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“Your heart, Heartwalker?” The corner of my mouth tilted up.
He frowned. “Erik was my brother when we were small, before my father became a brutal wretch. Some bonds never fade, no matter how others try to kill them. We were told to despise each other, but he killed Harald to save me, I know he did. He protected the Ever despite his critics, those who only saw him as a failure.”
I held my breath when Tait paused. This was, perhaps, the longest I’d ever heard the man speak.
“I did not want you here,” he admitted. “For I saw the way he looked at you, the changes that came damn near immediately. Even when I felt your affection toward him, I didn’t trust you. I thought you would use him, leave him, and eventually send your folk against him.”
Tears blurred my vision. I fought to keep my voice steady. “And now?”
“Now? I will take a thousand blades in your place.” A strange flush heated the ridges of Tait’s high cheekbones. “Because you bringmy brotherpeace. You are the support, the family he always deserved but was never afforded due to a cruel father and cruel uncle. Let usleave it at that, shall we? No thanks, no guilt. I will do it again if need be.”
Without another word, Tait held out his arm for me to take.
I wiped a stray tear and hooked my hand around his elbow, smiling softly. “We’ll leave it at that then, Heartwalker.”
He tilted his head in a mute response.
“But,” I said, voice low, “I still think you’re a terribly surly bastard.”
For the first time since meeting the man, I witnessed a true, unburdened smile on his face.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
THE SONGBIRD
The study windowoverlooked the royal city. Red rooftops, winding cobbled paths, and stone arcades around the marketplace bustled with life now that the Ever Crew had returned. Families were reunited, and life simply went on.
The blood crown rested on the mantle in the study, following us wherever Alistair knew us to be during the day. Violent waves thrashed, shaping the points of the crown. I narrowed my eyes, despising Erik’s father a little more. Thorvald had known there was another boy with his blood, he’d never said a word, never prepared his son or kingdom.
Then again, Thorvald had ordered his tiny child to kill his own mother. Foolish to think the man was capable of any affection.
“I’m assuming these were not done by Bloodsinger’s hand.” My father materialized at my side. He traced the corners of the windows where glossy, painted vines coated the corners of the glass.
“Alistair was—still is—a rather harsh critic. I was determined to paint the whole of the palace to earn a bit of praise from the man.”
Daj let his hand fall away. For a moment, he studied the vines, a furrow to his brow, like he might be trying to decipher a hiddenmeaning beneath the leaves. “You will never know what a relief it is to learn my fears of what you were enduring were not true.”
“Daj, I know we have not had much time to speak, but you must know the attack at the fort, it was not the first time I’d spoken with Erik. It wasn’t exactly random, him taking me. After the war ended and he was captured—”
“You would go to his cell.”
My words stuttered. “Did he tell you?”
“No. I already knew.” My father sat on the windowsill, dark eyes alive with a touch of mischief. “When I went to speak to the boy king after the war, to try to convince him we were not enemies, I noticed a bit of parchment he tried to hide. There were swirls on some of the lettering.”
“Gods, I thought I’d been so clever, slipping a note through the bars. I wanted to introduce myself before I spoke to him for the first time.”
“Your mother and I watched one night and caught you.”
I tilted my head. “Why did you not say anything?”
“Why do you think I urged Bloodsinger to stay?” My father rose and placed his hands on my shoulders. “I knew that young king would break my heart, even then.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It has been my desire to see my children experience a love like I have with your mother. But it does not mean I wanted the day to ever come. I knew my heart would break when another man took yours. I felt that ache when I looked at the boy my daughter had been befriending.”
I blinked, a little stunned. All this time, both my mother and father had known I’d read tales to Erik, that we had an unexpected connection.
