He turned his gaze on me, studying.
“I certainly never lay with her,” I added, using all my restraint to keep my voice low and level, to not lash at the guards who held me and Evera.
Shaking his head, Harlan turned his back to me again. “I don’t believe you.”
“Harlan—”
He whipped around. “You killed Father.” His voice broke. Composing himself, he raised his chin. “Why would I ever trust you again?”
“I didn’t kill Father—”
“Did you not?” Venom laced his words now. “What ofyourdagger we found in his chest? And if you did not kill him, why did I find you standing before him as he bled out while you didnothing—”
I gazed helplessly at my brother. I felt just as useless and lost as I’d felt standing over our father, watching the blood drain from his body. “Nothing could be done.”
Harlan balled his fists. “Why did you run?”
My heart sank. Was this it? Would he never trust me? Would he not even listen, truly listen, and give me a chance? But how could I expect him to? I had run. But I’d done it because I’d believed it was the best way to keep him safe. Defeat laced my words. “I was wrong.”
A crash sounded from the castle, and we turned toward its source—a balcony with doors open and curtains blowing in the breeze.
The guard on my right tightened his grip on my arm. “The Queen’s quarters.”
59
NEIRIN
“What have you done?”Harlan spun on me. Another clattering came from the Queen’s chambers, accompanied by the shouts of guards within the castle. “Who else conspires with you?”
I stiffened. Calix.
Would he go after the Queen for what happened to his friends? I’d told the boy to stay put. Irritation tingled down my spine.
“Go,” Evera said, her eyes locked on me. Worry seeped through the bond.
“No one’s going anywhere,” said one of the soldiers restraining me as he tightened his grip.
My fox tickled against my skin—a request, not a demand. But a request for what? He was only a daft animal; he had no interest in Calix’s welfare. Did he?
“Go,” Evera said again, firmer this time.
My brother wouldn’t bring harm to her. Despite her association with me, she had not done anything wrong. I knew this, yet fear scraped at me nonetheless, my world divided. To leave Evera behind was unthinkable. Yet she could take care of herself. Her sharp mind alone would keep her one step ahead ofthe man holding her back, one step ahead of my brother, who was still learning to think in the ways of a man and not a boy.
My brother. Harlan.
He stood before me, eyes sharp with hatred. I’d seen this before. The fountain trickled. A breeze stirred the hedges.
If fate replayed itself—
Calix shouted, his voice recognizable even from this distance, but his words were impossible to make out. Heat warmed my body as the fox nudged at me, pleading. Releasing my breath, for I could not release my fears, I gave control over to him.
The shift happened fluidly, and as my arms slipped from the soldier’s confines, warping, altering, the men stepped back, baffled. Their fear scent hung around them. The black of my uniform drowned my fox as he took form. In the next moment, Evera was beside him, freeing him.
Her guard reached to pull her back under his control, but Harlan spoke out, and the man halted.
“Go,” Evera repeated, pressing her forehead to the fox’s. “Protect Calix. I will be alright. You can come back for me. He needs you now.”
Keening, my fox drew back, uncertainty rippling through him. His eyes found Harlan's— steady, distant, impossible to read. What storm brewed behind that calm? When had he learned to cage his emotions so entirely, to wear silence like armor?
