Especially not his brother.
“What is it?” Arawn barked, for no one had looked away from him.
Help me, Vivorr,he silently prayed.Give me the strength to fight back.
“Your magic,” the king said. “Your strength, my son. Is it returning?”
Arawn realized, then, that the eyes of the Masters were not on his face.
Instead, they were on his hands...where he was clutching the edge of the glass table like a vice.
And his power was surging so hot, the glass wasmeltingbeneath his fingertips.
17
“Red?” Arawn asked later, as he stared down at the outfit laid before him on the bed. “I am not a man who wearsred,Izill.”
Since he was a boy, raised with the weight of a crown upon his pale head, his mother had adorned him in white.
It is the color of the northern snows in which we make our stand,she told him, after he’d received his first penance marks. His first branding, for daring to ask for something different. She’d stomped the creativity out of him. Stomped away the need to stand out, for he was a loyal servant of the Five.
Nothing more than a vessel to be used by them, until the end of his days.
White was the color of a future Sacred king.
But for tonight?
Izill had chosen robes of deepest fire-red.
He sighed, the buttons on his tunic half open, enough to reveal the enormous scar that spanned from his collarbone to his waistline.
The mark of Soraya’s betrayal.
The scar didn’t hurt anymore. It was the memory that did.
But...Arawn raised a brow, perplexed at the way his hearthadn’tskipped a sad beat.
It hurt a little less today than it had the day before.
Progress.
He would take whatever he could get.
He sighed again and held up the red tunic and cloak. “This must be a mistake. This is for Kinlear. It has to be.”
“No mistake,” the servant said, as if she’d read his mind. “Though I’m pleased to see that you do in fact have an opinion. Kinlear’s Absolution outfit is...well, it’s far flashier than this. Some color won’t kill you, Arawn. You could take a lesson from him.”
His shoulders tensed at the mention of his brother.
Izill paused, pursing her lips as she realized her mistake.
“Right. No talk of theother twin,” she corrected herself. “Though if you ask me, it’s high time you moved past the differences. The two of you could save the world...or burn it down someday. At least, that’s what Alaris has always said. And the woman isneverwrong.”
Arawn chuckled, despite himself.
The women of the Citadel were all a force to be reckoned with.
Small as a mouse, and often just as silent, he was used to Izill dropping in on him. Used to her nonstop slew of words as she took care of him...especially in the darkest days, before he’d taken his leave of absence.
