“Careful what you say, brother,” he said quietly, holding Inderia almost tenderly. “You have far more to lose than she does.”
Inderia didn’t look back. But her silence was telling.
Theron turned with her under his arm, escorting her out like she was somethingprecious,not the venom-laced snake she was. The door shut behind them with a softclickthat echoed louder than any slam.
The silence that followed was tight and suffocating.
Zander’s gaze slid to mine across the ruined room, his shoulders taut, eyes still crackling with the weight of all he couldn’t say aloud.
I stepped forward.
“Does he know?” I asked, my voice low. “About your parentage?”
His jaw flexed. A storm passed through his eyes.
“I’m not sure, his lowborn comment could be because I’m fourth born,” he said finally.
But we both knew if Theron didn’t know already?—
That secret wouldn’t stay buried much longer.
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
The mess hall was already buzzing when we entered, the low hum of clinking dishes and half-slept murmuring weaving through the warm scent of fresh bread and broth. We claimed the long table near the eastern window—the one that had somehow,unofficially,become Thrall Squad’s.
It was our first breakfast as a full unit.
All of us.
Jax and Ferrula looked bleary-eyed from where they sat across from me, both hunched over their plates. They’d taken the bed in the common room last night so Ayda and Camus could have it tonight.
“I think I died for ten minutes in that bunk,” Ayda muttered, stabbing a hunk of cheese with a bit more aggression than necessary.
“Could’ve fooled me,” Camus said, yawning. “You were snoring.”
“You were drooling.”
“I was dreaming.”
“Of cheese?” Ayda shot back.
We all chuckled, but the fatigue lingered like fog in our bones.
All except Luthias, who sat beside Camus with a full plate and a clear head like he’d gotten a solid eight hours in a feathered bed.
Kaia leaned on one elbow, her hair pulled into a crooked braid as she squinted at him across the table.
“You snore louder than a dragon.”
My brows lifted. “They snore?”
I hadn’t been near Kaelith while she slept. Not once. She always left me when we were away from the castle.
Teren grinned, sipping from his mug. “Like thunder in the sky. Especially the older ones. It rattles your bones if you’re camped too close.”
Luthias rolled his eyes, tearing into a hunk of bread. “It was one night.”
