“It is not our place to share,” Holis replies to the table, “only Lady Alexis. She would need to disclose what information she learned from the book that birthed his Bird of Ash.”
My heart drops into my stomach at his words. Up until this moment I have pushed the text from the last page of Stormfall’s book to the back of my mind. I’ve ignored the violent curiosity that grips me every time they choose to creep up. Because I know that the text will only lead me to more questions… questions that I’m not sure I’m ready to hear the answers to yet.
“Lady Alexis?” Keane prompts, looking at me with the standard Discerni features of indifference. My heart pounds as I glance into those cool features.
I truly hate that face. And right now, I’m really not liking him and his brother at the moment, either.
What were they thinking? How could they possibly have come to the conclusion that interrogating Holis and Mana was the right thing to do tonight? Didn’t Keane tell me earlier that we were just going to catch up? To exchange stories on what happened in the plains?
And he says my lies are pretty…
Can he not see the uneasiness that is surrounding the table right now? One that him and his brother helped build? Or does he just not care? Cal is quite literally feeling betrayed and is now questioning his friends that have been by his side for the last two years, while Holis and Mana are doing their best to answer the Princes’ questions while also trying to alleviate Cal’s battling emotions.
And now he’s looking at me? Asking me to break the vow I made in front of the Prince and Princess of Pyre? I wasn’t lying when I told them that I wanted to speak to King Zander first. I don’t want to disclose the words from the text before I disclose them to my King… before I even disclose them tomyself.
Stormfall diligently makes his way over to me, his yellow eyes noticing my discomfort. He gives a solemn chirp and then turns his heated glance to both Princes, his wings extending at his sides in his own anger. I glance over to look at Golem for help, but he just stands in the shadows with blank features.
“This isn’t the way to go about this,” I finally whisper to the men around me.
“Respectfully, Lady Alexis,” Desmond’s hard voice responds, “our group was set upon in foreign lands by a large group of Leviathan riders. A Prince triedtakingyou and almost killed one of our own in the process.”
Apparently stories have already been shared.
“The riders we met only had one objective,” the Master Informer continues, “to look for and obtain a human woman from Disce.”
“This isn’t the way,” I shake my head, my voice trembling slightly, “I need to speak with the King first.”
“Alexis…” Keane says my name softly, eyes catching mine with that hint of kindness.
No.
No. He doesn’t get to do that.
He doesn’t get to go from cool Discerni Prince to the playful man I’m more familiar with.
I scowl at him and will my next words to come out stronger.
“I serve His Grace, King Zander of Disce, not either of you,” I flick my eyes to Desmond as well, “and will not disclose any information on the book until I’ve had the chance to speak with him first.”
“Do you deny that Prince Yiannis of Livyatan ordered his men to take you?” Desmond interjects with a hard tone.
“No,” I hold his eyes with a hardness of my own, “though I think the Prince was more interested in Stormfall than he was in me.”
“He called youhuman reborn,” the Master Informer retorts.
I catch Mana shifting in his seat from the corner of my eyes, reaching for his drink.
“That was the first time I have heard the phrase used,” I admit.
“But not you,” Keane glances to the twins, noticing Mana’s shift as much as I did. He looks at the brothers as the Prince of Disce and heir to the Kingdom, not as the man we have all gotten to know over the last fortnight.
Holis nods to his Prince, “we are familiar with the term.”
“In what setting?” Keane demands.
“Keane,” I shake my head, “stop.”
What the fuck are him and his brother doing right now?
