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He shrugged. “Your brother likes her.”
“But is it the other way around?”
“There must have been a reason she came here. Either way, I don’t know. You’ll need to ask Fel.”
Naia took a deep breath and rested her face on her hands. “How am I even going to talk to him?” Was it even him? Would he be able to talk? Would he ever be human again? Too many questions and worries in her mind.
“I don’t have that answer.” He sighed, then put a pouch on the table. When he opened it, the content surprised Naia. Fel’s hands. His old ones. “I picked them up.”
She frowned. “These were not the ones he used.”
“Yes… I mean… The other ones got melted when the ironbringer assassins tried to catch him.” He must have noticed Naia’s puzzled expression, as he added, “It was a few days before this attack, but Fel killed them. He then asked your father to announce he was dead. As a precaution.”
Naia swallowed. Assassins sent to kill her brother? All this going on while she’d been kept away in that house with River, who had to know all this, and yet had never said a word. Not a single word. And now he was invisible, just to make her even angrier.
“Fel is fine,” Arry said, as if sensing her worry.
“Is he? A dragon, you said.” And then maybe it wasn’t Fel at all, but something else. Maybe he was gone. So many dreadful maybes. “You didn’t even see him transform.”
“I don’t think it was a transformation, but something else. He sounded fine. I know him, Irinaia. It was him. And we won the battle.”
“And yet war might be upon us.”
Arry took a deep breath, and didn’t conceal the worry in his eyes. “It might.”
“Thank you. For telling me everything. And getting my brother’s hands. I… need a moment now. Alone. Not that I’m telling you to leave, but—”
“It’s fine.” Arry was already up and heading to the door. “I’ll be around. If you need me.”
Naia managed a smile as she watched the boy that had once been her dream walk out the door, meanwhile making a heroic effort to keep herself from setting the office on fire.
Once the door was closed, she growled, “River.”
He appeared in front of her before she even finished saying his name. All of his playfulness and mischief were gone, replaced by a look that she’d call apologetic, if she thought he was capable of something like that.
“I did not know. I didn’t, Naia.” His voice was soft. “I thought they were sending just a normal army. I thought your father and your brother would defeat them easily. Well, your brother did defeat them. I—”
“They needed fire. Fire, River. Do you understand what it means? My brother could have died and I wasn’t here to help him, when I could have made all the difference. Do you have any idea what it feels like?”
His expression darkened. “No idea? You forget I lost a sister.”
True. He had told her that, and yet she hadn’t stopped to consider what it meant for him. It must have been horrible. “I’m truly sorry for your sister. I…” She looked down. “Don’t know what to say.”
“Some wounds never heal. That’s just how it is.” His voice was clipped, as if he wanted to end the subject. He then sighed and looked at her. “I understand what you’re saying. Your power could have helped your brother and yet you couldn’t do anything because you weren’t here and you think it’s my fault.”
“I don’tthink.Itisyour fault.” She wasn’t as furious as before, but she knew that what he’d done to her was wrong.
River ran a hand over his hair. “You would have been in your house, Naia. You didn’t even come here much, did you?”
She had no idea how he knew that. “I could have come here if I knew about this. You could have warned me. You could have warned my brother.”
“Your brother was more than well prepared for Ironhold. He even knew they were going to have ironbringers. Umbraar had weapons without metal. Ironhold didn’t know that, and didn’t know he was alive. They still haven’t grasped how powerful your brother is, not to mention that they don’t realize the extent of your, uh, King Azir’s power. Ironhold’s pathetic attack would be stopped easily and I wasn’t worried. Except I never knew it would come to this. I had no idea your father wouldn’t be here. I had no idea a dead army could be raised. I never knew dragons, like real dragons, still existed. To my knowledge, ‘dragons’ were just a fancy name for magical humans. I didn’t know demons or whatever would show up. I knew none of this.”
“You still could have told me. Could have warned my brother. Could have warned him about the assassins, at least.”
River sighed. “Icamehere. I spoke to Isofel.”
“You did? And didn’t tell me.”
