The Fateful Heart

James stiffened at the mention of his old name, and it made his skin crawl.

So, Evaline was done talking about herself then. He didn't look in her direction.

He had no idea what kinds of rumors were spread after his posters went up. He never stuck around long enough to listen, and frankly, he wasn't interested in what people thought he was. It was probably wrong, anyway. He knew no one knew the truth. Not the real truth. That would never get publicized.

"Sounds like quite the predicament," he said dryly.

"For the record," Evaline said slowly, deciding to be a little more gentle this time, "nothing he said changed how I see you."

She paused again, wondering if she had been too harsh with no transition into this subject at all. Maybe a thinly-veiled attempt of humor would lighten the situation, although her heart wasn't in it. She was emotionally exhausted at this point.

"Except for when he mentioned that you tried to woo a princess. If that's true, I'd probably start seeing you in nicer clothes."

James let out a deep sigh and his head dropped forward as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

People really came up with anything, didn't they?

"Well, that's not true," he said lowly. "So you'll just have to use your imagination."

Evaline quietly laughed, although it was barely perceptible since it was a short huff of air out of her nose.

The last time they had "opened their heart" per the note's demands was during the truth and lie game, but it didn't seem sincere in the fact that they only revealed things because of the game's rules. This felt different. She couldn't remember the last time they freely talked about themselves like this, if at all.

It also felt different because she didn't feel like they were revealing things because of a note. This felt natural.

Somehow, she confessed something she didn't think she'd ever say out loud. Would James do the same?

Figuring she'd have to fish for the truth, she thought about what else to ask him.

"It was rumored because people thought you wanted to be a king." She paused. "But that's not true either, is it?"

James took in a sharp breath and huffed through his nose, looking back out into the field.

“People make up all kinds of things to fill in the blanks,” James muttered. “Apparently.”

He rubbed his nose again in mild frustration.

“Of course they’d say that. You put ‘treason’ on posters and it’s probably the first conclusion people jump to.”

Evaline pursed her lips. She thought James would start getting defensive, but he seemed almost annoyed. Maybe this wouldn't be as difficult as she thought.

"You've already told me why you were wanted," she said, furrowing her brows. "Preventing the king's plan of magical child soldiers and all."

She paused, looking back at the moon before returning her gaze back to his shadow.

He told her what he did, but he didn't disclose how he did it.

"Did you try to kill the king to do that?" she asked bluntly.

He felt that question coming, and still, it felt different, hearing it from Evaline.

He expected to hear it from cruious, taunting bounty hunters. He expected to hear it from those offended, and loyal to the crown. But Evaline was just trying to piece things together from what some small town sheriff told her.

It wasn’t really fair.

She heard all of this information about him - even if it was false - second hand. He didn’t have anyone who would talk to him about Evaline besides herself. It was such a small thing, but he felt stupidly vulnerable. He worried what other ideas has been planted in her head.

After a too-long pause, he finally answered.

“No.” And another pause.

“I never wanted to kill the king.”

But he probably should’ve.

Evaline hummed this over. James seemed to hesitate to answer, but she didn't detect resistance against her questions. She wondered how far she could take this before he'd want to shut down. Maybe she should be less blunt.

"What was the king like?" she asked.

James turned to look at Evaline’s shadowed face in the darkness for a moment, and he had to shake off a feeling creeping up his skin. Evaline wasn’t even from Nye. Evaline didn’t know. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t know.

And it shouldn’t have felt like such a difficult question to answer.

“He was... a soft-spoken man, when I knew him.”

But that didn’t feel quite right to say.

“But he played a very careful game of chess with the people he knew, like we were pieces on the board. I thought I knew him, but I didn’t. I thought he was benevolent. Harmless. Even noble.”

He stopped, and turned away again, even though it didn’t really matter, with the shadows of the night shrouding them.

“And for a while, I thought he was kind.”

Evaline listened, this time being the patient one. She didn't know of the past people in James's life, and from his words, it sounded like this king betrayed him.

From what she already knew, she figured the betrayal occurred at the end, when he stopped the king's plans and became a wanted man. But she didn't really know.

"Were you close to him?" she asked, trying to sound gentle.

James focused on a star in the distance.

“For a brief time. Yes.”

Evaline paused, trying to figure out how to word the question in her head.

"So. You were a palace guard after military school," she said, not bothering to ask if this was true. "Did you know the king before being a guard?"

At this point, James couldn’t remember if he’d told her outright that he’d become a palace guard right after school, but if he didn’t, it probably wasn’t hard to piece together. She had one thing right, but that didn’t mean he liked it.

He scoffed at her question though.

“Hardly. The king is ancient.”

"Hmm," she quietly mused out loud, sifting through her thoughts again.

She paused for a while before speaking up again, recalling their conversation just last night before she went into the town.

"The sheriff said you climbed the ranks 'deceptively' fast," she said, emphasizing the word deceptive in a way to make it clear that she was quoting the sheriff. "Were you still trying to prove yourself?"

James pressed his lips into a thin line, building up tension in his face and then releasing it with a sigh.

“Yes.”