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“She’stwelve,Branok.”
“But she’s not an idiot.”
Lynx sighed under his breath. He wanted to protect her, and I understood that impulse.
But Hanna was like Honor. She needed to be able to protect herself, because gods knew she was going to find trouble.
We were greeted by guards before we even reached the castle. As soon as the gray spires emerged from the falling snow, against the midnight sky, a half dozen guards converged on us. They gripped the hilts of their swords as they bowed. Out here, where our bodies could be buried in the drifts, our titles didn’t buy us any safety.
“Hello,” I said. “We’ve come to speak to Lord Arndt.”
The guards escorted us—ever so politely—into Arndt’s formal sitting room. It was crowded with his hunting conquests: mounted heads stared down at us dolefully, and an enormous white bear stood in one corner, his paws raised in front of him and his mouth open in a roar, forever ineffectual at beating back the hunter. Hanna stared around with open curiosity.
Arndt entered.
“Who is this?” Arndt’s gaze slid between Lynx and me quickly. “A… companion?”
A shiver of revulsion touched my skin, although I just stared at him as if he were stupid. “No, of course not. She’s a child.”
“And his sister,” Hanna said cheerfully. “Well, half-sister. Bastard sister. But he loves me anyway.”
She’d inherited Honor’s gift for glib, quick patter down, that was for sure. I flashed her an approving smile.
“Ah,” Arndt said. “I see. And it’s always a pleasure to see you of course, Lord Branok, Lord Lynx. What brings the three of you here tonight?”
“Caldren is dead,” Lynx said bluntly. “And I understand that I have you to thank for that.”
He sounded more like me than himself. I watched him in amusement. It was always a little insulting to watch my brother play me, but it so obviously made him uncomfortable that it brought me joy too.
“My lord,” Arndt said cautiously. He couldn’t tell us apart; that was why most people avoided using our names.
“I understand that perhaps you went into hiding after… some poor decisions on the part of your companions,” Lynx said blithely. His expression was icy. I wondered if he was pretending to be me on purpose, making it easier for me to stay in the background with Hanna, ready to move to protect her.
Because Lynx took all of Arndt’s attention at the moment. The noble, who was habitually arrogant, looked unnerved. His jaw was obscured by his dark beard, but his chin seemed wobbly, though he tried to stare Lynx down.
“I don’t know—”
“Don’t be tiresome. It’s one thing to try to kill me, but I do hate being lied to.” Lynx flashed him a tight smile, and Arndt’s black beard distinctly trembled. “Besides, with Caldren dead, I might be able to forgive the attack on my life.”
Arndt brightened. “He was a traitor.”
Lynx inclined his head. “He’s been playing king.”
“So you understand.”
“Very well,” Lynx agreed.
Arndt’s shoulders sagged in relief. “But why are you here in the middle of the night?”
“I had a question for you.”
Arndt looked guarded, as well he should. “And what is that, my lord?”
“Who else was involved in sending a chaos god to do your bidding?” Lynx’s voice was ice; it was a stupid thing to summon the god of chaos. It would have been criminally stupid even if we’d wanted Caldren dead.
“As I understand it, they’re all dead, my lord.” Arndt coughed, trying to cover the alarm threaded through his voice, obvious to all of us. He rattled off a list of names.
Hanna wandered from my side to stand in front of the fire. I thought, briefly, about grabbing Arndt and crashing through the floor-to-ceiling windows half covered by the green velvet drapes. People sometimes felt exceptionally talkative when a dragon had carried them up among the clouds.
