Protect the Prince (Crown of Shards #2)(123)

I swear that I felt his fingers close around that first rock as though he was reaching inside my chest and was somehow touching my heart at the same time. I stood there, holding my breath, my hands clenched into fists on top of the wall, while he stretched out another hand and reached for a rock a little higher up than the one before.

He did this over and over again, slowly but steadily scaling up the cliffs. Ten feet, twenty, fifty, a hundred. He was doing it, and he was actually going to make it all the way up to me.

Until he slipped.

Sullivan grabbed a rock, but it cracked off the cliff, sending him sliding down. My heart stopped, and my breath caught in my throat. For a moment, I thought he was going to lose his grip completely, bounce off the jagged rocks below, and fall to his death, but he managed to catch himself at the last instant.

With only one hand on the rocks, he hung there in midair for several seconds before he finally found a crack in the cliff face that he could shove his boots into and regain his balance.

He let out a low, angry snarl, then shrugged out of his long gray coat and tossed it aside, as if it was weighing him down. A gust of wind caught the coat and sent it spinning out across the river. It hit the rippling surface, and the water quickly drowned it.

Sullivan looked up at me. A bloody gash slashed across his forehead, cuts and bruises dotted his hands and arms, and his black tunic and pants hung in tatters where the rocks had shredded them during his fall. But his eyes were as bright as ever, and his mouth was set in a determined line. He took a few seconds to get his breath back, then reached for another rock above his head.

And suddenly, I knew what I had to do.

“I’m not waiting around up here. I’m going down to him.”

I swung my legs up and over the wall so that I was standing on the other side and staring down at the cliffs below.

“Queen Everleigh!” Fullman protested. “You can’t do this! Tradition clearly dictates that he must climb all the way up here by himself! With no assistance whatsoever!”

“And I am the queen,” I snapped back at him. “I love him, and I’m going to help him. I don’t care what you or anyone else says, and I’m going to make my own tradition starting right now. And if you don’t like it, then too damn bad.”

Fullman opened his mouth to protest again, but I stared him down, and he swallowed his words. I looked at the other nobles, and they all slowly wilted and bowed their heads under my cold glare.

Diante was the only one who met my gaze. After a moment, she shrugged and gave me a wry smile, as if she knew that she had lost and that there was no stopping me. Even more surprising, she actually curtsied. “As you wish, my queen.”

I nodded back at her, then turned around and stared down at the cliffs. I drew in a deep breath and let it out before leaning down and grabbing hold of the first rock.

“What are you doing?” Sullivan called out. “I’m supposed to come to you.”

“And I don’t want you to break your fool neck!” I yelled back. “Just stay where you are.”

He ignored me, of course, and started climbing even faster. I did the same thing, picking my way down the side of the cliff and trying to get to him before he slipped again.

I couldn’t bear to lose him again.

Somehow, we met in the middle, on a small outcropping of rock that was just big and strong enough to hold the two of us. We were both breathing hard, and it took us a moment to find our words. My heart was beating so hard and painfully that I thought it might explode, but it was worth it to see Sullivan again, to see the love shining in his eyes, the love I knew was reflected in my own gaze.

“I thought you were staying in Glitnir with your family,” I said in a breathless voice. “Or running away to join a gladiator troupe.”

“I thought about doing both of those things. But there’s nothing for me at Glitnir, and the only troupe I want to be in is the Black Swan—with you.”

He reached up and brushed a bit of hair back from my face, smearing blood from his cut fingers onto my skin, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything but the fact that he was standing here with me.

“But what about your mother?” I asked. “And everything that happened?”

He grimaced. “I’m still dealing with that. I’ll probably always be dealing with that.” He paused for a moment, then looked at me again. “But my mother was right about one thing. She told me not to make the same mistake she did, not to let my anger rule me. And Helene was right too. I was so wrapped up in how other people saw me that I let it ruin some of the good things in my life.”

His grimace melted away, and determination filled his face. “But I’m not going to do that anymore. I’m not going to worry about what other people think of me, and I’m not going to throw things away just because they aren’t exactly how I want them to be. Instead, I’m going to fight like the fiercest gladiator for what I love, and what I love is you, Evie.”

My heart soared, but I forced myself to think things through like a true Winter queen would. “But what about your father? And Andvari? What about your people, your kingdom?”

Sullivan gave me a fierce look. “You are my kingdom. You always have been, ever since that first morning I found you sleeping in the corner of my house. You’re all I’ve ever wanted, highness, and you’re all that I need, Evie.”