her aunt gave her the space to do so. Olerra remembered every interaction. Every moment that was just a bit off, now seen through a new context.
Are you the prince?
I’m the best prince.
Furious tears slid down her cheeks. She brushed them away immediately.
“Everyone will know soon,” she said. She wanted her aunt to talk and fill the silence. Olerra didn’t want to think anymore.
“Yes.”
“They will know that I am Giftless. That I nabbed the wrong prince.”
“Yes.”
“How can you be so calm? Why aren’t you yelling at me for my stupidity?”
The queen stepped farther into the room and took a seat on a nearby settee. “You are beating yourself up better than I ever could.”
“Tell me something. Anything. I cannot bear your silence on this matter.”
“To be honest, I’m still trying to figure out where I went wrong. What did I do to cause you to believe that you needed to keep such a secret from me?”
“I feared you’d stop thinking of me as your heir. I needed your support. I crave your love more than anything.”
The queen stretched her long legs out in front of her. “You thought that Toria and I would love you less if we knew?”
