Kira hugged her knees to her chest as the wagon rolled over bumpy terrain. Her fingers tangled themselves in her woolen blanket as she pulled it closer to her face. Hoof prints echoed in her head as they pounded against the earth. She tried to block them out with her arms and the blanket, but nothing worked. Despite her exhaustion she hadn't slept in days since leaving the tribe. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw the fear etched on their faces. Astrid's anger ricocheted through her mind. Addrick's voice rose above the clopping of the hooves. The wagon's shudder slowed as it came to a stop. Moments later Addrick climbed inside the wagon and shifted the hammock had Kira curled herself in.

"Are ye asleep at least?" he asked. She waved a hand to signal she wasn't. "Ye have to sleep."

"Evil doesn't sleep."

"Yer not evil, Kira."

"I killed all those Wilders . . . I wanted—"

"I know what ye wanted. Ye were trying to stop the guards. What ye don't understand is ye can't exert that kind of power and isolate it to just the evil ones. Yer lucky the magic shockwave didn't hit everyone or they'd all be vaporized."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? You're a terrible motivator."

Addrick sighed. "Look at me, Kira."

He forced her to turn over. One hand pushed the hair from her face as he looked down on her. She'd been crying for hours so she knew her eyes had to be reddened and puffy. Addrick laughed with a smile as he continued to brush a hand through her hair.

"Ye look like arse. Why won't ye let me heal yer wounds?" His fingers traced the bruising on her neck from the man's attempt to strangle her.

"I don't deserve to be healed."

"In the time I have known ye, I've discovered yer many things. Irrational, irritating, hot headed, annoying, stubborn, impulsive, unreasonable—"

"You know some of those things mean the same thing, right?"

"Aye, but my point still stands. Yer all those things, but self-pity isn't something I expected from ye. I would love to sit here and remind ye that I told ye not to use yer magic like that, but it would serve no purpose. Clearly ye already feel like trash and I wouldn't be helping matters if I made ye feel worse."

"Look at that, showing some heart."

"I told ye, me heart works just fine. As does yers." Kira swallowed as he placed a hand on her heart. His other hand remained entangled in her hair as he knelt beside the hammock. "If ye were evil, ye wouldn't have remorse for what ye did. For three days ye have been laying here, refusing food and sleep, moping over the deaths of a tribe ye hardly knew. That is not the sign of evil or darkness in yer heart."

"But Astrid—"

"Was an idiot. Part of that is my fault. I don't have girls fawning over me, not the way yer Rylanne does. I may be an attractive lad, but me being a Guardian keeps the gals at bay. They see me in a light that is above their status so even if I wanted to be with someone, I couldn't. Sure, they'd bed me if I wanted them. They'd do it often in effort to help me produce an heir, but a true courtship with them is impossible."

"Courtship? Gods, you are royalty."

He smiled. "Astrid was jealous of ye and I encouraged it. I don't know what made her jealous and I didn't care. It was enjoyable for me."

"But what she saw, she said I was Zarich incarnate."

"Ye can't be incarnate of something which still lives. She is immortal and trapped within Calandria. I'd have sensed it if Calandria had re-opened without my aid. And a seer's vision can be tampered with. Though they are mostly accurate, they aren't infallible. What she saw, could be what Rodyn wanted her to see. It could have been she saw nothing at all and made it up out of jealousy to keep me from my duty. As I said, it is a fleeting emotion. It causes people to become stupid and act irrationally."

She closed her eyes as his hand traced the side of her neck. His magic coiled through her. Broken bones cracked back in to place. Kira opened her mouth to scold him for healing her, but no words came out. Pain faded from within her. Each glide of his hand felt more invigorating than the one before it. Addrick moved to pull his hand away from her chest, but Kira reached up and looped her fingers with his.

"Why?" He arched an eyebrow at her question. "You say I'm your duty and you won't abandon it again. What do you mean? The truth, Addrick."

