Page 156 of Frozen Hearts and Death Magic

“She looked like you, Naia. I don’t know.”

The story didn’t end there. He told her how his ship had sunk on his way back, probably because of the tragedy in Formosa. It meant he truly had never had anything to do with it. Then again she saved him, but in some spirit form. Once he was back to the Ancient City, his brother claimed to have destroyed Formosa, but he wasn’t sure about it. Then he learned about what the staff did and destroyed it. Except that then the dragon lords came and isolated his city. He used his stones to keep his people frozen in time, but when he pleaded with the dragon lords to free the city, they tried to send him back, and the clash of magic sent him to the hollow.

“I wish I had never stolen that staff. It’s what brought the dragons, what made them isolate my city.”

“You can’t know. If it’s a magical instrument that can kill thousands of people, perhaps it had to be destroyed. And maybe the dragon lords would have come anyway, because of Formosa, and would blame the Ancients anyway. The dragon lords… You said one of them was going to investigate Ironhold?”

“That’s what he said. I thought it had been a lie, that he had gone back to his land, but now… I wonder.” He stared at her.

“You think one of them went to Ironhold… and met my mother?”

“Maybe.”

“But what about my father? My real father? I mean, Azir Umbraar?”

“I don’t know.”

She didn’t know anything either, and it was too much to take at once.

“There’s more, isn’t there?” she asked. “What else aren’t you telling me?”

“You’ll need to be more specific there.” His tone was dry. Of course, he was still under her command. She didn’t like what she was doing, but she hated even more everything he’d done, especially because he’d kept it all hidden from her, thinking he would lose her, and he’d done it anyway.

“To me. You made me sleep. Did you use glamour on me? To make me agree to marry you? To make me agree to come here?”

He smirked. “Believe it or not, your attraction to me is your own.”

“Asshole. So you didn’t do anything?”

He looked down. “I did glamour you. But not to be interested in me. As you well know, such a thing would be completely unnecessary.”

She rolled her eyes. “Then what did you do?”

“At the ball. In Frostlake. I made you disappear in the crowd. I made you imperceptible.”

Naia wasn’t sure if she had heard him right. “You what?”

“I made it so nobody would notice you.”

“Why would you do that? Didn’t you just say that you weren’t interested in me? That you only came to my room because of your eternal devotion?”

“You misunderstand me. I would have left you alone. It didn’t mean I didn’t find you interesting. It didn’t mean I wouldn’t try to court you. Properly. Once my life was settled. Once I figured whether you had tried to kill me or not. Either way, going into a human girl’s room is not proper behavior. That’s why I only went when you called me.”

“And yet you wanted me to feel invisible in the ball.”

“Most of those princes are horrible people. Then if they saw you, a bunch of them would have wanted to marry you. I did you a favor. To keep you safe.”

Naia rolled her eyes. “Umbraar has poor relations with other kingdoms. Nobody would have proposed to me.”

“They would. Of course they would. They would talk about nothing but you. I saved you from a terrible marriage.”

“For what? So that you could trick and lie to me so much that I would leave you?”

“I was hoping you would understand me. I thought you would. But I had to give you the opportunity to make up your mind about me.”

Naia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “You have to do as I say, right? If I command you?”

“Yes.”

---