“I miss you,” I whispered.
The corners of his mouth turned down as they had since he was a boy whenever he was disappointed. “I miss you too. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
I threw up my hand. “Please don’t lecture me, Everett. Can’t we just talk like we used to?”
He reached out and caged my fingers in his hands. “But thingsaren’tthe way they used to be. You chose to become the apprentice of a man with blood on his hands—blood he seems determined to smear on yours. Who failed to save Mother?—”
“He’d heard nothing of a possible assassination, and he did everything he could to find her,” I snapped, using the weak arguments Renwell had wielded like paper knives against my own accusations that night.
It was instinct that made me defend my mentor. And not a good one from the concerned look in Everett’s eyes.
I drew a deep breath. “Don’t you see that’s why I have to train so hard? Why I want to become High Enforcer when you become king? I will succeed where he failed. I will hunt every threat to extinction. No one will ever harm my family again.”
“Are we still your family, Kiera? You also chose to give us up in your quest for justice.”
I yanked my hand out of his, my heart burning. “Fatherforcedme to renounce any legal ties. To make sure I had noclaim to the throne. To make sure I could never be used as leverage.”
“To make sure your work will never bring shame to the legacy he’s building,” Everett finished softly. “Yes, I’m familiar with our father’s tireless defense of his reputation.”
“You and Delysia will always be my family,” I whispered, squeezing the words around the knot in my throat.
“If I ever become king?—”
“You will,” I snapped.
“IfI live to see that day,ifFather deems it so, that will be one of the first things I do—proclaim you as my High Enforcerandmy sister.” His dark brows scrunched as he studied me. “If that is still what you wish.”
The knot in my throat grew larger, blocking any words of gratitude I had. I simply nodded vigorously.
Everett’s face smoothed, but the worry lingered in his eyes, much the same as our mother’s had looked in the years before she died. A worry I had done little to ease until it was too late.
“Whatever you’re doing,” he whispered, “be careful. I can’t lose you too.”
I fought to keep my voice steady. “You won’t. I swear it.”
He straightened away from the desk, and for one hopeful moment, I thought he meant to hug me. Instead, he squeezed my shoulder. “Gods go with you then.”
I laid my hand over his. “And you.”
His hand slid out from under mine, and he sat in his chair, burying himself in work again. I was gone before he could watch me leave.
Chapter 3
Kiera
Heart weary,I hurried to Delysia’s room. Father was likely already angry that I’d kept him waiting this long, but I couldn’t leave yet.
Just as I was about to knock, I heard heavy footsteps coming down one of the halls toward me.
I ducked into a curtained alcove as they rounded the corner and stopped in front of Delysia’s room. A soft knock, the creak of her door opening. A man’s deep whisper and my sister’s hushed giggle.
I peered around the curtain to see the back of a tall man in a soldier’s uniform stepping into Delysia’s room.
I closed my eyes. Oh, Delysia, an affair with a soldier? Father would never approve. And I knew full well what he was capable of, the lengths he would go to in order to destroy a relationship. There was once a time I would’ve risked anything for love, for an escape, but not anymore.
But little sisters never wanted to hear that. She wouldn’t understand until she’d made the same mistakes. But gods, I wished I could change her mind before it was too late.
I supposed the least I could do for her was ensure that Father was busy for a few minutes.
