Branok scoffed disbelievingly. “At least own what you want to say. And what did happen to Holum?”
“I killed him,” Arron said.
“Good,” Branok said. “He had no rights to go after Honor. That must’ve been Pend’s request. It would never be mine without your permission, Jaik.”
I was not loving the reminder that Branok would happily have me murdered if only Jaik ever gave the say-so. And here I thought we’d started to become friends.
“Except that Pend can’t,” I said. Magic squeezed my mind and I winced, but I’d just blurted out the words without thinking. All five of them stared at me, with various degrees of curiosity and pity.
“Pend’s promise that he wouldn’t go after you was not a magic binding,” Jaik explained.
“I just don’t think that he would risk ruining your relationship just to prevent the possibility of having a prey grandchild. I thought he was sincere in what he said.”
Talisyn was giving me a look again as if he saw right through me.
“Pend might be less worried than he used to be about his relationship with Jaik, given that he’s gotten Faleen pregnant,” Branok said abruptly.
Everyone turned to look at him. Branok rose from the table. His face was a cold mask. “You all don’t trust me. Which is too bad, because we’re going to need to be a united front. The Olds may move to replace us all.”
Branok stormed off.
“Well this has been a lot of fun,” Arren said. “I don’t really feel great about our chances of keeping Honor alive given that, you know, she is Honor. But it worked out last night.”
Jaik’s frown was deeply-etched. “You don’t go anywhere alone, Honor. You always have one of us or Damyn with you.”
“I wasn’t alone,” I reminded him.
Jaik sighed. “I’m going to go track down Branok. Convince him we actually do trust him.”
“Do we?” Talisyn demanded roughly, sharing a look with Arren.
Lynx got up from the table abruptly too and headed after his twin.
Jaik rubbed his hand across his face. “Make sure Honor gets to Damyn, hm? We need to make an appearance in our classes but Damyn can watch over Honor.”
“I have to work today!” The words burst out of my lips. Gods damn the magic; it wouldn’t even let me let these men discover my secrets through laziness.
“Damyn will take you to Calla,” Jaik said impatiently. “Then he can watch over you as you clean… if you insist. I’m not sure how scrubbing floors suits your pride.”
“Maybe you should try it.”
“I’ll go with her,” Arren said decisively, cutting off whatever Talisyn was about to say.
Tal leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. “Of course. You two seem like you need to talk.”
Arren scoffed. “No.”
Talisyn laughed at that. Arren stood from the table, fast enough that his chair legs screeched over the wood. Apparently all of them were storming around this morning as if oatmeal fueled rage.
“Honor,” Arren growled, holding out his hand as if I needed help rising from the table. But unlike these men, I stood gracefully and quietly.
“Let’s go,” I said with a sigh. I didn’t mind the idea of always having a bodyguard given the knowledge assassins were stalking me. I’d take their safety measures—but they weren’t exactly convenient to my double identity.
Talisyn held his arms out to me, and I leaned forward to hug him. My lips grazed his in a soft, tender kiss.
His gaze sharpened on my neck. He pushed my hair out of the way, studying the mark on my neck.
“What is it?” I asked lightly, putting my hand over the warm spot pulsing on my neck, almost hidden by the collar of my shirt and by my hair. “Never seen a bruise before?”
“That’s not a bruise, Honor,” he said. “It’s glowing.”
I stared at him and his frown deepened, his fingers resting lightly against the mark. “Arren, look at this.”
Arren made his way over, looking surly. “What?”
“I don’t know,” Talisyn said, his voice full of confusion.
Arren glanced over his shoulder, then said, “Did you bite her or did Jaik?”
“Never mind.” Talisyn let my hair fall back into place. “It doesn’t look like anything now.”
But the look the two of us traded was troubled.
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Caldren
I wasn’t wild about the idea of going to see my brother, but it had to be done. For one thing, Honor had asked me to try to make up with him. It seemed like a bizarre thing to attempt when I still planned to see him deposed from the throne. It wasn’t as if my brother would willingly let the monarchy die.
But maybe there was some tiny flicker of hope we could unite for our kingdom. I barely knew him now; maybe even my controlling little brother could give up the monarchy of dragons.
I doubted it, but I had to give him a chance. Maybe I owed him that too after all the ways I’d wronged him when we were younger.
I had a feeling my apologies would mean nothing to him. My brother’s faults made it hard to admit to my own. But I could try for Honor’s sake.
I was willing to face kings and monsters with my sword in my hand. But all that courage seemed like nothing compared to apologizing to someone who despised me.
He was in the training yard when I stopped and leaned on the fence to watch. Talisyn paused when he saw me, disbelief writing itself across his face, then sauntered over, wiping sweat from his brow.
“You have a lot of guts showing up here after last night,” he warned.
“Hm.” I didn’t dignify that with a real answer.
In the distance, Jaik trapped Arren’s sword. Arren promptly kicked him in the chest, and Jaik slammed into the ground, landing in a plume of sand. Jaik rebounded instantly, jumping to his feet and meeting Arren’s sword midway through its swing. He gave Arren an approving nod, even though his chest must have ached from the blow.
He had his usual relaxed, calm disposition that he had with his friends—a sure sign he didn’t know I was within a hundred feet. Then Jaik saw me, and his face instantly hardened, his eyes narrowing.
It was hard to believe sometimes that the two of us had once been close when we weren’t playing a terrible game to win Pend’s approval.
Arren tried to parry with Jaik again, but Jaik rolled under his sword’s blade and came up on his feet, striding toward me.
“What do you want?” Jaik demanded.
I couldn’t exactly say I want to be brothers again. We both dreamed of different futures for this kingdom, and we both had the will to try to bend the world to our dreams. If Jaik and I ever trusted each other, it would just be an opportunity to betray each other again.
“I thought I’d see if you wanted to spar with me,” I said.
He scoffed, and my will to apologize curdled, turning into something tight in my chest.
“I don’t think it usually goes very well for wolves when they fight dragons.” Jaik’s chin lifted arrogantly.
“No, that’s probably true. One wolf versus one dragon would be an uneven match. Although there are more wolves than there are dragons.”
I hadn’t meant to threaten my brother.