Gaius groaned. He looked between Julius and me, torn between his next course of action. “Micah’s busy at the council, but he should be back soon.”
“I wanted to ask him if he could cancel the meeting with the priests today, since we have the whole let’s-go-to-Gaia thing and it’s in an hour.” Time was precious. It would be nice to have more of it in the morning because the afternoon was cramped with meetings with the education department, a meeting on tax filings with commerce, and then an audience with a couple charitable organizations. Rylan had upped our charitable contributions while increasing taxes, which made the common people unhappy.
Gaius slipped away from me, tearing his warmth off my skin. Brushing a hand through his short hair, he said, “All right then. Best you go look for him. Do you want me to take you?”
Julius was still smiling from the doorway.
I glanced at the chef. “You have someone waiting.”
Gaius groaned again and screwed up his features.
“Why are you learning to cook anyway?” I asked.
Julius grinned. “His Highness wanted to surprise you with a—”
Gaius snapped his attention to Julius. “Let’s go, Julius. We don’t want to waste your special sauce or whatever.”
“It’s already starting to smell burned,” Julius said.
Gaius huffed, pouted, and stalked off. I grinned, despite feeling somewhat dissatisfied, as I watched him leave.
When Gaius disappeared into the kitchen, I sighed and turned, intending to find Micah. Rylan told me Micah had been working on the spell nonstop and that was probably what he was doing right now, even at the Fortitude Council.
I waded down the corridors and made my way toward our exit.
A servant burst in through the doors of our front entrance. Her clothes were covered in red grime and her hair was a huge mess. Some of the fabric of her dress had been torn. I gaped at her, wondering what had happened.
She sprinted to me, almost tripping over herself. I clasped her arms, supporting her before she landed face first to the ground.
“Y-Y-our Majesty.”
I frowned. “What is it, Rothia?”
“The . . . the ingorias.”
“Are fighting again?”
“Yes, but usually the handlers know what to do and stop them on time but they’re really out of control now. You need to be there.”
I rushed out the main building, kicking into a jog to the courtyard so I could quickly solve the issue. There were puddles of blood all over the floor, smeared as an ugly, arcing pattern that sent disgust whirling through me. I drew out my soul beads from my satchel. They were not the ones Bianca had given me. These were my own that I had replenished after coming back from the temple. I strode down the steps to the blood. The ingorias weren’t anywhere in sight.
The main handler, a draerin, stood in front of the kennel. He placed his hands on his hips and shook his head. I quickened into a brisk walk and headed toward him. “What’s happening?” I asked. The draerin had scales around his eyes, and wings spread behind his back. Dirt and blood smeared his features, too.
He sighed and kneaded the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know what to do, Your Majesty. I keep hoping that this is just a phase and that they’ll finally get along. One of the handlers tried taking the canines out to let them mingle because they were in better moods today. They stopped barking at each other, for one. But once they were all released, they erupted into a fight. Aura is wounded because she got in between the two males. That’s her blood you’re seeing right there.”
“And you can’t tame them?” I needed to get to Aura quickly. Ingorias were sturdier than most animals but that didn’t mean they couldn’t die of blood loss.
“We could try and push them back with our dragon forms, but I can’t guarantee they won’t get hurt. We’ve been trying to get them settled down using our human forms, but the ingorias are angry. They refuse to calm down.”
“I’ll deal with this.”
I didn’t even have to ask where they were. I followed the trail of blood. It went off the footpath and led past ashen grass to the lake. I picked up the fabric of my robes and ran until I caught sight of them.
Grunt and Mayhem growled at each other, snapping their jaws, while the handlers had managed to put leashes around their necks and were trying to hold them down. They snarled. Their gazes were locked on each other and the rumbling growls from their ribcages shook through the air.
Aura hadn’t been too terribly injured, although blood dripped down one leg and made the grass slick with red. She had decided to side with Grunt. I’d assumed he was nicer to her because he was as sweet as an ingoria could be.
“The three of you!” I shouted, walking toward them, commanding as much fierceness as I could from my lungs. “Calm!”
I didn’t think I had a booming voice, but the ingorias reacted to me, lifting their gazes up to give me a momentary glance. Then they returned to wanting to fight, while the draerin handlers struggled to keep them down. The handlers, in human form, pulled at their necks with their giant chains, but the ingorias, as strong as they were, refused to budge.
I smoothed my hand over my hair, wondering why things couldn’t just be easy. Why did my ingorias have to start going through puberty just when everything threatened to blow up in my face?
I padded toward them and lifted my hands. I whispered an ice spell and froze the ground before their feet. The grass turned from gray to blue, forming a line of ice serving as a suitable warning. My pets stopped. They blinked at me. When I brought out my spells, they knew I was serious.
Aura crawled up to me and released a soft whimper. Was she apologizing? I sank my fingers into her fur. “Are you all right, girl? They really did you in. If you will just get your brothers to get along.”
“She’ll be fine,” Aura’s designated handler said as he moved toward me. He was the oldest of his peers and bore a scar across his neck. “It looks worse than it actually is. We can patch her with some healing salves and she should be good to go in a couple days.”
“There’s so much blood.”
