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Unbelievably, his smile grew even wider, and his eyebrows jumped. “And how much is that?”
“Rei! I’m serious.”
That at least got him to huff and pretend to be somewhat serious. “It was Trin, my half brother.”
That halted Yichen’s feet and tightened his hold on Rei’s arm, forcing the elf to stop and face him as well. “How do you have a half brother? You said your father killed off all your siblings.”
Rei made a face that was kind of like a wince, his sharp nose wrinkling before he tugged Yichen along again. “Bastard half siblings don’t count, because, by law, they can’t ever ascend to the throne. Only the offspring of the king and the queen can do that. Out of that lot, there’s just me. As far as I know, I’ve got about a dozen half siblings running about. Though Trin is the only one I’ve had encounters with. We’re somewhat close in age. Just a century or so separates us. The rest of them try to stay away from both my parents and the Silver Court.”
“Why? Does your mother not know about them?”
A sharp bark of laughter erupted from Rei and he stumbled into Yichen. “How could she not know? Most of them are hers.”
Yichen lifted his free hand and pinched the bridge of his nose while squeezing his eyes shut. He knew better than to ask. When he’d been trapped in the fae realm, he’d had a few conversations with Rei about the royal court and fae culture. Even then, the things he said had hurt his brain. The fae were too different from the world he’d grown up in.
“Monogamy is a human thing. Not a fae thing,” Rei needlessly pointed out.
“Yeah, I caught on to that. It’s a good thing no human has ever fallen for you,” he muttered as he dropped his hand to his side.
“I’m not saying we’re completely incapable of it.” The elf cozied up closer, tipping his head toward Yichen’s. “If I were to find the right person, I could see myself devoting all of my existence to the one who owned me heart and soul. You can’t expect that of two married people who don’t like each other.”
“Rei, I’m going to strangle you if you don’t get to the point.”
“The point is,” the elf said forcefully, “Trin is playing a dangerous game right now. Both my mother and father have killed plenty of the illegitimate spawn over the years for the sport of it. Moving into my father’s line of sight puts Trin in danger, but I think he’s hoping to prove he can be useful to the king by killing me.”
“Since the king places a higher priority on seeing you dead over killing your half brother,” Yichen filled in.
“Yes, but Trin hasn’t thought this through. What happens after he kills me? He’s stuck being a plaything target for King Ash and Queen Belladonna.”
“So, you were trying to convince him to give up the field? One less enemy to worry about, allowing us to remain focused on the king and queen.”
Rei surprised him by giving a little shrug. “I might have also pointed out that I’ve never had a problem with his existence. In fact, his lot in life could see significant improvement if I sat on the Dawn throne.”
Yichen pulled away from him so he could fully face Rei. His heart sped up. It was so tempting to seize the elf by his slender shoulders and shake him while screaming to not go back, never return to that hell.
But he didn’t. Instead, he asked, “Do you think he’d change sides? Would he help us?”
Another shrug, this one even more nonchalant than the last.
He was going to strangle the man. Rei was leaving him with no choice.
“I’d say there’s about a thirty percent chance right now. If my loving father threatens or irritates Trin, I’d say that chance will increase dramatically. There’s nothing I can do to convince him right now. It’s all in the hands of my father and his continued asshole-ish behavior.”
“At least there’s one thing we can count on in this world,” Yichen muttered, but his attention was already turning to the house at the sound of the door opening and closing.
Junjie was walking toward them, a smile teasing the corners of his lips. “We’ll be ready to go soon. I wanted to tell you that Fox called Moon. Apparently, Rafe Varik is attempting to locate Zelda for a meeting. If anyone can fix the blood tie between you, it appears Zelda is the one to do it.”
Yichen glanced at Rei, who had a lopsided grin on his lips. At least he wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand most of what Junjie said.
“Try that again with footnotes,” Yichen instructed. “Who are Fox, Rafe, and Zelda? Are these people the clan trusts?”
Junjie slapped a hand to his face and groaned. “That’s right.” He dropped his hand and took a deep breath. “The Variks are the ruling clan for this region, and they helped us to free you and Rei. Rafe is one of the Varik brothers. The second oldest, I think. Or maybe he’s one of the twins.” Junjie paused and sighed. “Anyway, he apparently knows this ancient and powerful witch named Zelda. They think she can help, but she wanders around, so she can be hard to locate.”
“And this fox? Is he like the huli jing harassing Shixiong?”
Junjie’s hands shot up, and he waved off Yichen’s words. “No! Fox is just his name. He’s a witch, and he’s the mate of Winter Varik. He sort of mated into the clan the same way Moon joined ours through Chen.”
“The important thing is that someone who is a friend of the Zhang clan is trying to locate a witch to help us,” Rei summed up.