Addrick flinched, pulling his hand away, turning his back. His shoulders slouched. Kira sat up and gave him room to sit on the hammock. For a while Addrick sat in silence, his eyes closed. His jaw tightened as a single tear rolled along his cheek. Though their time together had been short, she couldn't remember a time when he looked in such anguish. Gone was the arrogance that seemed to radiate around him.

"Me family . . . It's me fault they're dead." He opened his eyes and wiped the tears from his cheek. "I wasn't always an arse. In fact, I was the exact opposite. People actually liked me for me, not because of what blood burns through me. Back then, there were more of us. Me parents for starters and we didn't know Rodyn was evil. It was eighteen years ago now I think, so I was six and me baby sister was three. She'd be yer age now."

Kira placed a hand on Addrick's, expecting him to shrink away. He didn't. His hand turned to join with hers as he talked.

"Guardians had been vanishing for years but nobody knew why. There was no reason to fear Rodyn, or anyone. Magic remained hidden and Wilders went about their trades in peace," Addrick said. "Me family had gone to the castle in Morag, as we had each spring, to trade the furs we'd gathered in the winter." His gaze was no longer in the wagon, it was somewhere distant. "I loved the big city, most of the time me parents wouldn't let me go, but they made an exception this one time. They thought I was old enough to participate in the trades.

"A shopkeeper was being difficult. The words he used weren't words a child should hear and me parents sent me outside with me sister. I was to over her and keep her safe."

Kira closed her eyes as he spoke about his sister.

"Aquamarine eyes, rosy cheeks dented with dimples, and despite the crooked teeth coming in, she was beautiful to me in every way. Alyssa was me world and aside from me ma, she was the only woman I'd ever loved." Tears dripped along his cheeks as he turned away from Kira. The hammock shifted with his weight as he stood up. "We'd taken a wagon filled with food for the journey, enough to keep us from having to join with another tribe or enter a village."

Addrick stopped talking long enough to pull bread from a barrel. He tossed half to Kira. His fingers dragged against the leather sheath hiding Kira's sword hanging from a peg.

"What happened at the castle?" Kira asked.

"There were so many things to see in the city. I grabbed me sister's hand and lead her through the bustling crowds. The spring trades made the castles almost as busy as the Coming of Age dance."

"Ry used to go every year with his dad and brothers. I was jealous. Emma never let me go for the big trade days. She'd entrust Ry's dad with our goods and stay as far away from the trade days as she could."

"Aye, she was right to. The castle was no place for a child at that time. Easy to get lost." Addrick bit into his bread. He sat on one of the barrels, watching Kira. "Eat or I'll shove that bread in yer mouth."

Kira rolled her eyes but followed his orders.

"Me duty was to protect me baby sister. I had to hold her hand, that's all I had to do. But I was a boy meself. Wilders may be given responsibilities faster than human children, but we certainly don't mature faster. I was a boy and we came across a man selling wooden toys. Human toys fascinated me, the way they use no magic to work, and that alone was magic in me eyes. I let go of me sister's hand for a moment. One moment is all it took for my world to end."

"She got lost?"

"Aye. I looked and looked. Alyssa was there and then, she was gone as if she never existed. Not even me magic could locate her. Ma and da sent me back to New Calandria with a tribe while they stayed to look for her. I received word later they'd been killed. It was their death that alerted us to Rodyn's ways. He slit their throats when they went to the castle to seek an audience with the king. Wilders who worked within the walls said they never made it to the king's chambers. Rodyn claimed to have found me sister and . . ."

Kira slid off the hammock and joined Addrick. He jumped when she wrapped her arms around his waist. Addrick's muscles clench before his arms joined her hug. His fingers twirled around her long red hair. The ringlets from the Coming of Age dance had long since fallen to straight strands and tangled knots. Her head turned so her cheek pressed against his chest. Sobs shook his body as he angled his head to nuzzle her neck. Kira fought back the urge to chuckle at the apparent purr rumbling in his throat. It was no time for laughter or a joke prodding at his feline behavior.

Addrick had a heart, and it was broken.