I scoffed, exhausted, terrified, hands still coated in blood. “I did not wish for anyone to notice me, Mikkal. If you ignored me, it was my desire.”
“Because you knew, right? You knew you were a melder.”
I nodded.
“So did my brother?” Mikkal winced when the bandage over his wounds caught. “I hope I am as honorable as Kael. I stand with you, Lyra. For how you have defended him, and now me, I will stand with you should you ever need it.”
It was endearing. So young, hardly able to grow a damn whisker on his chin, but Mikkal puffed out his chest, declaring his fealty in such a way that he seemed merely a younger Kael.
With a squeeze to his arm, the boy finally abandoned the wing.
I shoved through the doors, disheartened by the chaos. So many wounded. Panic choked in my throat, fear of whom I might find among the dead being stacked against the far wall.
Long dark hair brushed past me. “Yrsa? Princess, I mean.”
Yrsa spun around, still clad in a thin night shift, tears on her cheeks. Her shoulders slouched in a touch of relief, and in the next breath, the princess threw her arms around my neck.
“Lyra, gods. I was so frightened they’d found you when your room was empty.”
I rubbed her back when she shuddered in a strained sob, one she fought mightily to keep buried.
“Everyone I love was out there,” Yrsa whispered. “Damn Thane slipped out again. What is wrong with the man?”
“The prince was there?”
Yrsa’s chin trembled. “It is like he cannot stand to sit back and not fight. The feckless, bold, stupid fool.”
A smile wanted to crack through my own fears. I understood the feeling of being left behind, and I was beginning to understand how the prince earned his name of Thane the Bold.
“Have you seen any of them?”
The princess pulled away, using the heel of her hand to wipe her cheeks, and nodded. “I know my foolish future husband is alive. He’s boarded up with the king’s healer. The bastard had the audacity to smile and insist he only earned a few superficial wounds, as if that changes anything!” Yrsa’s cheeks flushed. “Emi…Emi is alive, thank the gods. She was talking, but took a deep cut to the ribs, and I don’t…I don’t…” The princess didn’t finish.
I hugged her again. “She will be all right. I will meld a soul bone over her heart if needed.”
Yrsa’s lips twitched in a small smile. “That helps, Lyra. Thank you. I saw your brother over there. He looked well.”
I blew out a breath, burying the snap of guilt for not first searching out Kael. I’d been searching for someone else.
At the sight of Kael standing, gathering his weapon belt, I nearly knocked him to the ground with my embrace.
He grunted. “Good gods, Ly. It is a good thing nothing was at risk of being split open.”
I tilted my head back. “You’re well?”
“I’m fine.”
“Mikkal is all right. He’s a great deal like you, and I think you have become his hero.”
Kael tried to keep stoic, but his smile couldn’t be stopped.
“Have you seen Edvin?” I briefly shared how his boy had gone searching, but I did not say more. Nothing about the brief alliance with the assassin who’d brought the attack.
Kael assured me Edvin was home. He took a hit to the face, but had a great deal of confidence it would scar and Freydis would not be able to look away from her husband’s new ruggedness.
His features fell after a moment. “You should never have been there.”
“I know it was reckless—”
