Pend scrubbed his hand across his face. “While you’re both endlessly pains in my ass, you’re also both uniquely gifted. Caldren’s raised an army of scoundrels, with nothing but a bit of booze and a promise of glory. I hope one day he’ll decide to use those powers for good.”
I wondered if that was the reason he left Caldren alive.
“He could be a powerful ally for you, Jaik,” Pend went on. “He could help keep the other shifters in line and under the dragons’ leadership.”
“Practical reasons won’t undo a lifetime of hatred, Father,” Caldren said.
“I haven’t hated you for a lifetime,” Jaik said evenly. “But this should be a private conversation.”
“Why?” Pend demanded. “It impacts your friends just as much as it does you. You’ve forced them to choose sides.”
Talisyn nodded, and Arren elbowed him in the side.
Caldren leaned back at the table, crossing his arms over his chest. “To be fair, Father, you disowned me spectacularly. Cast me out penniless. It’s hardly unreasonable for your remaining son to follow your lead.”
Pend hesitated. “When we reached your first shift, Caldren, I dealt with my disappointment… poorly.”
I shifted in my seat, my knee accidentally brushing Jaik’s, but his gaze remained focused on his father intensely. I never saw Jaik betray much emotion, but his hands squeezed together in his lap, and I wasn’t sure if he was resisting the temptation to throttle someone or if he was anxious.
“I’m sorry,” Pend admitted. “I wish I’d dealt with you differently, Caldren. And I wish I hadn’t goaded you so badly to compete when you were boys. I’d make different choices raising another child.”
Pend’s face was dispassionate as ever, even as he apologized, but there was something about his tone that sounded genuine. And yet, something about his words sounded a warning for me, too.
Of course he was thinking about how he’d raise another child. He might replace Jaik and Caldren altogether.
“I’ve been thinking about family.” Pend leaned back in his chair, looking between the two of them with a small frown of annoyance, as if he couldn’t understand why they hadn’t immediately reconciled. I understood that frustration. “I want the two of you to heal things between you.”
“It’s a good thing you’re the king and you can snap your fingers and have exactly what you want,” Talisyn said dryly.
“That tunnel that opened up today,” Lynx said suddenly, and every gaze swiveled to him. Apparently he’d decided the only thing more awkward than this conversation would be discussing the hybrids. “How are we going to keep the hybrids out of the tunnels?”
“We aren’t,” Teris said.
“There have always been concerns about the security of the tunnels,” Jaik said.
“You’ve always wanted us to close them,” Pend conceded. “And we’re always told you no—because having the Scourge travel by tunnel allows us to keep track of their movements instead of having them rampage openly across the land. The existence of the hybrids only makes that more crucial. We can keep track of how many new hybrids are created by the Lord of the Scourge.”
Pend’s gaze found Jaik’s, then Caldren’s. “You thought we were responsible for the hybrids.”
He sounded unsurprised.
“Every time the Scourge invades a village, they multiply,” Joachim reminded us all. “Keeping them under the villages means their population doesn’t continue its exponential growth faster than we can kill the Scourge.”
“That can’t leave this room,” Teris added. “The population can’t know about the tunnels. Imagine how they would react to knowing Scourge course under their feet.”
If the Lord of the Scourge was raising a new army of monsters, did we dare rebel against the Olds? Would we be damning our kingdom to fall to the monsters?
“You’re all dismissed,” Pend said, glancing around the royals. “Joachim and I will stay here overnight. I want to uncover what happened to the castle.”
“Talisyn, walk me up to the rooftop,” Teris said, rising from his seat. He nodded to me. “Good night, Honor.”
I was surprised he acknowledged me at all, and I bobbed my head too late to be anything but awkward. “Good night.”
Teris and Talisyn went out first, and Gorion followed with Arren. I was at the back with Lynx as we left.
“You can’t blame yourself, Pend,” Joachim said quietly to Pend when the room had almost emptied. “Sometimes a son is just a disappointment.”
Lynx exhaled a soft breath of bitter laughter.
“You could deal with your own disappointments better,” Pend pointed out to him, not trying to soften his own harsh delivery. “It seems as if you’re trying to drive Branok and Lynx apart.”
“Lynx will never be worthy of the throne,” Joachim said. “I realized that while they were still young children. He doesn’t have the fire in his blood required for a true royal.”
Lynx’s face had gone tight.
I threaded my arm through his, even though it wasn’t as if my esteem would mean anything to him, and it certainly wouldn’t impress his father. But I smiled up at him.
“Did you know you’re my favorite twin?” I asked him lightly.
His gaze met mine in a long, searching look, then his lips twitched into a smile. “It’s a low bar, Honor.”
But the two of us walked out together.
Chapter
Fifty
Honor
I had to move quickly. Joachim was staying one night, at least, but that gave me limited opportunities to get the key.
Tonight was my one best chance to save Lucien.
I knocked on the door to Damyn’s room. He swung it open and looked uncertain to see me. “Honor. Were you looking for Arren?”
The royals had moved around to give the best rooms to Joachim and Pend. I hadn’t even realized Damyn and Arren were sleeping in the same room now.
“Oh, no,” I said, and Damyn looked uncertain. “I wanted to ask you about a spell. Is Arren here?”
“No.” Damyn stepped back, though he seemed reluctant to let me in his room.
He waited until he had the door closed, then asked, “What is it?”
“You put the spell on me that allows me to change my face to Lucien’s. I need you to teach it to me.”
“Why?”
“There are dozens of enchantments on me, Damyn,” I said calmly, and his face instantly clouded. “I need to be able to control those enchantments. I need to figure out what they all are, and I can’t do that unless I can clear them individually.”
It was true, but not the whole truth, and I felt guilty lying to Damyn.
I had to do it for Lucien’s sake, though.
“All right,” he said. He taught me the spell, then said, “I might be able to help with the others. But not now, when…” He glanced at the door. Not when the Elders were so near.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said with a smile. I’d slip out tonight, free Lucien, and then pretend nothing had happened.
But still, as I left Damyn’s door after lying to him, I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d set terrible things into motion.
When there was a knock on my bedroom door, I opened it to find Cal leaning in the doorway.
I let him in without a word, melting back, and he closed the door softly behind him
“You’re up to some kind of mischief, Honor.”
“Yes. Of course.”
“How can I help you?”