A silly girl with a silly little plant…
“We’ll come up with a plan,” Talon was saying. “My people can help.”
His “people,” from what I’d seen of them since our arrival, were little more than a ragtag bunch of fools who wanted to play at being heroes—and I was certain Radven agreed with me. I had little interest in allowing Talon any say in our plans. This was ultimately a matter for my brothers and me, and our situation was tenuous enough without allowing any well-meaning fools to muddle things up.
“Right now, though, there’s something a little more pressing at hand,” Talon said. “The carnage on the Hill is…” He shook his head, grief and anger waging war in his eyes. “Two members of the Circle already know you’re here, which means the rest will know soon. I see no reason to continue hiding your return. After this night, all of Therador will know within days.” He looked at Oak. “Let the people see you. Let us proclaim the return of the Lion Warrior, the savior of Therador. The people of Ring-Around-the-Hill need to know that the deaths this night will be avenged. That someone is fighting for them.” His eyes shifted to me, to Radven. “To know all three of you have returned, that you are still a united force committed to protecting them, would be even better.”
Rad slid his finger slowly along the blade in his hand, shaking his head. “It might only be days until all of Therador knows, but during those days we still have the advantage. And we’ll likely have even longer than that, as many won’t believe the rumors at first. If we’re quick, we might even be able to direct and shape the rumors in a way that helps us. But it’s too soon and too risky to proclaim ourselves to the world. We need every edge we can get.”
“You can use the announcement of your return to your advantage, too,” Talon countered. “Direct the narrative that way.”
“I have to agree with my brother,” I said. “The news of my return will cause a stir in my father’s court. And there are things I must do before I go there.”
But Oak stepped forward.
“My brothers are free to make their own decisions about this,” he said. “But I am also free to make mine. I will go up to the Hill with you. Let them see that I am here, and that I will fight for them.” To Rad and me, he added, “There will be speculation about the two of you, of course. But I’ll do my best to deflect it. I cannot stay silent, not in this. Not now.”
I expected nothing less from Oak—he’d never been one to sit back in a situation like this. Despite the cracks in him, he would still behave nobly to the bitter end. And I knew he recognized that Rad and I served Therador best in other ways.
The matter was settled, then. Oak assured us that he’d be gone only as long as necessary—which, I knew, meant we likely wouldn’t see him again until well past dawn. He and Talon left the room, going opposite the way we’d come.
And I was grateful for the much-needed opportunity to speak with Radven alone.
Rad obviously felt the same way. The moment our brother’s footsteps faded away, he glanced at me and said, “What are we going to do about him?”
Because we couldn’t ignore what had happened in the woods after Mordren had fled—Oak's doubt, his rage, his accusations. We’d argued before. Tussled plenty of times. But neverfought, not like that.
“I’d like to believe it was simply a moment of temporary madness,” I said.
Rad nodded, still playing absently with his dagger. He’d been on edge since Mordren’s attack. He hid it well, but he couldn’t keep the truth from me. I could always tell when my brother was silently fighting shadows, haunted by those parts of himself he tried to keep locked away.
Finally, he said, “Oak has always been easy to rile where matters of justice are concerned. But it’s worse now. It grates on him, being powerless.”
“It grates on all of us.”
“You don’t have to tell me.” Radven flipped his dagger into the air, then caught it deftly by the hilt before starting to twirl it again. “But with Oak…it’s personal. In a way it isn’t for us.”
He glanced my way, expecting agreement from me, and I gave him the nod he was anticipating. But this waspersonalfor me, too, in a way my brother didn’t fully understand. And personal for him, too, even if he refused to admit it.
Blessed Vela, how my head throbbed. If that girl hadn’t driven me to so many bloody drinks…
“How much do you think it’s about her?” I said carefully.
“I’ve been asking myself the same thing.” His dagger stilled. “Oak’s never been like this over a woman before.”
I sniffed. “I could say the same thing about you.”
He shot me a look. “I can assure you I’m in full control of my head. And my cock.”
“So you say, and yet every time I turn around you’ve got your tongue down her throat again.”Or other places.
“Be careful, Brother,” he said, smiling. “Talk like that and people will think you’re jealous.”
“I assure you, I’m nothing of the sort.” And yet, I couldn’t shake those things I’d foreseen in that vision, all those years ago. If ithadbeen her—and that was a significantif…
“Maybe it is jealousy,” Radven went on, and he wasn’t talking about me anymore. “Jealousy, coupled with the frustration of having our abilities castrated.” He glanced at me. “It gets worse, every day we’re back here. You feel it too, don’t you?” It was the closest he’d come to acknowledging those shadows inside him.
I nodded. Our pain was different, and yet—I had my own shadows, my own burdens I carried. And itwasworse now. I’d been lost in that other world, too, but I’d been in a strange place. Being back home, in Therador, andstillfinding myself wandering in the dark was a different, sharper pain.
