83
" 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
95
" What if I were to tell you a secret?” I ask.
“What if you were?”
“It would change how you saw me.”
Elian shrugs. “Then don’t tell me.”
I roll my eyes. “What if you need to know?”
“People don’t tell secrets because someone needs to know them. They do it because they need someone to tell.”
I swallow. My heart feels loud enough to hear. “I’ll ask you something instead, then.”
“To keep a secret?”
“To keep a favor.”
Elian nods, and I forget that we’re murderers and enemies and when my identity is revealed, he might very well try to kill me. I don’t think of Yukiko claiming him like a prize she doesn’t know the value of. And I don’t think of the Sea Queen or the notion of betrayal. I think of my human heart, suddenly beating so fast – too fast – and the crease between Elian’s eyebrows as he waits for my answer.
“Are you ever going to kiss me?”
Slowly, Elian says, “That’s not a favor.”
His hand moves from beside mine, and I feel a sudden absence. And then it’s on my cheek, cupping my face, thumb stroking my lip. It feels like the worst thing I’ve ever done and the best thing I could ever do and how strange that the two are suddenly the same. "
― Alexandra Christo , To Kill a Kingdom