“Not in this case,” Solentine said. “She needs legitimacy. You cannot give it to her. If you try, you will place her in front of Sauven’s archery target.”
“It doesn’t have to be his family,” Everard said to me.
“But it does,” Solentine said. “My family is available and willing. Our lineage is sound, our achievements command respect, and we are good at keeping secrets.”
“You know him,” Everard told me. “You know what he’s capable of. Think of what happens if you make a mistake and he decides his family is better off without you.”
“I swear on my father’s love that I make this offer in good faith. If you make a mistake, I will compensate for it because you will be my dear cousin.”
“He can’t be trusted,” Everard said.
“And yet you trust me with a great many things, your life included,” Solentine parried.
Solentine looked like a dog baring his teeth and Everard was a bomb about to go off. I needed to defuse this disaster before the shrapnel started flying.
“It’s not about trust. Solentine Dagarra is afraid of very few things, but right now he is afraid of me.”
Solentine’s amber eyes watched me, unreadable.
He was born of an affair his father had before his marriage. Solentine’s biological mother was a knight, and Izarn had no idea his son even existed until almost two years after said knight died in battle. Solentine had been left in the care of a woman who’d neglected him, abused him, and fed him scraps. He was eight years old when his father walked into his life and plucked him out of his misery. Solentine’s stepmother had treated him as her own son, to the point of delaying having children so she could devote all her efforts to his well-being. After that, he was raised with all the love and care a child could wish for.
Some children recovered from abuse and went on to live happy lives. Some carried scars. Solentine carried anger. He chose not to inherit the title of the margrave. He didn’t see himself as a general. Instead, he decided to look after the Demarrs in a different way, so his father apprenticed him to the previous head of the Shears. When Solentine reached his majority, Izarn gave him his own domain, the Dagarra. Although Solentine had voluntarily stepped away from his birthright, his family was the center of his universe.
“He cares only about one thing: the survival of the Demarrs,” I said. “They rescued him from the hell of his old childhood. They love him, they look up to him, and he cannot bear to disappoint them. Everything else is secondary to their safety. I know their hidden thoughts and their secret sins. I know which road they will travel on and where the ambushes lie. I’m either a catastrophic threat or the guardian of their future. Since you will not permit him to eliminate me, his only option is to make me his ally.”
Solentine offered me a razor-thin smile. “We understand each other.”
He would’ve never tried this scheme without his aunt, Griele. His father, Izarn, was a brilliant military strategist, but when it came to politics, Griele always saw the bigger picture. This adoption had to be her idea. Brune would go along with whatever his wife decided. He wasn’t a stupid man, far from it, but he was neither devious nor introspective. He was dependable, brave, and earnest, which is why Griele loved him with all the fierce love her complicated soul could deliver.
“Did your aunt put you up to it?”
“My aunt and uncle are both committed to this course.”
“This won’t stand up to scrutiny,” I told him.
Solentine pointed at the documents.
“This isn’t a forgery. This adoption is legal. We are backdating it, but every other aspect of it is authentic. If you agree, you will become one of us. My aunt and uncle, my cousin, my father and mother, and my siblings will support and defend you, in private and in public. You will be entitled to every privilege the combined power of Demarr and Dagarra can provide. This act cannot be undone.”
“And if I betray you?”
Solentine sighed. “If you betray us, I will kill you, Maggie.”
He would try.
“But even in death, you would remain a Demarr. You would be buried with every honor and ceremony in our private cemetery.” Solentine met my gaze. “I do not make this offer lightly. If you take it, I will truly accept you as my cousin without reservations, conditions, or expectations. You know how I treat my family.”
What’s scarier than a rabid honey badger in human form? A rabid honey badger in human form who is your loyal cousin.
“Solentine, my powers are not absolute. They are not hereditary either. Often, they’re not even accurate. I can’t concentrate on an event or a person and get a vision. I know what I know and that’s that. There is no way to improve on it, and my usefulness will diminish over time.”
He put a metal crest on the table. A shield depicting a rust-colored dagger on a cream background with three moons in different phases above it in a saturated blue. We come at night and stab you. Right.
“No reservations, conditions, or expectations,” Solentine repeated. “Except that you commit to being a Demarr. If you say yes, this crest is yours.”
“That ‘no conditions’ part of the offer is what makes this suspect,” I told him. “I know you.”
“True, but I also know you.” Solentine leaned forward. “I made inquiries. Apparently, a woman matching your description had come to see Galiene of Sosna. Galiene rushed off and returned with a daughter nobody knew about and the next day she took the second prince as her lover.”
