“Not you two. But Annwyl is in there with Talwyn, and I’m guessing that will be quite entertaining.”
The room had become horrifyingly silent, and the three of them froze, fingers moving toward their weapons, waiting for an attack at any time. When they finally looked at the others, the Southlanders were staring at them, mouths agape, eyes wide.
“What is happening?” Kachka asked her sister.
“I do not—” was all Elina got out before the Southlanders moved with such speed that all she, Elina, and Gaius could do was stand there and hope not to get knocked down in the stampede as the others charged for the door.
When all that was left were her sister, Gaius, and Dagmar Reinholdt, Dagmar sighed, pushed back her chair, and stood.
“Come on,” she barked at her dogs, which followed obediently behind her as she left the hall.
Gaius went back to eating his bread. “Well . . . that was interesting.”
Chapter Fourteen
Talan didn’t know how he’d ended up in the stables. The last thing he remembered was going to the local pub with his cousins and meeting up with some of the Riders....
Thankfully, he woke up fully dressed and none of the horses appeared traumatized. So he decided to assume that even drunk, he’d managed not to end up in a situation where he’d become one of the “husbands” of Zoya Kolesova’s—most likely—big-boned daughters.
Talan stood, paused, threw up in some hay, then stumbled out of the stable after patting a horse on his head.
He really shouldn’t try to keep up with his dragon cousins and the Riders. There were few who could outdrink that lot.
Making it past the stable doors? Talan immediately shielded his eyes from the bright light of the two suns and leaned up against the stable wall.
“Are you all right?” sweet Rhi asked, her arm slipping around his waist.
“Too much drink.”
“You must know better by now.”
“Apparently not.” He glanced at her. “What are you doing here?”
“I spent the night at Izzy’s house. You should have come with me.”
He was guessing Rhi was right.
“Come on,” she coaxed. “We’ll get you back to the main house. I’m sure Mum has something to help.”
Talan put his arm around Rhi’s shoulders and did his best not to put too much of his weight on her. Together, they headed toward the house until several of the Cadwaladrs ran past them.
“What’s going on?” Talan asked one of his younger cousins. He wasn’t armed at the moment, and if he needed to get Rhi to safety—
“Your sister and mum are in the training ring together!” his cousin replied before charging off after the others.
Mouth open, Talan and Rhi turned to each other. Then, hangover forgotten, the two ran toward the training ring. They pushed their way past their kin so that they were right up against the fence.
Loaves of crusty, fresh bread were passed around while their kin all silently watched in fascination. None of them doing anything to stop this. Not even his father.
“Are you just going to stand there?” Talan demanded of Fearghus.
“I learned long ago not to get between your mother and her prey.”
“Talwyn isn’t her prey! She’s her daughter! She’s your daughter!”
Fearghus shook his head. “Not when she’s in the training ring, she’s not.”
Disgusted with everyone, Talan started to go over the fence to put a stop to all this, but Briec and Gwenvael grabbed him and yanked him back.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Briec said.
“Daddy!” Rhi quickly chastised.
“Sorry, love, but we have been waiting since that child’s birth to see this moment. Just let it play out.”
“Plus we already have gold on this,” Gwenvael stated. “You can’t stop it now.”
“You’re all horrible!”
“Shhhhh.”
Eyes wide, Talan focused on one of his favorite kin, shocked and disgusted all at the same time. “Auntie Morfyd?”
“Don’t hate me,” she pleaded in her sweet way. “But even you have to admit this has been a long time coming.”
Realizing that unless he wanted to fight all his kin—he didn’t—he’d have to wait this out, Talan turned back to the battle already raging inside the ring.
Talwyn was going after their mother with a shocking amount of power. An unnecessary amount, as far as Talan was concerned. Although she trained every day with two Kyvich witches and many of their fellow Abominations, Talwyn always held her true skill back.
Until now. Until she faced their very human mother.
Annwyl had a round shield that she held up as her daughter repeatedly brought down a sword and axe, hacking away at the wood with such brutality that Talan couldn’t believe that no one—absolutely no one—was stepping in to stop it.
Why? Why wasn’t anyone helping?
Even more frightening, where was his mother’s rage? If she ever needed it before in her life, it was right now, with her full-of-herself daughter!
But his mother seemed cool and calm under that badly damaged shield.
Why? What the hells was happening?