Teddy glowered at him. “Endros, the god these maniacs worship, would like to question us, the contestants in his murder games, to see if we are killing each other outside the arena.”
Jalen nodded. “You got it on the first try. Maybe you’re not in such bad shape.”
“What does our father say?”
Jalen frowned and tapped his fingers together in an uncanny impression of their father. “‘Teddy can handle himself.’”
While Jalen’s skin tone was darker, more golden-brown than olive like their father’s, he had the same hazel eyes and smirk. He’d long ago mastered the king’s mannerisms and loved to impersonate Xander, especially if he’d been recently chastised.
“Also, our mother is expecting you downstairs in fifteen minutes,” Jalen said with a gleeful smile.
Teddy cursed and stumbled to the washroom, ignoring Jalen’s laughter as he slammed the door.
Queen Jessamin OrumSavero stood in front of a sunlit window at the end of the royal wing of Olney Castle with her consort and guard, Maren, at her side. Teddy could tell by the jeweled dagger at the waist of her elaborate gown that she was anxious.
His mother always carried blades, but she only displayed them so obviously when she wanted other people to know she was ready for a fight. Jessamin had been raised in the Queendom of Novum, a large island in the middle of the Adiran Sea. Since her older sister, Karina, was the heir to the throne, Jessamin had been raised to lead the Novumi army. It was a twist of fate and shifting alliances that saw her sent to Argaria to marry Xander Savero.
Maren leaned close to the queen and whispered something in her ear, and his mother’s shoulders relaxed.
Teddy’s chest clenched. That was what Grace had always been for him—the steadiness and humor, the comfort in his most stressful moments.
Teddy hesitated and Jalen stepped on his heel, nearly running into him.
“Hedging, brother?” he teased.
Teddy didn’t have time to respond. His mother had seen them.
Her face lit up as he walked closer. “There’s my handsome boy.”
“Good morning, Mother,” he said, kissing her cheek.
She froze and sniffed as she drew back. “Long night, Theodore Davide?”
“Uh-oh, the full name. I’ll see myself out,” Jalen said, taking the first chance to escape any official duty, as always.
“Traitor,” Teddy grumbled.
His mother tilted his chin up to look at his eyes and clicked her tongue. “So unlike you. Is this about yesterday?”
He jerked his head away and was rewarded with a throbbing spike of pain. “Sure. Let’s go with that. Just blowing off some steam after a fight.”
“A dangerous time to choose to get drunk in public,” she said, slowly studying him.
He wasn’t about to tell her about Grace. This wasn’t the time or place. There were too many eyes and ears inside the castle.
“Walk with me.” It was a command if he’d ever heard one, but he held out his elbow and his mother threaded her arm through.
She was only a few inches shorter than him, but she leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Your father is with Marcos,” she whispered. “They can’t find a way to stop this from happening. We think it’s best to let Endros question you. It’s clear you were too drunk to have done anything and at least there will be plenty of witnesses to say you weren’t there, but whatever is happening now is bigger than all of us and it’s best if we pretend to go along with it for now.”
Teddy nodded.
“Evan believes this is truly the work of the Sons of Endros and not one of your competitors. Almost every single one of them has whereabouts accounted for?—”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Teddy interrupted. “They could have had someone else do it for them and just used the rebel group as a coverup.”
His mother smiled approvingly. “That’s what I said.”
