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“So you’d have me believe. You expect me to trust you, Morgan. You act as if it is your due when the truth is, I willnevertrust you, Sister. And you know very well why that is.” He looked at me from behind unveiled eyes full of glacial anger.
I stared at him. “I do not.”
“You have always hated me. You have always been jealous of me.” His words slowed as he stressed each one. “You have always coveted the throne.”
I swallowed hard, scouring my heart to see if there was any truth in his words.
“I have always tried to protect you. I have always tried to love you. And Kaye. You are my brothers. Everything I have done, I have done for your sake.”
Arthur sneered. “I wish I could believe that. But the truth is, there is nothing to stop you from killing me and taking the throne for yourself. Or for Kaye.”
I gasped. “Nothing besides the fact that I do not want it. Nor does Kaye. He would never do such a thing. Never.” Pure-hearted, gentle Kaye. Was this really what Arthur worried about? “Do you really believe what you’re saying? That I would kill you, Arthur? That Kaye wishes you harm?”
I curled my hands into fists and said the one thing that was truest of all. “All we want is for you to be a good and just king.”
Arthur regarded me quietly. “I know exactly what you’re capable of, Morgan. After all, you’ve done worse, haven’t you?”
There was nothing I could say in reply. Nothing he would believe. He had been there that day. Yet still he threw it back in my face. What I had done to save our lives, to save my brother. It had been for nothing. From the moment it occurred, Arthur and I had been split asunder. Fated to reach this moment. Our bonds of blood cracking apart under the weight of a guilt so devastating it would follow me across the earth.
“And so that is why you will go, Morgan. You will do this thing for me. If you die in the attempt, so be it.” Arthur’s words dripped with spite. “I will mourn for you, though I cannot say I will miss you. At least you will not be here to further warp Kaye’s mind, to turn him against me.”
“I would never do that. Have never done that, Arthur,” I murmured, knowing it was pointless. “Kaye loves you. His heart is true.”
There was so much more I longed to say, to do. I longed to scream in his face. To beat my hands against the wooden chest full of sundered heads, to flail at Arthur’s cruelty, his misplaced fears. I knew it would do no good.
He was becoming exactly the kind of king I had always feared he would be. A mirror-image of our father.
Arthur ignored me. “You asked about the men who will accompany you. Whitehorn and Draven. I take it you know who they are.”
“I know Draven isn’t who he says he is, if that’s what you mean,” I said directly. “And I assume you know that as well. If you wanted me dead, Brother, you might as well just do it yourself.”
Arthur’s lips thinned. “Too easy, Morgan. Though it is refreshing to be able to speak so openly in this way to you at long last.” He shook his head. “No, I don’t wish you dead. I may not trust you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still be useful. Like it or not, I need you for now. With that in mind, the men I’ve assigned to go along with you may be dangerous but they will protect you with their lives.”
“Just as Draven protected the royal family of Rheged? He killed children.” I doubted this would shock my brother. If anything, it had probably endeared the guard captain to him even more.
“He did what had to be done. That’s why I like him, Morgan.” A wicked grin crossed his face. “I’m sorry you don’t share my high opinion of Draven.”
I realized something. “Draven worked for Nerov, the king of Rheged.”
“Sir Ector has brought you up to speed I see.”
I ignored him, praying he simply saw Sir Ector as a simple, stupid tool and not an actual problem to be dealt with. Yes, Sir Ector cared for me. But if it came down to choosing between loyalty to the throne and loyalty to me? I truly did not know what the result would be.
“Yet you claimed Rheged was preparing to invade Pendrath,” I said. “Why would the king of Rheged permit his best assassin to come and work for you?”
Arthur shrugged carelessly. “Perhaps Draven didn’t ask permission. Perhaps he left Rheged of his own volition.”
That was possible, I supposed. But it seemed unlikely.
Yet the other possibility was even more disturbing.
That Nerov let Draven come to Arthur willingly. That Rheged was not a threat at all. That all of Arthur’s previous claims had been a lie.
And if so, what was the truth? What was Arthur preparing for?
I suddenly wondered what else Arthur had lied about the last time we spoke.
“The last time we talked, you said I would have a choice when I returned. The temple or marriage to Florian Emrys.” The name rolled slowly and sickeningly off my tongue. “Was that the truth?”
