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I didn’t even realize the servant bringing me my food. A middle-aged woman dropped a bowl of honeyed porridge with berries before me and took off before I could thank her. I grabbed a spoon and started to eat.
“What are you smiling about?”
The hostile tone surprised me. It had been a while since I’d had open animosity with anyone inside the palace. And until I looked up to see him standing on the other side of my table, I had no idea why anyone would address me with that tone.
Then, I saw him.
The feeling of mutual hatred quickly came back.
It was Hogan, dressed in a soldier’s clothes. He had a beard now, one that I had to admit looked proper on his face. Despite my wish to the contrary, he did not look like a child who stole his father’s uniform. It fitted him well.
But the angry look in his eyes was still one that belonged to a boy. A boy who had been scorned and beaten by another.
Me.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said, smirking this time. “I just came to check on the boys. I wanted to make sure you are behaving.”
Was he being friendly? I could not tell. His demeanor had changed.
“You joined the army?” I asked.
“I did,” he replied.
I did not know what else to say. Hogan wasn’t my friend. There had been no instances where one of us approached the other in anything resembling a peaceful manner. It did not make sense that he was being friendly now, considering the last time we had interacted had been rather hostile.
“And I hear you got into the divination guild,” Hogan continued.
“I did,” I replied.
“Figures,” he said.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
It was odd. I was feeling calmer now that Hogan’s tone had shifted back to what I was used to. Conversing amicably with him was confusing. This, I knew.
“The queen’s lapdog,” he said, lowering his voice. “Given positions he does not deserve...”
I chuckled only because I knew it would annoy him.
“Well, if the system is corrupt, it would explain why you were recruited to be a soldier,” I said, feeling angry but trying to contain it. The accusation that I was the queen’s lapdog had never hurt this deeply before. “The army should be careful who they recruit. Some seem to derive pleasure from causing harm just for the thrill of it.”
“So?” he asked, putting his hand on the table and leaning toward me with a smirk settling on his face. “Are you jealous?”
“Jealous?” I asked incredulously, anger made my fingers clench as I held onto the spoon in my hand. “Because you get to kill innocents?”
Hogan’s expression shifted abruptly.
“Innocents?” he asked, meeting my gaze straight on as though he hoped to catch something. “We protect the realm against the Unseelie.”
“I meant...” I mumbled.
What could I have meant? Something that a new recruit at the queen’s army might approve... What could that be? My mind was blank. Hogan was staring at me, expecting. He leaned against the table, waiting.
“I meant you wouldn’t care if you were killing innocents,” I said.
“No, you didn’t,” Hogan replied quickly. Before I could react, he grabbed me by the shirt, forcibly pulling me away from the table and making me stand up. The divination students eating around us all stopped eating and started to watch our interaction.
