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The king gave Vorian the very slightest nod. It wasn’t much, but as little emotion as the king seemed capable of, I supposed it would have to be enough. Acknowledging Vorian’s victory as it was announced, the crowd cheered.
I couldn’t help but feel as though, if Kaelum had won, they’d have utterly gone wild.
CHAPTER18
KAELUM
Isat, stunned on the dais with my left leg numb and my Lucas balanced on my right. Vorian had torn through the flesh of my thigh, but the wound had burned, only a little blood seeping out.
Beside me, my mother shook, her fingers threaded through mine and gripping with all her strength. Even her breaths in her chest were jumpy.
She feared Vorian, like she had feared Crux. He had hurt her. She was the reason there were laws to protect soft humans now. But they did not protect her from her older pain. Though she was strong enough to contend with it, I wished to take it from her.
She had reason to fear Vorian. We all did, I realized as I watched him stand at the center of the room, his shoulders heaving with the labor of his breath, his skin slick with sweat and so hard.
I had given my best, and it had not been nearly enough. My older half-brother, and the strongest warrior on all of Thorzan.
He’d nearly killed me. I should have been horrified, but a strange sense of pride warmed my chest. My half-brother, a hybrid, had won! Of course, I would have preferred to win myself, or to see Jax stand triumphant. But this... this was good.
“You’re glad he won,” Lucas whispered when he looked up at me, shifting on my lap. I drew my arm around the small of his back and pulled him against my front.
“I am.” That surprised me more than it seemed to surprise him. “This will change things. And Thorzan will have its first child of a hybrid and a human.”
That child would be protected, cherished, and doubted as weak, just as we were. But the Thorzi would see something new. It would challenge us to grow.
Lucas grimaced. “Vorian’s going to be a dad?”
I laughed. “Perhaps not. A warrior like him may choose to donate his gamete and nothing more. I doubt Vorian has any interest in caretaking.”
Like he heard me, Vorian’s eyes narrowed at us. He spun on his heel and stalked from the room, no doubt to inform his father of his victory and claim his prize—to continue his line with one of the newly harvested humans.
But not my own. At the thought alone, I squeezed Lucas closer. If Vorian tried to claim him, he would have to do more than cut my leg and growl.
What usually followed the tournament was a wild celebration, drink and food and wrestling for all warriors. Few finished the night alone, sating their disappointment on each other.
But I had Lucas, and he was wiggling on my lap in a way that did not speak to anything sensual.
“It’s over,” he informed me, like I could not see the people milling around the room, unsure what to do with the victor already gone. It’d be mere minutes until they started their celebrations. “Can wepleasecall you a doctor now?”
So worried for me. It was sweet.
“We will seek out Tyber now, yes, my Lucas. As you are so concerned with the state of my body.” That high color flooded his round cheeks and I grinned, pushing my nose against his smooth skin.
He made a high, frustrated sound, and hopped off my lap. Even annoyed with me, he kept hold of my hand and pulled me to my feet.
“We are going to find Tyber,” I told Mother, drawing her wide-eyed stare from the archway Vorian had stalked through moments before.
Though it took her a moment to collect her thoughts, she let go of my hand, her own fingers drifting to her lips, a furrow to her brow. “Of course. If you need anything—”
“All I need is for you not to worry yourself for me.”
I felt better when she rose and my father’s arm looped around her hips. He pulled her close, leaning into her and muttering softly. From afar, he might seem cold, but I knew he held warmth in his heart for her. He had chosen her, saved her, cared for her, and in his arms, she relaxed—at least a little.
Then, finally, I let Lucas drag me from the dais.
My thigh screamed its protest, whiting out my mind in a flash of pain with every step I took. As I was limping so heavily, his short stride more than matched my own. When I hung back, he caught himself, falling in beside me and balancing me with an arm around my hips.
“Where is Tyber?” he demanded, scowling. For such a little human, he was determined to see matters settled as quickly as possible.
