Bach gave me that lopsided smile that was never far from his face. “You too.”
Unlike Kian and myself, Bach had always been a sunshine kid. He’d found the bright side of most situations, no matter how dire, how tragic. Kian might have kept me safe, but Bach had kept me sane. He hustled to the tent, the queue now a lot shorter. I watched him go, my heart feeling full.
“He hasn’t stopped talking since we boarded that ship. I was worried the Baron of the Third Line was going to throw him overboard,” Kian muttered fondly.
I raised my brows. “The Baron is here?”
Kian nodded, hiking his rucksack up his shoulder. “Yes. Came to see his son compete, he said. He seems like a good man. A good father.”
Unlike ours.Kian didn’t say it, but he didn’t need to. “How is Father?”
He shrugged. “The doctor says he has a disease of the liver. The whites of his eyes are now the color of pus.”
“He’s dying?”
The words hung between us. I didn’t feel anything for the man who’d made my life miserable, but I always felt as if it was somehow my fault that he was a failure as a Baron and a father. When Mother had died, both of our parents as we knew them had perished. The man Kian had loved, who he’d hero-worshiped, had basically been buried the same day as our mother. He’d lost both parents, while I’d never really had either.
I wasn’t sure which of us had it worse.
“Perhaps.”
Squeezing his forearm, I let the subject of our father drop. He had no space here. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat. You must be starving.”
Kian’s lips curled in a crooked smile. “You look good, Avalon. Happier.”
Iwashappier, despite the fact I got my butt kicked every day in the training ring, and for the first month, I’d felt like my body was going to give out if I had to climb the stairs one more time.
“I’m free,” I told him, and he nodded. No one else ever understood me like Kian. He’d taken over so much responsibility for me that he was sometimes more of a father than an older brother. But what I never doubted, no matter how many times Father beat me black and blue—or beat Kian for standing between him and the source of his anger—was how much my brother loved me.
I swallowed hard. “We need to talk later, somewhere more private.”
Patting the top of my head like I was a toddler, he nodded. “Of course, kid,” he said softly. “Let’s eat.”
Sixteen
Hayle
“Son, is there a reason you’re looking at that girl like she’s a juicy steak?”
I dragged my eyes from where Avalon stood with her brothers, a “9” stitched into the sides of their tent with golden thread. She looked so happy, and in the back of my mind, I wondered how I could smuggle them both to Boellium for her. I wanted her to be this content all the time.
“She is tasty,” I quipped back at my father, my grin feeling goofy on my face. Clearing my throat, I sat beside the man who’d raised me. His lion companion, Lazlo, sat next to Alucius, and whatever they were saying to each other, it was serious. “She’s important to me,” I added.
“I gathered. Braxus hasn’t left her side. A new girlfriend?” There was no judgement in my father’s tone. The Third Line didn’t sell off their children like cattle, to be given away for power and money. As long as my choice didn’t adversely affect our Line, I could date who I liked.
I shook my head. “Avalon is my Soul Tie,” I said quietly, and my father went rigid with shock beside me. I held my breath, waiting for his response. Calling someone your Soul Tie wasn’ta throwaway comment. It meant something—for our family, for our Line, for my future.
“Are you sure, son?” His tone was hesitant, but again, not disapproving.
Nodding, I looked back at her. She was laughing at something the younger brother was saying, as the older brother sharpened his sword for him. She was so light, so open with them. I wanted nothing more than to make her feel like that every day. Safe. Protected. Free.
“I feel her in every cell in my body. She’s like the sun, and my heart pulls me toward her, like it’s thirsty for her light.”
Father cleared his throat. “There’s no arguing with that.” He let out a long breath. “I’m happy for you, son. She’s very beautiful.”
How did I explain to anyone that her beauty was the least magnetic thing about her? She was smart, determined, and brave. She loved so wholeheartedly, despite the things she’d been through. “She’s everything,” I breathed.
Our conversation was cut short with the arrival of the Eighth Line guards and the Baron to the tournament area. Around a clearing in the woods, twelve tents had been set up, housing a Second Heir for each Line. In the center was a ring: a simple post-and-rail set up from felled trees, sand shifted from the cove to the clearing, and long benches lining the outside for spectators. It was hastily constructed, but it would house the first tournament in a century. If Zier Tarrin felt intimidated to be burdened with the privilege, he didn’t show it as he stood in the middle of the ring.
