If he hadn’t been so worried, he might have laughed at her ability to always know what was going on in his mind.
“I can talk to him,” Serill whispered.
Brela stopped in her tracks, snagging his elbow and turning him to face her. “Don’t.” Her pale eyes didn’t flicker with any emotion. “Don’t defend me. Don’t try to fix something that doesn’t matter, just… be his friend. Be what he needs you to be right now, please.”
“Itdoesmatter, Brela,” Serill said, shaking his head. “You two had a bond—“
“It means nothing,” she growled and shoved past him. “This was always ending, Serill, and now it’s more permanent. He made it clear that he hates me. Idisgusthim, and I disgust myself even more.”
He desperately wanted to argue with her, but it was clear that Brela was done talking about it. He caught up to her in a few strides. “How many knives do you have on you right now?”
“Plenty.” She eyed him cautiously. “Why?”
“If my father causes problems, can you try not to use them until I’ve attempted to reason with him? I’m not as fast as Farrah and Elias.”
And he did not want a repeat of what had happened in Aelstow.
Brela snorted. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, Serill.”
He rolled his eyes.
“I’m serious,” she said, nudging him with her hip. “You deflected Farrah’s ice, my poison dart, faced the Wraturo, lived to tell the story of a vaarasuxa, and snuck into a camp full of a bunch of sun-blessed soldiers. How many royal members in the five kingdoms can claim such a thing?”
Sliding her arm through his, she leaned closer. “None of those things matter if you don’t have a mind between your ears. Like I told you at the auction, knowledge is a more powerful weapon than a sword. You, Prince Serill of Severina, have the finest, and I believe in you. I hope I live to see the day you take the throne.”
He hoped so, too, because he still wanted to change the world. He still wanted Cason and Brela to help him. Together.
* * *
The townhousehis father had procured was rather… unimpressive. Serill supposed that was a good thing. News would have traveled fast if the King of Severina was spotted in Dredon without any formal business with the Rooke King. It would have brought unnecessary attention.
It’s why Serill and Brela had moved carefully through the city, hoods of their cloaks pulled over their eyes. Anyone who saw them walking on the street would just think they were a young couple admiring the gardens and pointing out fake historical landmarks. This was so-and-so’s house, those trees were hundreds of years old, and that bench there was donated by the Earth Scholar’s cousin’s closest friend’s dog. He wondered if anyone who overheard their conversation suspected they were just trying to make up the most outlandish theory they could to get the other to laugh.
Boelyn greeted them at the door. After a cursory glance over the prince, his gaze narrowed on Brela.
“I found your three surprisegifts, including a rather crude sketch of me pinned in the training courtyard.”
Brela gasped and threw a hand over her heart. “You wound me. That picture of you in the kygras’s teeth was some of my finest work.”
Boelyn rolled his eyes. “How many more buckets of water did you hide?”
Her grin was wicked. “A lot more than three.”
Serill bit back a laugh. “Boelyn, glad to see you got our note.”
He nodded, still glaring at Brela. “Would someone like to explain how it got delivered to the king’s throne without anyone seeing anything?”
Brela clicked her tongue. “Oh, that is a mystery you will never solve.”
She went to slide past Boelyn but he snagged her arm.Forcefully. “One mystery I would like to solve this instant is where Captain Valkip is.”
“Easy, Boelyn,” Serill said, pushing them apart. Trying to calm the murderous look on Brela’s face, he wedged his shoulder between the two. “He’s fine. We ran into some trouble with the noglida in the mountains. He just needed a little more time to recover.”
With always perfect timing, the king stepped out of the back hallway. “You made it all the way to the mountains and your captain gets taken down by a six-legged lizard? Perhaps the fire wielder isn’t as strong as I thought.”
The prince tried to hold her back, but Brela snarled over his shoulder anyway. “While you were sitting on your ass, Captain Valkip risked his life for your kingdom. He broke into an Anfroy camp to get these plans so you can prepare. You better show him some respect.”
The king merely flashed an emotionless smile, then turned his attention to Serill. “I am relieved that you returned. I do hope you have something more incriminating on Anfroy’s activities than a drawing and a cleverly crafted letter.”
