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He sneered yet again, and they motioned me ahead of them, falling in close behind, pushing me along and generally acting like a couple of bullies. I should know—I’d been bullying people on Crux’s behalf for years.
When we entered the throne room, Xyren was as stone faced as I’d ever seen him. I had always known that he wished me dead. Since my earliest memories of him, I’d known. But in that moment, I was grateful that he did not bear the Mark of the Storm, which would have allowed him to strike me with electricity from across the room. I was sure he would have.
Vipha and the other council members stood on a dais together, staring down at me as though I were already renounced.
One of the guards tried to sweep my legs out from under me, some pitiful combination of a power play and an attempt to gain Xyren’s favor. I simply hopped the attempt, then immediately went to one knee, as though it were a formal audience with my king, and not what it appeared to be—Xyren finally doing what he wished and ordering my death.
But then, as Xyren started droning on about how Crux was a traitor to our people, something caught my attention and held it. It was my mother’s gaze boring into me, and for a change not as though she wished me dead, like her husband, but as though she wished she had the Mark of Sight, and the ability to read my thoughts. As though she thought she might find something interesting in them.
The noise of people filled the chamber behind me after a moment—it had to be the humans, with all the movement and whispering. No warrior would ever be so disrespectful of Xyren, except perhaps myself.
Well, and apparently Kaelum, as a moment later his voice rang out, demanding an explanation from his father. My chest puffed in pride, just a little. My brother might have no love for me, but he would not allow even the king to act inappropriately.
Then Xyren accused me of harming the humans, and for a moment, I was speechless. He was not entirely wrong. I had done little to help them when Crux had imprisoned them, treated them like chattel. But he spoke as though I had personally tried to injure them. Not that Xyren would listen to me if I called the accusation untrue, so I knelt, waiting, in silence, as Kaelum asked for clarification.
Vipha glared down at me from his raised position, eyes narrowed in hate, and spat, “He is his father’s creature, entirely. And since Crux has fled, he must answer for those crimes.”
I had to work not to laugh in his face, at his pretense of strength and power. At his pretend hatred for my father, perhaps the only creature on all Thorzan he respected. It seemed not even that could survive the truth.
But then it penetrated.Fled.
Crux had fled?
It hadn’t even occurred to me to respond to the jackass when a deep voice, more resonant than even the king’s, filled the room. “No.”
Kenosi.
Having been on the wrong end of it, I would have recognized his unimpressed tone anywhere. I didn’t turn to look at him, but it wasn’t hard to imagine his black eyes flashing in irritation as he went on. “A man must pay for his own crimes. Only the weak would punish one man for the crimes of another.”
It was good. It sounded like something a warrior would say.
Xyren scowled like a child who’d had his favorite toy taken away, and he leaned forward in his throne, waving at me and making a face as though I hadn’t bathed in years. “Are you saying this creature harmed none of you?”
“He did not harm me,” Kenosi answered immediately, then after a moment’s silence, he added, “This man owes us nothing.”
I had only ever seen Xyren so angry with me before, which I supposed was no surprise. He wanted me dead, and Kenosi was making that difficult for him.
But that was when something incredible happened.
My mother reached forward and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing tight, and all the tension went out of him. I’d seen her calm him before—it was something mates did for each other. But I’d never seen her do it on my account.
Even more strange was what came out of his mouth next. He leaned back in his throne and sighed out an annoyed sounding, “You are still guilty of not stopping your father, Vorian the Bastard. And you allowed him to escape. You will find him and bring him back to face justice, or you areno one.”
A gasp rippled through the room, but I didn’t echo it. A tingle spread from the base of my neck, a strange hope filling me. I had a chance.
Bring him back to face justice.
It was as though he was handing me everything I had ever wanted, and calling it bad. I was to bring Crux to face justice, and doing so meant I would not be renounced.
I could be... free.
I met my mother’s eye and she returned my gaze steadily, then gave the tiniest of nods.
This was her doing.
She had heard what I said to Vipha, and she was giving me a chance to prove myself. I gave them a nod and turned to leave. All I had to do was find Crux and bring him back, and I would be free.
On my way out, Kenosi stopped me, grasping my shoulder tight and leaning in. “You can do this. I have faith, and so does Beau. Be the warrior you wish to be.”
