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“Eldon has your back just fine.”
“It should have been you, not Noé, to make the trip south, and you know it.”
“Noé will out-grow his self-righteousness eventually. He means well.”
Luka scoffs.“Means welldoesn’t fix this bind he’s placed me in, does it?”
Gray’s regard finally lands on me though his words are still for Luka. “I heard all the details of the display you put on in the Great Hall and I’ve seen the aftermath first hand. Seems your cock has resolved your bind just fine.”
Luka kicks Nightshade ahead, forcing Gray back. “Watch your mouth. A cooper is not worth half as much as a warrior.”
A woman storms out of the house, one who is not Zola, but one who’s even angrier. “Gray?!” she calls. “They’ve broken the water jug. Aren’t you going to do something?”
“Do not fear, my love,” he returns. “The deve will replace anything his men destroy.”
Before more can be said, a loud argument between men erupts from within the house. With a muttered curse, Gray heads that way as Noé strides out.
“My deve,” Noé says, verging on gloating as he theatrically opens his palm to reveal four gold coins stamped with my cousin’s likeness. “We found them in the brothers’ room. They didn’t even bother to hide them.”
Zola bursts from the house. “The coins prove nothing!”
Luka glares. Noé continues to smile. Gray’s hands land on his hips and his head drops with resignation to study the ground.
“What?” the woman who I assume is Gray’s wife asks shrilly as the rest of the warriors file out of the house. “What of the coins?” The last two men half-drag a still black-and-blue Cayson between them.
“Cayson Cyrun,” Luka says, his loud voice filling the clearing. “You are charged with breaking your oath to me, the Range, and the Mountain Lion Realm. You will meet me in combat on the new moon.”
“Oath breaking?” Zola screeches at the same time that Cayson protests with, “I didn’t!”
“Those coins say otherwise,” Luka says and I can tell he’s trying to keep a lid on his temper. “You accepted them to carry out the will of another man. That is treason. Until the new moon, you are stripped of your honor and you will remain chained to the hearth in the Great Hall on display for all to judge you, along with the coins.”
Zola is fit to be tied. “You thrice damned fool! You’re not half the man your father was.”
“Enough, mother!” Gray booms.
“And you?!” she spits. “You’re a weakling. As firstborn, you should have challenged this pathetic excuse for a deve long ago.”
“No, as firstborn, I should have kept my brothers in line. Now this family is in disgrace.”
Chapter 12
Luka
“Noé,” I say over Zola’s continued uproar, “take Cayson and the coins back to the stronghold.”
“Certainly.” His haughty tone repulses me. He may take pleasure in this, but I don’t. In no way does this twist of events benefit the realm. Two of my sixty-eight elite warriors have been proven traitors.
Finally, I settle my gaze on my princess. She looks regal, sitting atop her mare with natural ease, dressed like a true Northerner in fur-trimmed leather. “Come, little raven. We ride north for the lake.”
Not doubting that she’ll follow, I urge Nightshade into a trot along the Cyrun’s property line. It takes a solid few minutes to cross over to the road that snakes through the trees, but once we can ride two abreast, I notice that Glory is fighting to be given her head.
I can’t repress a smile. “If you stay on the path,” I gesture ahead, “it should be clear to tire her out.”
“Yes?” she asks, appearing hopeful.
“Yes. I won’t be far behind.”
“Ha!” she yells, not needing to be told twice.
