He wasn’t ready for Arawn to be king. He wasn’t ready to be left behind, if something happened. If...gods forbid...Arawnwas first to see his end.
In all else, Arawn could win.
But not in death.
Kinlear stood, wincing as his leg screamed in pain. He hated the weakness in his joints, hated how his neck cramped as he turned at the sound of the bedroom door swinging open.
“We’ll be late,” the queen said as she swept inside, white robes billowing. Her crown was sharp as a knife upon her pale head. “If we don’t lea?—”
Her words trailed off as she caught both boys standing there...on either side of the table that held Kinlear’s sketch.
The brothers lunged for the parchment at the same time. Their hands fumbled against each other, and the parchment fell, almost in slow motion, where it lay face up on the ornate rug.
The darksoul claws were bold and menacing in the firelight. The shadows seemed to squirm, as if given life.
Oh, gods above,Kinlear thought.
“What is this?” their mother hissed. Her eyes hardened, narrowing to near slits. They fell, not on Arawn...but onhim.
Always, on him.
He was about to blurt his apology, to come up with a way to defend himself from another mark of penance --he couldn’t take the pain, couldn’t stand the thought of that Sacred brand searing his skin again, couldn’t bear to go back to that room deep in the library, his favorite place turned into a hell of its own-- when Arawn suddenly blurted, “I drew it, Mother.”
Even the fire seemed to go still.
“Arawn.” The queen turned, slowly, to look at him. Her eyes were wide, her rouged lips parting in shock. “What?”
Thump.
Kinlear’s heart slammed against his ribcage.
Arawnneverlied. To do so was to defy the Five, to pay penance himself.
So...why now? Kinlear thought.And why would he do it for me?
His heartthumpedagain. He swore his blood was roaring in his ears. The room was suddenly too hot. The fire felt like a brand of its own at his back.
But Arawn was still as a statue. He stood tall and strong, the image of a perfect king.
“I am trying to better understand my enemy, Mother.” Kinlear heard him swallow. “So that when I take to the battlefield for the Five...I won’t be burdened by my fear.”
Gods, the lie was done masterfully.
Kinlear would have smiled, if his mother wasn’t staring right at him.
A littlesqueakleft her lips. “Is this true, Kinlear? Do not lie to me again.”
Thump,went his heart.
Yes, the room was most certainly spinning.
He couldn’t let Arawn take the fall for him. He wouldn’t...but before he could speak, he imagined that branding again. The fiery pain.
The smell of his own skin burning.
“I....” He inhaled, but it only made him cough,damn his lungs, for why did they always attack him at the very worst of times?
“I never tell lies, Mother,” Arawn said, loud enough to drown out the sound of Kinlear struggling to breathe. “I drew it. So, I will take the penance for it.”
