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“I see.” She nodded a moment later. “How crude. I suggest that you two clean up. We wouldn’t want to get blood on the floors.” Inga glared at her eldest son and the blood dripping off his angular face.
Before anyone could utter another word, the princes stormed toward the doors, neither bothering to look at the other. The moment they left the room, Queen Inga turned to me.
“Apologies for my sons’ behavior. What Rhistel said to you was uncalled for, and Vale must learn to harness his temper. If you wish to take your breakfast in your chambers, I would understand.”
I looked about, searching for Roar, and found him at the far side of the room. His jaw tightened as he balled his fists at his sides. Aside from him, many others watched and whispered. Bleeding skies, I didn’t want to endure the gossip—I wasn’t ready to.
“I think I’d like that.” I curtsied.
Queen Inga inclined her head, and I left. I expected Roar to join me, to demand an explanation, but instead, Princess Saga appeared at my side. “Walk with me.”
“What of Warden Roar?” I gazed at him over my shoulder.
“I wish for your company.” The princess then raised her voice. “The warden can meet you in your chambers when we’re done.”
Fae hearing left me no doubt that Roar had heard her, and as Saga outranked him, he would not argue. Not here, anyway. His household, meaning me, had already caused enough of a scene. So, Saga and I left the breakfast hall, and she walked me down the corridor. As we distanced ourselves from the other fae, the blood drops on the patterned ground did not go unnoticed. Prince Rhistel had gone this way.
“I overheard what Rhistel said from where I stood. I apologize for both of my brothers,” Saga said after a moment.
“That’s not something you should have to do.”
“Yes, well, you’ll probably get an apology from Vale later for making a scene, but don’t count on one from Rhistel. He is far too proud, so consider mine as a replacement for his.” She frowned. “Thankfully, Lord Riis was nearby to stop them before it got too ugly.”
“I’m surprised he did.” Lord Riis might be a lord, one of the Sacred Eight even, but the princes outranked him.
“He and mother grew up together in the midlands, and so he’s always been close to our family,” Saga explained. “We see him as an uncle and growing up he even insisted that we called him by his given name. Not during official functions of course, but when he’d stop by the palace and such.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, this is not the first time he’s stopped one of their fights, though this is the most public one.”
I recalled from my lessons that House Riis was the newest great house of the Sacred Eight, raised to replace House Aaberg when they ascended to royals. Not that the raising of a new house was completely necessary. Clemencia had taught me that along with House Falk, the previous royal family, there had been another family exterminated by the White Bear’s Rebellion. House Skau, birth family of Queen Revna, had been completely obliterated. But House Skau had never been replaced and as a result nine sacred houses became eight.
But Lord Riis had been raised and he was the only fae to have been given the honor. He must have done something very noble in the eyes of King Magnus to be so elevated. That was a question to mull over another day.
“Do your brothers fight often?”
A sigh gusted out of the princess. “My brothers had a falling out eight turns ago. Actually, it was soon after Vale quarreled fiercely with your fiancé. Their brotherly relationship has never recovered, and any little thing can set one or the other off. Vale, more so. He has a hotter temper that Rhistel loves to instigate.”
I didn’t care for Rhistel, but the idea that they often fought made me sad. They were brothers, twins. Surely, they should enjoy a strong bond throughout their lives?
“What happened between them?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Her lips pressed together. “Mother knows, but she won’t tell anyone. Even my father.”
“They confided in only her?”
Saga stopped; her ice-blue eyes that so resembled her father’s had gone wide. “Oh, you sweet thing.”
I rolled my shoulders back, annoyed at being spoken to like a child. “There’s no need for that.”
Saga shook her head. “No, I mean that it really is sweet. My mother is infamous for her powers. She probably finds you quite charming for not knowing.”
“How would she know that I’m ignorant?”
She let out an unamused laugh. “Mother has mind magic. She’s one of the strongest fae with such a power in all of Isila. If she wishes to know something about someone, all she needs to do is get close to them. Touch them, preferably. Then she can read all their secrets.”
I gaped as that odd sensation of my head constricting came rushing back. “When she uses it, does it feel like your skull is being squeezed?”
“That’s usually when she’s not touching you and does not know you. The more familiar she is with you, the easier she can slip into your mind.” Saga rolled her eyes. “Try keeping secrets from a mother like that. It’s impossible, even with the elixir the White Tower developed. I take it religiously, and even so, Mother can slip into my mind if she truly wishes. As you saw with my brothers, if she’s angry, she isn’t always graceful about entering. If she forces her way in, it can hurt.”
I had so many questions but most of them fell away at one fact: The queen’s power was sort of like a vampire’s compulsion. Vampires could take information from people’s heads and make a person do something. My skin prickled with unease. Could the queen do the latter?
