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Rainn gestured to the water. “I’d say you’re more than capable. Lifting the lake to your will like Belisama himself. I didn’t know if you would let him live.”
“He blocked my blow,” I growled. “If I had a knife, he would have blocked that too.”
“Cormac Illfinn has fought on the front line.” Rainn opened his arms, pulling me against his chest. He brushed his hand over the back of my head. “That male held a trident instead of a rattle. You cannot compare yourself to him.”
I closed my eyes, but a tear escaped and rolled down my cheek. I buried my head against Rainn’s shoulder to hide my face.
“How can you be so calm?” My voice was muffled. “He almost took me away from you.”
“I am anything but calm.” Rainn took a deep breath. “But Cormac is fighting his own battles. Know this, if he succeeded in taking your life, there isn’t a rock he could hide under that would allow him to escape my wrath, Princess.”
I laughed; the sound was watery and weak. “He thought I’d died.”
“I’d say he was very surprised when he saw you alive.” Rainn smiled against my hair.
“I want him to pay,” I whispered.
“Me too, Princess. Me too.”
“Sometimes I think it’s all a trick. I’ll wake up, you and Tor will realize we’re enemies, and I’ll be left alone.” I admitted, unable to stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth.
Rainn whispered my name, but a weight fell on my shoulders before he could say another word. His coat manifested from the ether. As if to reassure me.
I pulled away from his embrace, gripping the fur and pulling it over my shoulders.
“I suppose I’ve earned it. For the frosted sands.” Rainn kept his emotion tightly wrapped; his voice was flat.
I shook my head. “Do you remember at the dinner table that night, surrounded by the dead? You helped me. You served me food. You unbound my wrists.” I pointed out. “You and Tor have repeatedly shown that I can trust you. I just feel so out of sorts. I expected everything to make sense after King Irvine turned to foam, but nothing does.”
Shay and Tor finished arguing under their breath and approached. The beads at the end of Shay’s braids rattled with annoyance.
“I should have informed you that Cormac was coming.” Shay crossed his arms over his chest. “Though I’d hoped there would be no bloodshed in honor of the celebration.” He deliberately avoided my gaze.
“Shay—” I needed to tell him what I had overheard, but he held up a hand to interrupt.
“I have to get to the engagement feast. You’re all invited, of course.” Shay continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Try not to get into any more fights in my absence.”
Rainn left with Shay while Tor accompanied me back to our tent so I could change out of my wet clothes.
He didn’t ask why I’d gone into the water or where I’d disappeared after my fight with Cormac. However, I sensed his curiosity like a burning brand against my skin.
I didn’t know how to speak about what I had heard without seeming like a jealous harridan.
The upcoming wedding had felt wrong, even before I’d met the bride. Perhaps it had been Shay’s previous assertions that he did not want to marry.
Was he being coerced to wed?
Maybe I’d held a deep-seated hope that he would be one of my mates, just as Tor and Rainn were. That my mother's last words had meant something instead of the ramblings of a dying woman.
Each of the Princelings was incredibly different, though not just in looks. Each one was more multifaceted than I had expected.
Rainn was the most jovial and compassionate yet carried the most frightening anger I had ever seen when threatened.
Tor appeared emotionless until I learned to read his beautiful face's microexpressions. The twitch of his lips and the arch of his brow. Tor had a sense of humor I hadn’t expected.
Shay was a natural leader. Paternal and caring, though obtuse and stubborn. Shay’s emotions were easy to see, with his color-changing eyes and the way his braids reacted to his mood—but I sensed there were many things he didn’t share. He felt the weight of his duties too heavily to think of much else.
I didn’t even want to think about Cormac. The arrogant son of a sea snake. The man who made my blood boil and my teeth ache with the need to tear into his neck.
