" When we reach the wall, we can discuss your future,” Elian says.
I clench my fists, appalled at his audacity and the fact that I’m being forced to tolerate it. Never the queen, always the minion.
“Discuss it?” I repeat.
“You said you wanted to come with us, and I want to make sure you’re useful. You can’t just be a prisoner taking up space on my deck.”
“I was belowdecks,” I remind him. “In a cage.”
“That was this morning,” he says, as though it’s far enough in the past to be forgotten. “Try not to hold a grudge.”
The grin he gives me is beyond taunting and I sneer, not deigning to reply. Instead I breeze past and make sure to knock my shoulder as hard as I can into his. The sooner I have his heart, the better. "

― Alexandra Christo , To Kill a Kingdom