“I was hoping you could answer more questions about the Vargothi.” I figured that wouldn’t be suspicious. I was from Moriann, he knew that, and even if I wasn’t asking because of my hunt, I wantedto know. The entire thing was foreign to me. Besides knowing that it happened every century, I was completely clueless on what actually took place.
“Sure,” he shrugged, walking toward the far end of the railing, opposite of where Arrik was still standing. It didn’t slide past me that no one else was over here. He was guiding me away from the crowd.
Whatever, Magnolia.Don’t think about it. You need answers. You can spend a few minutes talking to him even if he gives you the creeps.
“Were you alive for the last tournament?” I started with because there was no way of telling anyone’s age.
“I’ve been alive for the past three.”
My heart skipped a beat. I had no idea how old Hael was or when he competed, but I prayed Cash had seen it and could give me insight. “Who won the last tournament?”
He cocked a grin. “You don’t know?”
“Clearly or I wouldn’t be asking,” I said, pretending to take a sip from my drink, only because Cash was watching me.
“Their leader.”
So Hael. My heart accelerated because finally the conversation organically came up. I’d been waiting for this. I knew it was safe to ask about the Vargothi in general, but I couldn’t be the first person to bring up Hael. I hadn’t heard his name until the triplets, so I had no idea if he was publicly known, and if I was wrong, it would have immediately blown my cover.
“And what did he pick?” I asked. I could feel Arrik’s gaze on us, but I tried to block him out. If he didn’t want me talking to Cash, he should have just answered my questions himself.
“Are you asking if you have a chance with him during the ball?” Cash smirked, pushing a blonde strand of hair off his forehead.
My cheeks heated, but I tried to hide it by looking out at the projection. It was worse knowing Arrik probably heard it too. The idea of him thinking that I wanted to hook up with a drakin turned my stomach.
I had no idea why it bothered me, why I didn’t want him to know…
I could feel Cash still staring at me. I couldn’t get a read on him. Anytime he trained me, he was ruthless, agonizingly taunting me to the point that I hated him, but outside of training he wasn’t completely awful. He never tried touching me, and from what I could tell, he didn’t mock me for what he inferred about my Token. That had to count for something, right?
But there was something off about him despite it, something I didn’t like. I wasn’t sure if it was just from training, from my brain confusing him with Dahes, or if it was something else entirely.
“Call it curiosity,” I shrugged, trying my best to keep my face neutral. I overheard people gossiping about who he slept with, but maybe they were also riders. I wasn’t sure if they had to wear their uniforms all the time or not, and if someone wasn’t wearing their drakin leathers or Wielder’s jumpsuit, I had no way of knowing. It wasn’t like there were any physical characteristics that set us apart. Even commoners looked exactly the same.
“He didn’t get a choice,” Cash said.
That was surprising, and finally some sort of lead. “I thought that was the point of winning? Or one of the points,” I added, remembering Arrik said something about being sanctioned from a burning.
“It’s supposed to be.”
“So he was selected to breed?” I guessed.
“Nope.” Cash chugged the rest of his drink. “Believe it or not, Elion banned him from breeding. He was sterilized.”
That was even more surprising. “Why? If he won, wouldn’t that make him the strongest?” I assumed that was the whole point of the forced breeding, that Elion wanted the Drakin Army to be formidable.
“You would think,” Cash deadpanned. “Honestly, it surprised the hell out of everyone.”
“Did he have too many family lines then?” I asked, remembering Cash told me yesterday that the selection was picked based on skill but also past breeding lineage.
He shrugged. “No idea. Breeding within the drakins is never talked about. Sometimes it’s obvious if a female rider hasn’t been seen inawhile, but King Elion mostly keeps them at MonClem, so it’s not uncommon to not see one for months. Makes it easy to hide a pregnancy.”
“MonClem?”
“It’s the ceremonial housing for riders up on the Drakin Mountains.”
“So the female riders have to stay there all the time?”
Cash gave a half nod. “I don’t know if they are forced to, but most do anyway.”
