The family wing still maintained the pure blue and silver, however, and it was a welcome relief to just be surrounded by the reminder of our family. It was just down to us now, and I could already anticipate what was coming when we entered the shared living area and crashed down onto the sofa and chairs.
I closed my eyes, tipping my head back, hoping to prevent, or at least delay, the inevitable conversation.
“Az,” Ruri called, his voice still hoarse from crying. I sighed heavily, wrenching my eyes open and forcing my head up to meet his eyes.
“You know this wasn’t an accident,” he declared, raising a brow mulishly, his jaw jutting out like he expected a fight.
“We can’t prove that.” Balthazar reminded him, his own voice weary from the strain of the last few days. He sat in the chair beside me, his elbows on his knees and his hands in his hair, the green tone with just the slightest hint of blue making him look so much like his father.
“Maybe not, but we also can’t take any chances now,” Ruri argued back, and he wasn’t wrong there. “Gardevoir was healthy. There was no reason for his heart to juststop. It had to be magic. And since he was your heir, it means your number of remaining heirs has been halved overnight.”
“Looking to be high king?” I teased him, despite the mood in the room.
“Fuck no.” He snorted, making Balthazar and me laugh lightly. “You couldn’t pay me enough. I enjoy being a prince with little responsibility.”
I shook my head fondly, rolling my eyes at him. “You have responsibilities.”
“Yes, but nothing like what you deal with.” He conceded cheekily, though I knew he truly relished the responsibilities hedidhave. He may not want anything to do with politics, but his interest in academia had already improved our potion stores. “You cannot fucking die on me, Az.”
His tone was teasing, the way my brothers always teased me about remaining alive, so they didn’t have to sit the throne and deal with all the political fuckery of the courts. But despite the teasing, the knowledge hit all of us at the same time.Gardevoir was dead.And if it had been magic, there was every chance this was a targeted attack, one aimed directly at the throne. At my line. Atme.
“I’m not convinced Gardevoir was the intended target either,” Ruri added, looking hesitant as he spoke. His fingernails dug into his knees as he looked down, his mind already working through possibilities.
“We don’t even know if this was an attack. We have no proof,” I reminded him, but he simply brushed me off with a roll of his eyes, cocking his head at me in a gesture my brothers and I had all shared many times. Simply translated, it meant “you’re an idiot”.
“You think they were aiming for Az?” Balthazar asked as he sat up straight, looking at Ruri intently. I could practically see him vibrating in impatience as Ruri deliberated with himself for a moment.
“Either that, or they’re trying to take us out first before targeting Az,” Ruri confirmed softly, and I had to shake my head at them both.
“I’ll up the protection around you for the foreseeable future, just in case,” Balthazar murmured to me. I sighed miserably but nodded in acquiescence.
“You’re just guessing, though, Ruri,” I told him firmly. “We have no way of knowing this wasn’t natural.”
“Call it a hunch,” Ruri responded grimly. “Remember that carnival we had several months back? I had a reading done by one of the prophets there.”
I rolled my eyes at him incredulously. “At the carnival?”
“This was one of the real ones!” He protested, his frosty blue-green eyes wide, making him look even younger. I almost wanted to send him off to our mother for reassurance. She couldn’t bring herself to attend court today, still too heartbroken over the loss of her son. Perhaps sending Ruri to her would help them both.
“They told me there would be those who went after my brothers. And then this happens?” He shook his head, slumping down and looking like a pouting child, his court jacket wrinkling as the collar slid up his neck.
“So what do you suggest?” I nearly winced as the question left my mouth. I already knew what was coming. Mother had already hinted earlier that it might be time, and I was sure she’d mentioned as much to Ruri.
But I wasn’t going down without a fight, either.
“We’re too vulnerable. You need heirs, brother,” he said quietly, at least managing to appear apologetic through his worry. “And, if you host the traditional Diamond Queen Competition to find a wife, we can use the presence of all the nobility who attend to investigate this further.”
From my peripheral, I noticed Balthazar trying to hide his smile in his hands. I narrowed my eyes, shifting a heated glare between them.
“The two of you were already conspiring about this, weren’t you?” I grumped, crossing my arms, even as it pulled at my jacket, the stiff, dark teal fabric encrusted heavily in diamonds, giving it little flexibility.
“Not just them.” Another voice called, and I swung my head to see Emrys enter the living room. I rolled my eyes as he sat down beside me and threw an arm around my shoulder, his long white hair brushing across it. I preferredkeeping my own hair short with only enough on top to style it, the edges both shaved down entirely. Meanwhile, Emrys kept his well past his shoulders.
Emrys’s hair was certainly the longest of us all, with waves hanging down his back. Balthazar’s, while short, was much shaggier than mine, and Ruri liked to wear his long enough for the waves to cascade down and frame his face. He claimed the ladies loved it. I was sure they were humoring him.
“As the head of inter-court relations, I can tell you that literally everyone is talking about the fact that you only have one brother left as your heir.” He told me plainly, ignoring my wince. It’s what I paid him for, and as a friend, he also knew skirting around the issue would get him nowhere with me.
“They’re nervous about the stability of the crown,” Emrys told me, his voice gentler as his opal-colored eyes softened. “They need you to find a queen and start popping out some heirs.”
