“I was searching, not traipsing. Never traipsing.” Rorin teases from his reclined position.
My eyes roll, continuing with my tangent. “You were regent foryears, Felix, and you didn’t try to marry me off. Tell me what is different here?!”
He hangs his head, tension lining his shoulder blades. “While I served as regent, you were not missing, Eveera. You were underage, that’s it. You have always been here, ready to take on your throne.”
THUD!
Felix drops the book in front of me and begins flipping through the dusty pages until he reaches the end page filled with signatures. He taps the parchment, dust billowing up into our faces. “Look.”
I cast him a sidelong look before peering down at the paper.
It’s the original copy of their will, signatures written in ink and blood branding the bottom.
The bylaws of the Obsidian Kingdom, I see, are conveniently placed on the page next to it. “There are conditions in place for every scenario when it comes to your family.” Felix saysquietly, “they tried to think of everything. I only followed their instructions.”
I flip the page, finding on the back a portrait of my young parents, my mother’s belly swollen with me inside it. The look my father is giving her is nothing short of devotion.
“Leave me,” I whisper. My fingers ghost over the photo, and a traitorous tear falls onto the page. “You made a mistake in trusting me,” I murmur, laying my head down on top of the book. My finger outlines the shape of my mother’s youthful face, and I bite down on my lip, “a terrible mistake…”
Rorin
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Bennett and I’s swords collide, sparks flying off as each hit lands. Since arriving back in Obsidian, this has been our schedule:
Wake up, spar, eat, spar again, fail at getting Eveera to speak with me – or anyone for that matter – and then sleep.
I’d asked for the same room as before, Bennett and Will taking up the room down the hall. A few of her council members had tried persuading me into using the king’s chambers, but something about living in her parents’ wing – let alone her father’s private spare rooms – didn’t seem like a great way to earn her favor.
SCRAPPEEE!I drag the tips of our swords down to the ground in a wide arc before shoving against him, the motion knocking him off his balance.
“You’re dead,” I say while flipping my sword around in my palm to angle it over his throat.
Bennett flashes me a shit-eating grin before I feel the hilt of his sword nail my ankle bone. “OOF!” I land awkwardly on the ground next to him, his laughter loud.
“Maybe, but you’d be out a few tendons if I’d used my blade instead of my hilt.” He pops up off the ground and extends a hand. “I was being generous.”
“Ha. Riighhtt.”
He looks at me with feigned innocence as we walk over to Will and the weapons rack. It feels eerily quiet out here with just us and not the once familiar clamor of Eveera and her men. Bennett jabs me with his elbow, wiping his blade, “so how are thekinglyduties going?”
“Felix is handling them right now,” I answer curtly.
“Oh? Is Felix handling your husbandly duties too?” I cast him a sidelong glare, that conceited grin proudly back on his face.
I shove him over with my palm, muttering for him to shut up. “I’d actually have tohavea moment alone with her for any spousal interaction to happen. We’re supposed to have a council meeting today, where both of us are required to be in attendance.”
Will lifts his brow, adjusting his stance against the wall, “did they say what for?”
I shrug, snatching the cloth from Bennett to wipe down my blade. “I’m hoping it’s to finally get rid of the Suramians. The two of them have certainly overstayed.”
My men’s heads bob in unison, stopping only when someone calls out, “who’s long overstayed?” The three of us turn overour shoulders and find Caz standing on the edge of the training rings.
He has a sharp expression stuck on his face, scowling at us behind his metal and glass frames.
“You and your partner.” Will snaps, pushing off the wall to stand in line with Bennett and me. I finish wiping down my blade and sheath it at my hip.
“Devlen is demanding that he seeher,” his tone dripping with disdain, “before we go home. Now, no offense, but I would like to be gone by tomorrow.”
