Baron, what do we do?
Baron, do something!
Baron gasped in a quick breath, jaw trembling, throat tight.The final echo of the physician’s voice lingered, quieting everything else in its morbid hush.
There’s nothing I can do, my lord, I’m sorry. There’s nothing anyone can do.
“Leon.” Baron’s voice cracked.
There’s nothing anyone can do.
Leon was right.
Baron walked to his bedside and crouched. When he couldn’t see Leon, he lowered himself to his stomach, peering underneath the bed slats at the shivering white cat pressed between them and the floorboards.
Extending one hand, Baron crooked his fingers. “Come here.”
“No,” Leon growled. “I’m not talking to you. I should have turned you into a cat and ordered you to go hunt mice in the filthy cellar. I still could.”
“I understand. Come here.”
Still bristling, his brother wiggled forward until Baron could reach to pull him free. It took both arms. Leon was more like a miniature lion than a stray cat; his long white fur bunched with extra volume around his neck like a mane, and he carried regal tufts of peach-colored fur along his nose and on the tips of his ears. He was alsohefty.
The moment he was free, Leon flopped against the floor in front of Baron, tail twitching. He stared up with brown eyes of condemnation.
“I’m sorry,” said Baron.
Leon rolled over, ears twitching to match his tail.
Baron pulled his pant leg back, winced at the gashes, and lowered it. When he stood, he limped.
“I’m sorry too,” Leon mumbled. Then he said, “Aria’s not like Dad. Someonecanhelp her.”
If Baron tried to help and failed, if he got himself killed and left the twins completely alone, how could he justify that?
The answer came with surprising clarity, an echo of Leon’s earlier accusation:coward.
He’d meant to change a kingdom, for his own sake along with that of the twins, yet he’d retreated from every danger on the path. Hiding would not save anyone. Aria trusted him. Corvin and Leon trusted him. His father had trusted him.
Perhaps there was no hope for Baron, just an endless cycle of failed attempts to save the people he loved. He did not know how he could face that. He only knew that he could not save anyone withouttrying.
“I’m going to the castle,” he said.
“About time,” said Leon.
15 days left
As dawn brightened the sky, Aria paced in her room, stepping over a collection of reading materials spread across her floor and occasionally stopping to jot notes in the journal on her desk. These were not the books on Casting she’d sought in the past; they were records of royalty. Family journals, a history of laws passed within the kingdom, records of trials and executions, peace treaties, trade negotiations, coronation transcripts. She circled at the heart of her family’s legacy.
Weariness set into her bones along with the advent of day, and she paused only long enough to drink a cup of Baron’s birthday wine before resuming her study.
Jenny entered with a quiet knock, and Aria shot the girl a quick smile before bending over her desk to record a line of thought. During the night, Jenny had helped her find the records she needed and carry everything to her room, but as dawn approached, she’d left to be ready for her duties.
“Welcome back, Jenny.”
Rather than replying, the girl sniffled.
Aria straightened, bumping her desk and scattering a collection of loose parchment. She hopped over the mess. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
