“Maybe then I’ll finally be able to retire.”
“You could do that now,” Thomas offered, acting like Ahrun’s lapse hadn’t happened. “I’ve told you before. The council doesn’t need a member of our line on it to function. Pluck out the weeds and the rest will flourish.”
“For that to happen, you need someone to replace them.” Ahrun bent a chiding look on the rest of us. “Something none of you are willing to consider.”
“Don’t worry, Father. Liam and I have our own plans,” Thomas said with an enigmatic little smile as he settled back to watch the next fight.
I glanced at Liam, wondering at this so-called plan of Thomas’s and if he planned to bring me on board before the shit hit the proverbial fan.
Nathan yawned and stretched behind us. “How much longer will we be on display like this?”
“Patience, young man,” Ahrun advised. “The evening has just begun.”
As the others settled in to watch the fight, I turned my attention back to the crowd, needing a distraction from the barbarity taking place below. The fight wasn’t what bothered me. It was the participants willingness to maim and kill. Along with the crowd’s delight at the show.
A pair of familiar eyes intercepted mine and made the roar of the arena fade away.
Arlan. The barrow lord.
For a supposed prisoner, he looked awful good, standing there watching me without a scratch on him that I could see.
It was almost like he’d never been taken prisoner at all.
Just like that, I could remember everything that Inara’s geas had compelled me to forget.
Either Baran and Inara had lied to me about what went down in the barrow or they were mistaken.
Neither possibility was a cheery thought. The first brought up uncomfortable questions about my roommate and her loyalty. The second was more terrifying. If true, it meant Baran and Inara were in over their heads, trying to rescue a man who’d already changed sides.
“Go,” Ahrun murmured, breaking my train of thought. “Explore.”
Startled, I glanced from him to Liam and Thomas. Both of whom were looking at their sire like they wanted to strangle him.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Liam said in a tight voice.
Ahrun dismissed his objection. “She’ll be fine. How much trouble can she get up to in a crowd of this size?”
“You’d be surprised,” Nathan muttered.
I didn’t think Liam was conscious of his slight nod of agreement.
“The enforcer will watch over her. That’s what he is here for,” Ahrun said, pulling his gaze from mine to look at his sons.
Liam’s jaw worked as he held his father’s stare.
“Or do you not trust in his and the rest’s abilities?” Ahrun asked in a neutral voice.
Even I sensed the test he’d just put before Liam. If his son said no, he’d be ruining the enforcers’ credibility. Saying yes, however, placed him in a catch-22. He’d have no grounds for objection.
Thomas looked between the two, a rare caution in his face. It was only after a moment of thought that he nodded at me in dismissal.
I rose slowly from my chair, my gaze on Liam’s granite hard face as I waited for him to stop me.
He didn’t look my way, his body corded tight as he stared Ahrun down.
Nathan had come off the wall, his gaze flicking between the four of us like a child who’d just witnessed his parents fighting and wasn’t sure whose side he should be on.
“Not you, my dear. You should remain here,” Ahrun interjected when Deborah made to follow me.