“You have Mayhem to blame for that one.”
Thus, the name.
The handler sighed and scratched an earlobe. “They were easier to take care of until they started fighting. All because Grunt stole Mayhem’s food one time.”
“Is that why?” I asked.
He nodded. “We can’t say for sure because they can’t tell us. But that’s when the fighting happened. Hopefully Mayhem will get over it soon. He’s a grumpy one.”
I led Aura and her brothers to their pens and locked them in, but not before Aura’s healer rubbed some salve into her wounds.
If the trip to Gaia didn’t work, I hoped that the princes would be able to treat them well. They absolutely loved Kael, but he’s not the kind to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of three wild pets.
I stretched my shoulders and walked back to the main buildings. I saw Micah from right around the corner, and I remembered why I was out walking in the first place. I raised my hand, about to call him, when I saw Elder Salvar standing next to him.
Elder Salvar?
Wasn’t he the asshole who’d tried to pair Bianca with Rylan? What business did he have to do with Micah?
I followed them quietly. When Salvar’s eyes crossed in my direction, I flinched and hastily flattened my back against a wall.
“What is it exactly you’re asking of me?” Micah asked. His voice was so quiet that I had to strain my ears to hear. “To make a bid for the throne?”
Salvar chuckled. He reminded me of a rat. “I wouldn’t put it that harshly—”
I’d overheard some ladies in the Intelligence Council call him handsome, but I just thought he was two-faced.
Micah continued. “That is the essence of what you’re trying to put across.”
“Well, if you’re so eager to summarize, then, yes. That’s what I’m hoping you will do. Challenge your brother.
”
My breathing stilled. Micah wouldn’t do this, would he? But then I remembered the night at the lake, over a year ago, when he’d confessed to me that he’d been pining for Rylan’s position. He’d never had the opportunity, but now that there were opponents to Rylan and supporters for him . . .
“What must I do?” Micah asked.
My heart dropped to my stomach. This couldn’t be. We were supposed to be a close-knit group with nothing to hide from each other. I couldn’t believe Micah wanted to betray us.
“You will lead and be the face to our rebellion, and when it is all over, you will be the king. Simple enough. We will, of course, listen to your instructions while carrying out this rebellion. You were born to lead, Your Highness. You have the sharpest mind among all your brothers and perhaps a heart that is the closest to that of the common people. Constanria will benefit greatly from your leadership.”
“Enough with the sly words,” Micah said. “How do I know to trust you? That you will not have me replaced after I’m finished with the bid for your throne? After all, you’re trying to overthrow the current king. Foxes like you are not trustworthy.”
Salvar tutted. “Take this.”
I peeked over the corner, hoping they wouldn’t pay me any attention. My heart leapt at a galloping rate, and the rush of adrenaline seared my nerves.
In Salvar’s hand, I saw a ring. “It was your father’s,” Salvar said. “We procured it from his dead body. He wore it when he was alive, and his father before him, your grandfather, wore it, too. A mark of the Everborne family. It should belong to you.”
Micah’s mouth gaped slightly when he received the gift from Salvar. “Interesting. When must I give you my answer?”
The idea that Micah would even consider betraying his own brother sickened me. I couldn’t view him the same anymore. I almost hated him, and this new wedge Salvar carved between us made my blood boil.
“Preferably by the week.” Salvar placed a hand on Micah’s shoulder. “I hope that your answer pleases me, my prince.”
Micah fiddled with the ring. I hoped he’d toss it at Salvar’s face and tell him he had no need for petty gifts, but he slipped the ring on his index finger. A sign of fraternizing with the rat. “You’ll have your answer soon.”
“I’m pleased by your . . . open-mindedness.”
Salvar gave Micah a cursory nod before walking away.
I panicked. What if Micah stumbled across me now? I had to tell this to the others, to let them know of the storm that was to come.
Micah left, heading in a direction opposing mine. A ringing sensation lodged in my ears, so loudly it almost hurt.
Micah was going to start a rebellion.
No, no, no!
That single word kept knocking off the walls of my head this entire day. If Micah went down this path, our group would be lost.
Could I still love him after this betrayal?
After all, it was not me he was going against. It was Rylan. But that felt almost the same.
Rylan had saved him from the temple. The king was ready to sacrifice his life for his brother! Couldn’t Micah see that? Maybe I could talk Micah out of this and make him come to his senses quickly enough. I kept thinking about Gisiroth’s ring on Micah’s finger. He’d wanted something of the sort ever since he was a child—acceptance into the Everborne family, and now strangers who couldn’t be trusted were giving it to him.
Maybe that was what blinded him. I needed to help him see the truth of it all. It didn’t matter what the courts wanted.
His brothers. Us. We should be what he cared about.
I combed Aura’s fur, soothing her from the wound Mayhem and Grunt had inflicted on her earlier that day. It reflected the wounding of my heart. I needed to discuss this matter with Frederick. He would know what to say in a situation like this. The answer probably stared at me in my face, and Frederick would point out it out in less than two seconds. He’d make me look like an idiotic worrywart for bothering about things that didn’t matter. Right?
