Harper
Sevrin hashis arm wrapped around my back to keep me from hobbling around the academy too badly, no matter how many times I’ve told him I’m fine. Truly, it was just a twisted ankle. I wouldn’t want to have to fight right now, or jump down from a large distance, but I can walk around on evenly paved ground without any trouble at all.
“Once things are settled here,” Sevrin says, his accent making the ‘here’ sound strangely attractive, “I’ll want to take you to meet my family.”
“What’s your family like?” I ask. “Would they welcome me?”
He grins, which is a strange look with his face paint “They would. They would fall for you as quickly as I did.”
I blush. “I think it’d take my family a little while to adjust to the idea of me being married to a Hollowborn, but once they saw that you treated me well, that’s all that would really matter to them. They just want me to be happy.”
“I’m glad you came from a good home,” he tells me sincerely.
“Oh!” I exclaim, excited. “You’ll get to meet Arthur soon. I’m not sure where he is.”
“I look forward to meeting your best friend. He sounds like a good man.”
“He is.”
We circle a corner, and nearly run into two dragon riders. Their hands go to their swords when they see Sevrin, and his free hand is on his own. All of them are tense and ready, like dogs waiting to attack.
“This is King Sevrin of the Hollowborns,” I say evenly. “Remember, we’re making peace with them. He’s supposed to be here.”
One curls his lip. “No Hollowborn issupposedto be here.”
“So, you’ll fight with him and either have him kill you, or have the king remove your head for treason? That sounds like areallysmart decision.”
That seems to change the tension in the air. The men stand a little straighter, and drop their hands from their swords. Sevrin’s expression is impossible to read, but I know he’s ready for a fight if he has to have one. The men walk around us, giving Sevrin a lot of space, and then hurry down the hall.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever get used to each other,” Sevrin says.
I shrug. “When there’s a little princely baby that’s a little of both our people, everyone will have to learn to love each other.”
He smiles at me and touches my belly, which makes an unexpected streak of excitement race through me. “May the gods hear your words.”
We keep going and eventually find our way to the training yard. Stopping in the entrance, we see that the dragon riders are doing hand-to-hand combat. It’s not an official one, since half the riders aren’t there, but there are four different circles of riders gathered around men who are fighting. Lucien and Alaricare nowhere to be seen, but Gareth is currently fighting another man, looking angry as hell.
“Maybe we should keep going…” I suggest lightly, not wanting any trouble.
“Okay,” he says, sounding distracted as he studies their fighting technique.
I’m about to really push for us to keep going when Gareth defeats his opponent and the tight circle around him loosens a bit as the other man stumbles out. Like something out of my nightmares, Gareth slowly looks up, and his gaze lands on the two of us. His mouth draws into a thin line, and even from this distance, I can see the way his jaw works.
“Hollowborn!” he shouts.
The fighting in the other rings stop, and all eyes turn toward us. The group of at least twenty riders are all shirtless, sweaty, and on edge. There’s no kindness in their eyes, just pure animosity. This is not a situation that we should willingly step into.
I give a little wave. “I was just giving a tour of the academy, we’ll keep going.”
Grabbing Sevrin’s arm, I start to haul him away, when Gareth shouts, “Why? I think the Hollowborn could use a little exercise. Unless he’s afraid that I’ll embarrass him.”
I stare at Sevrin, silently begging him to keep walking, but any gentleness has left his face. His eyes are sharp, and his jaw is tight.
“You want to fight me, Dravari Prince?” he asks, his accent marking him as different even if everything else about him wasn’t.
Gareth’s gaze moves from where I hold his arm to him. “You bet.”
I want to beg Sevrin not to do this. There’s no winning in a situation like this, even if he wins the fight, but I know this is oneof those moments we talked about. He can’t back down. He has to show them that he’s a strong leader who isn’t afraid of him, so I release his arm, and he strides toward Gareth. All the dragon riders move like a ripple of water, moving to stand so they can see the fight.
