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His features were soft, and he did not have a beard. I assumed it was because he was too young to grow one; even from this distance, I could see an attempt. His thin mouth was pursed as though he were worried about something. He walked into the room and closed the cell door behind him.
Gethin immediately saw the man and leaned against the wall to hide behind the bed frame. Casja’s back was turned already. I sat on Lord Tynan’s bed and faced the other way as the guard walked to the middle of the hall and looked around casually.
Lord Tynan and Lord Petret both seemed cautious as well.
Everyone except for Cari was hidden from the guard’s view. She kept staring at him, still standing up. Then, as though she wanted to prove to everyone how strong her mind magic was, she spoke.
“You won’t be able to convince him,” she said, resuming our conversation as though the guard wasn’t even here.
No one responded to what she said. Like always, she was boasting about her mind magic abilities. And she was right.
The guard paid us no mind. He came into the hall, looked around lazily for a few seconds, and then left, without doing anything.
He kept walking until he left the main hall. Then, he was gone.
I let out a breath of relief.
“We should be more careful,” I said, trying to meet Cari’s gaze but failing. Casja gave me an odd look as though she had no idea what I was talking about. Her back had been turned to the guard the whole time he was in here. Perhaps she hadn’t even noticed him, the guard had moved on quickly enough that she might have taken the abrupt stop in our conversation as a natural pause.
“I agree that killing everyone is a bit drastic,” Cari said, ignoring my warning and returning to the conversation.
It was some consolation that even Cari thought so.
Now, we only had Lord Tynan to deal with. Although I wanted to be more firm against his horrible proposal, I did not want to upset him. If he was as crazy as I assumed, he could do something to cause panic inside. We needed to be cautious, so I needed to deal with him quietly.
If I could just persuade him to leave us alone, perhaps we could come up with a solution to the poison problem.
“Are you sure about this?” Tynan insisted. “I hear they have your sister. You might be condemning her to death. Lugh only needs her until they are married and he’s the legitimate king. Once that’s done, he will kill her. He might not kill her before she bears him a child, but once she does...
“Fiona would rather die,” I said. “I know that. She wouldn’t want me to sacrifice all those lives for her sake.”
“And you?” Tynan asked, taking a step toward me and staying very close once again. I was convinced that he was a madman, we were likely wasting our time by talking to him. “You prefer to hide and run just to keep us all alive? You could be a king today, son. Are you sure? Refusing to do this might mean the end of your family’s reign.”
“I am sure,” I said. “I will not let you suffer so that I can rule. It is crazy to even consider something like this and I refuse to do it.”
I bit my tongue. Calling a madman crazy was not a good idea.
Tynan stared at me carefully, as though trying to see my thoughts. His nostrils flared. I prepared myself to urge Cari to take over his mind in case he started taking off his clothes and screaming loud enough for the soldiers to wake up from her mind control. Then, his demeanor changed suddenly and visibly.
“Good,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure.”
Lord Petret chuckled softly.
“What?” I asked.
“It takes a while for Lord Tynan to trust anyone,” Lord Petret commented. “And he does these tests...”
“Do you blame me?” Lord Tynan turned to Lord Petret and opened his palms as though he was surrendering. His tone was much calmer now, the change so abrupt that I had trouble adjusting to it. “He comes in here, and tells us that he’ll ‘save’ us when he’s trying to recruit us and our families to side with him against Lugh.”
“I thought...” I started, but Lord Tynan interrupted me.
“Of course,” he said. “We are already on your side. That’s why we’re locked up in here, isn’t it? But I don’t know you. I knew your father, he was a good man, but sometimes children can grow up to be very different from their parents. I know I did.”
“Lord Lugh did too,” Lord Petret said.
“Lord Merick killed my father,” I said coldly. “I don’t think he was a good man.”
“His wife was a very good woman though,” Lord Tynan said. “Never knew why she decided to marry Lord Merick.”
