“What happened?”
What had been so dreadful that Gris kept it from him? He knew he’d gone into the river but hadn’t had time nor the desire to ponder the exact details of the situation. No, he was more concerned with Kedes attempting to drag him into the cracks of the realm.
“Theo, are you sure you want to—”
“Now.”
She hung her head. “After you went over the edge, I… Theo, you know I can’t swim. Amaris didn’t stop to think before she jumped.” Gris spread her fingers over her thighs. “When we found you, your belt was caught around a branch.”
Theo listened, but something was still missing. Something else happened.
“Theo, you weren’t breathing.”
Theo dropped beside Gris, all his thoughts lost to him.
“We pulled you out, but I was delirious. I’m so sorry. I was useless and stood there like a fool, but Amaris was calm. I first thought she was crazy when she leaned in to kiss you, but she was trying to breathe for you or something. Then she began pressing on your chest. I’m not sure what I saw, but it worked. When I came back with the others, you were alive.”
Theo couldn’t respond.First, she kissed me? Second, she saved me?Not only did she jump into a river, but she brought him back to life. The grim talons of Kedes weren’t a dream. Her skillset must be extraordinary to be capable of performing such a miracle. Was that why she was running, to protect herself? With her skills, she would be worth a fortune, but she’d discounted his initial thought of slavery. Who was she running from? What else was Amaris hiding?
“What in the crack in the realm was that?”
Sephardi and Esaias charged through the doors and pulled Theo fromhis daunting thoughts. Sephardi crossed the room with her hands balled into fists and her brown eyes wide.
“Nothing,” he shot back. To prove his health, he stood from the archery platform and crossed the room toward the wall of windows bathing the room in the afternoon sun. The heat was a needed warmth as it wrapped the room in a sauna.
“That wasn’t nothing.” The black swirls inked across Sephardi’s tawny Soyenian skin stretched as she folded her arms across her muscular chest. She was daunting, to say the least, with her tall stature and strong legs. “You passed out in the throne room.”
Gris whirled on him, but he shot her a glare. She had no room to talk after keeping what really happened in the river from him.
“I hadn’t eaten is all,” Theo lied, rubbing at his temples. His headache was growing inconvenient and further persisted with nothing to ease the ache. He was cornered but wouldn’t allow his friends to bully him into revealing what really happened in the throne room.
“If you say you’re fine, then how about a duel?” Esaias grinned.
Sephardi shoved him to the side. “This is not the time for—”
“Fine.” Theo drew his sword, and a smirk crossed Esaias’s face as they both entered the ring set in the center of the training room.
Theo kicked a battle-axe discarded on the floor. Sephardi stopped its slide with her brown leather boot. He would deal with her gritting teeth after he proved how fine he was. A good swing around the training room was precisely what he needed, not to be coddled. He cracked his neck and readied his stance.
“Are you sure about this?” Esaias asked.
Theo didn’t wait for Esaias to get into position before he lunged at him. His blade was barely a weight in his hand as he wielded it against his cousin. Esaias met his blow, and the clashing of swords rang out through the room.
Each of Theo’s moves was quick and calculated. He allowed his inner soldier to seep through the cracks in his mind and slide around his hand.Where Theo struck, Esaias parried.
“If you wish to move to more pleasing topics than whatever that was, then we can gladly discuss the Conjugation.” Esaias raised his brows as their blades pressed against each other.
Theo grunted and pushed off Esaias’s sword, hurtling his attacks one after the other. The last thing he wanted to discuss was his brother’s Conjugation. He’d avoided his stepmother earlier and her nagging to select an escort.
Esaias laughed and set to his own series of offensive moves. “You’re still planning to seclude yourself up in your room with a book instead of a woman?”
It was easy for Esaias. He won the affection of every woman he passed, with his charismatic smile and bright-green eyes always on the prowl for his next nightly companion. Theo, however, didn’t wish to attend a party with another noble his stepmother would attempt to betroth him to.
“Watch your weak side, Theo,” Sephardi shouted over Esaias’s games.
Theo grumbled, but he drew his dagger and blocked the next blow. Esaias had the uncanny ability to half pay attention in a fight and still win.
“I have an idea.” Esaias smiled.
