“Now that he’s gone,” Hylos began, padding across the expansive room to where I sat. “We can break out the wine. Otherwise he’d never leave.”
“Will Raylik not be joining us for the war council?” I asked, noting Raylik’s absence.
“Not tonight. There’s no new information, and he wished to spend the evening with Nixie. She was very …upsetabout last night.”
About me losing my absolute mind in front of her. I would thank her when I saw her again. I should have this morning when she trained with me despite being exhausted herself. But I was too raw then.
“What about Lumina?” She had been there too. “Isshealright?” I asked. Who would stay the evening with her to ensure she was okay? Likely she only had herself and her books.
“She’ll be fine,” he said, turning toward a small drink table beside the seating arrangement, where matching chalices sat beside a flagon. “Lumina is strong.”
That she was. Strong enough to watch the man she loved be with another, all while helping him achieve his ambitions. Even when it clearly broke her heart.
“How are you feeling?” he asked as he poured wine into his cup.
Confined. Confused. And for some Guardians-damned reason, utterly unafraid. Despite the very real fact that someone was out to expose me, or worse, harm me.
“I’m fine.”
Hylos raised the other chalice to me in question.
I nodded a yes. Why not drink? I’d been running from the shadows of my past all day. I tried beating it out of me with Nixie, tried hiding from it with Arlo. Neither worked. Why not try to drink it away?
Hylos handed me the filled cup, and I drank it down in two gulps.
Hylos raised a blue eyebrow at me. “Ah, about as fine as me then, I see. Another?”
“Please. What is there for a siren king to fret about?”
“Besides my people being taken in droves by—” He paused, shaking his head. “Besides that situation. I was worried for you.” He filled my cup. “I feel foolish that someone attacked you,again, on my watch.” He handed me the cup and met my eyes. “I’m sorry, Elowyn, I truly am. I want you to know that I had no part in what happened.”
“Then who did?” I pressed. Apologies were fine. But they didn’t hold answers.
“Truthfully, I’m not sure. There are many new faces in the castle and—”
“Was it Calypstra?” I asked pointedly.
I’d seen the way she looked at me when the poison started working through my veins. It was like she knew my fate before anyone else.
Hylos hesitated, uncertainty flickering in his eyes. “She wouldn’t.”
But it wasn’t a no.
“Who are you trying to convince? Me, or you?”
Hope twinkled in his gem-blue eyes, but then it faded and died. He didn’t have an answer. At least not for that question.
“Why stop me from revealing my secrets? Wouldn’t it have served your interests to know my thoughts, as your enemy?”
He met my gaze squarely. “We are not enemies. The war I wage is against your father.”
“Which makes it my war.”
Hylos let out a breath. “I’m not at all surprised to hear you say that.” He shook his head and smiled as he sat beside me in the matching chair. “I know you feel strongly about protecting Oakhaven. It’s in your blood to do so.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Elowyn, you are his heir,” he said softly, like I would flee at the very statement. Which is exactly what I wanted to do.