“Oh, Aura,” I said, thinking I was the one taking more comfort from my ingoria than the other way around. “Now I know how you feel, to have two brothers fighting and not knowing how to patch them together.”
Aura blew a lazy breath from her nostrils. She enjoyed me brushing my comb over her fur. She liked being spoiled.
The sun began to set. Once he finished with the spell, Micah was supposed to open the portal to Gaia to send us to new frontiers, but would he still even be with us then? Maybe he would, but he’d be under a guise, secretly plotting to undermine Rylan while faking smiles.
How could I think of Micah like this? Would he really do this to us? He was always so kind.
My head hurt and I needed a long, cold shower.
What I didn’t need was Theo Cadriel striding up to me, his posture so overly contemptuous that his chest puffed out and tipped to the sky. My father took to immersing himself in luxury far too easily. He bathed in it, embraced it. His robes were more flamboyant than even the princes’—so tasteless that he looked like a walking ornament. Rich in appearance but lacking in class.
He sniffed, rubbed the ball of his nose with a wrinkly thumb, and stopped before me. Some measure of ambivalence caught his features as he looked at Aura, who drew her upper lip up in a warning snarl. “Sera, darling.”
His tongue curled at the “l” in “darling,” pretentious enough to make my skin crawl. Would Aura sense too much of my derision for this man and leap at him? I kept my hand clasped on her head, which was large enough to cover my entire torso.
“What is it you want, Father?” I asked.
“You see, there is this issue about Bianca in the courts yesterday.” He adjusted his weight, one foot to the other, acting like the pathetic weasel he was.
Perhaps it wasn’t Aura he should be concerned about, but me. He needed a good scolding, or perhaps even a hitting, to make him wake up from his silly wiles. Theo Cadriel might have fallen from his high status once. Years ago, when people found out I was cursed, he’d lost his position as a merchant and had to clean the latrines. You’d think after going through so much, he’d learn to be more humble, but though some people learned from their failures, this man never did. He’d always blamed others. Blamed me.
I provided for him out of duty for my parents, as was common tradition among Constanrians, but if he dared take from me what I had fought so hard for myself, I would finally cut ties from him.
Perhaps I should finally ask Rylan to toss Bianca and him out to the streets and let them face hardship once more. I brought them here out of guilt for Mother, but there was only so much they could ask for without going too far.
It was the anger talking, but it was difficult to not gain a draeox’s temper next to a man like my father.
Theo Cadriel forced a completely untrustworthy grin. “Salvar suggested the proposal, but I didn’t think he would make a bid for the king’s hand. I respect boundaries, Sera.” He twiddled with the tip of his mustache. He didn’t have one in Aere Grove, but he’d grown one as a rich merchant. “I asked him to try and pair Bianca with Micah. She seems to talk about him a lot, and I think he is the prince your sister prefers the most.”
“Shut up, Father.”
He leaned backward and gaped at me, shocked I would use such an insolent tune on him. “Well . . . that’s rude. I’m just making a fair request.”
“How is taking my husbands,” we hadn’t had a wedding but by Rylan’s law, we were husbands and wife—“a fair request? There are many things I can share with you, but the princes are out of the question.”
His jaw hung low. “But there are so many of them! You are one girl.”
“And so what? We love each other.”
“That . . . that is not tradition.”
“And so? Gaean’s balls with tradition. It’s been a shackle to my life for too long. It’s not tradition in Constanria for a girl to have powers like mine, so it must be a curse. But Beyestirya thi
nks I’m a gift!”
Father shook his head. “It will be very good for your sister to be a princess. She is one in every aspect except in name. And she can’t be with one when you are hogging all four of them. Perhaps there is room—”
In one swift motion, I stood and clasped Theo Cadriel’s collar in my fist. I was ashamed to have shared my last name with such a spineless, small-minded man. Perhaps I was glad Rylan’s order had switched it to Sera Everborne. It had a nice ring to it.
All my life I’d been worried about disappointing my parents, but this man was now disappointing me instead. “Do not overstep. I let you come here not because you deserve it, but because my heart is big enough to allow you into my home. You are a guest here, under my account, and should you cross me another time, I will make sure to make your life a living hell. Do you understand?”
Aura echoed my sentiments. She barked and growled and had positioned herself on the offense. Her fur was raised, and I must have looked like quite the frightening sight while being backed by my ingoria.
Theo Cadriel’s face drained into a ghostly pale. I watched a lump travel down his throat as he swallowed nervously. “I . . . I apologize.”
I grunted and released my father’s shimmery collar. Tears poured onto Theo’s cheeks and his nose turned red.
“The princes belong to me, so don’t ever think to steal them from me ever again.”
I needed to make that lesson clear to Bianca.
Aura snapped her teeth at my father’s face but didn’t injure him.
“Hold off, Aura,” I said, turning away. “There is no need to waste any time with him.”
I had to think about what to do with Micah. I didn’t have time to spend the rest of my evening worrying about the sniveling snob I still had to call Father.
Chapter Thirteen
I strode quickly across the marbled floors of our corridor. The weight of my knowledge made me drag my ankles heavily. What was I to do?
The wonderful sensation of standing up to my father quickly dissipated the moment I re-entered the main building.
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