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I lifted my gaze and handed the note back to Lorian, letting my eyes wander over the bustling camp surrounding us. “If he’d noticed the spy, Zathrian could have simply used him as a messenger to get this back to me. Killing him is a threat. Demos was right.”
Tibris angled his head. “You couldn’t have known that without all the information.”
“And now a man is dead. Can you…check on Demos?”
Just weeks ago, my brothers had loathed each other. Now, Tibris nodded. “It’ll be all right, Pris.” He wandered away, and I met Lorian’s eyes.
I’d gotten one of his people killed. “I’m—”
“You couldn’t have seen this coming. I didn’t see it coming,” he said, rage burning in his eyes. “If I’d judged the situation accordingly, I would have sent someone with offensive magic.” He crumpled the note. “What else did you talk to my brother about, Prisca?”
“He told me about what happened to your aunt and uncle. About the amulet.”
His expression shuttered. “Did you learn everything you needed to know?” His voice was blank, but I didn’t miss the bitterness coating his words.
“I’m sorry, Lorian.” I was sorry for what had been done to him as a child. For the fact that he’d woken up to find his uncle taking his power. And that he’d seen his family slaughtered. I wouldn’t…couldn’t be sorry for the fact that I’d asked.
He just nodded. Then he turned and walked away.
* * *
“You’re angry,” Galon mused, his sword slicing through the air. I met his swing and turned into it, aiming a kick at his gut. He neatly sidestepped. “Too slow. Do you resent Prisca for needing to know exactly who she’s dealing with?”
I bit down on my tongue—and the bitterness that still lingered there.
“Ah,” Galon said, moving brutally fast. “You wish for blind trust, even as you refuse to give the same toanyone.”
His sword sang through the air. I slid back just in time, watching several locks of my hair fall to the ground. Galon sent me one of his rare smiles.
“It’s none of your business.”
“It is my business when you look like you swallowed something foul and Prisca is drifting around this camp like she’s sleepwalking.”
“This is the most you’ve spoken in years. And my personal life is what you choose to waste your words on?”
Galon raised an eyebrow. “Your piss-poor mood tells me everything I need to know.”
“And what would that be?”
“Prisca is asking too many questions. You know she asked me about Crawyth, and she obviously asked your brother about the amulet. You’re displeased that the hybrid heir would choose to make sure you weren’t the one who attacked that city—even if her heart believes you—so she can confidently tell her people that the Bloodthirsty Prince she’s currently allied with wasn’t the one to kill her parents.”
Displeased?I wasn’tdispleased.Galon took my inattention as an opportunity to stomp on my foot and slam his elbow into my face.
“Fuck!” My nose exploded with pain. Broken. Again. It would need to be set.
My vision narrowed, my hand tightening on my sword. Galon merely waited. “You’re fighting sloppy,” he said. “I haven’t caught you with that trick since you’d just seen twenty winters.” He threw down his sword and stepped close. “You wouldneverblindly trust someone with the fate of your people—let alone someone rumored to have killed them in the past. So why would you expect it of her?”
Galon jerked his head to my left, and my gaze met Prisca’s. She was pale—even her lips drained of color as she watched us, her hands clenched on the rail in front of her. My gut twisted. There was nothing I loathed more than seeing her hurt.
Several hybrids and fae were glancing between us. Some of the color returned to Prisca’s face, and she turned, walking away.
Galon leaned close. “You’ve been doing everything you can to prepare her so she can take that throne if she wants it. Punishing her for stepping into that role is unfair.”
“You’re right.”
“I know.” Galon nodded. “Now go do something about it.”
I let out a huff of laughter. Prisca had just been wounded by both me and her brother. I’d walked away, assuming that if I needed time, she likely did too. But she may have assumed I’d abandoned her instead.
