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ChapterTwelve
Gennadi
Icouldn’t tell from the expression Sai wore or the way he carried himself if the reasons he had wanted to speak to Jace alone would be good or bad. Jace glanced over his shoulder at the door leading to the back garden as we followed him to the front of the house, which told me he would much rather have finished burying Barthold’s body than speak to his brother.
That look alone was enough to show me just how deep of a disappointment the entire trip to Hedeon had been for Jace. My heart bled for him.
“What do you want to talk to me about?” Jace asked once we were on the front lawn.
I had intended to hang back, but Jace grasped my hand and pulled me into his arms. He held me in front of him, almost like I was a shield to protect him from whatever hurt Sai might cause him.
The gesture was not lost on Sai. He smiled wistfully at me for a moment, then met Jace’s eyes. “I heard all about what happened from Mother,” he said.
I felt Jace tense against my back, even though he said, “It was nothing,” in a casual voice.
Sai glanced to me again for a second before telling Jace, “It wasn’t nothing. I can see that just by looking at you.”
“Even if it was something,” Jace sighed, “I can’t do anything about it. Mother hates wolves. She always has, I suspect, she just never had a reason to say so out loud.”
“Maybe.” Sai rubbed a hand over his eyes as if he had a headache.
“She hates me now too,” Jace went on, tensing even more.
“She doesn’t hate you,” Sai said in a flat voice, as though Jace were being unreasonable. He shifted his weight to one leg and gave Jace the sort of look an older brother would give when his little brother was acting unreasonably.
That actually made Jace relax a little. He huffed a humorless laugh. “Maybe not hate, but something close to that.” He paused, then said, “Come on, Sai. There’s no point in denying it. The little boy she raised and had such high hopes for turned into a man she finds distasteful at best.” His arms tightened a little around me. “She’s not going to change her mind about that.”
“You’re her son,” Sai said. “I can’t imagine she’ll hold a grudge against you for long.”
Jace smirked. “Have you not met our mother?”
Sai grinned sadly and shook his head. “She’s where we all get our stubborn streak from.” He paused to think, then said, “I really can’t see her holding back her love for you forever. I would never do anything like that with my son, no matter how he turns out or who he wants to be. He’s my son, my flesh and blood.”
“Yes, well, time might change you,” Jace said. “You don’t know what the future holds. None of us do.”
There was a different note of emotion in Jace’s voice, something I’d never heard from him before. It was odd enough that I twisted slightly in his arms to peek at him. He wore a serious expression to match his tone. It didn’t worry me exactly, but something was new in him.
“I wish I could stay down here for the rest of the day and spend more time with you,” Sai said, glancing to me as well, “but I have councilors to appease on top of Mother still being upset.”
“Were you able to take care of you…other business?” Jace asked.
Sai laughed miserably and pressed his hands to his temples. “Donnel and Amos were more than willing to help,” he said. “I’ve already spread the word that Hadrian was called back to the Old Realm because of a family emergency, and that he’s taken the man, Barthold Givenchy, with him as a servant. I think I just about have Markus convinced he’s already halfway to Tesladom and the mountain pass now.”
“No one is suspicious?” Jace asked.
“Who knows?” Sai asked with a hopeless exhale. “Even if they are suspicious, I don’t think any of them would challenge me over it at this point. That’s what a king is supposed to do, right? Eliminate his enemies in any way he can?”
“It’s what Gomez would have done,” Jace said in a dangerous voice. It wasn’t a compliment, but it wasn’t quite censure either.
“Yes, well,” Sai sighed, “I’m beginning to see that, as much as I despise the man down to the marrow of my bones, Gomez was extraordinarily clever as a leader.”
“Not clever enough to avoid being murdered,” Jace said, tense all over again.
Sai met and held his eyes for a moment before saying, “He had some leadership qualities, but yes, I will admit, Magnus is a much better king for me to model myself after.” His expression changed in a way that made him look years younger. “You’ll continue to speak highly about me to him, won’t you? I…I can’t help but feel that this entire meeting was a huge embarrassment for me and a failure.”
“You managed to get faires reinstituted,” Jace pointed out. I was surprised that he was being so kind. “And some new trade deals. That’s more than you had before.”
Sai stared flatly at Jace. He even shifted that look to me for a moment, as if asking me if I could believe the tripe his brother was spewing.
