“Has your vision ever been wrong?”
Masakage shook his head. “As much as I hate the ability to see the future, I hate it even more when it doesn’t show me anything and I’m blindsided.”
“That’s so fucked up.”
“Yes, it is.” Sighing, he rolled over to face the door. “Get a good night’s sleep, X. We need to rest while we can.”
“Is that a warning?”
Masakage rolled back over to offer him his bag of coins.
Normally, he’d refuse.
Tonight, however, he was curious, so he reached in and pulled one out. It held the image of an oni on one side and something that looked like swords on the other.
He handed it off to Masakage who scowled at it. “Six swords.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Your journey is tied to hers.”
“Is that from my brother or from the alley rat?”
“Alley demon,” Masakage corrected.
Xaydin wrinkled his nose. “The Masakage I know was an alley rat like the rest of us.”
He scoffed. “Don’t live in the past, X. Wallowing in tragedy isn’t good for anyone and especially not trolls.”
Maybe, but as much as he did his best to move on, he had a hard time letting go. Losing his father had gutted him in a way nothing else had. What they’d endured in Meara’s court was even harder. “How do you manage?”
“One breath at a time, brother. One breath at a time.” And with that, he rolled over again to sleep.
Xaydin listened to the quiet. Living above a very active tavern, silence wasn’t something he heard often. As a child inMeara’s court, it’d been the sounds of agonized screams and those begging for mercy that had lulled him to sleep.
Sounds that still rang in his ears. Which was why he lived above a tavern. Silence, to him, was disturbing and he did his best to avoid it.
All his life, he’d tried to right wrongs. It was a burden his father had tasked him with.
You’re stronger than your older brother. Smarter. It’s why you must go and why I need to keep Zagrun at home. He’d never survive on his own.
Zagrun…
His other half-brother whom he hated with every breath he drew. If only his father had held Masakage’s sight, then he’d have known he was signing his own death warrant by keeping his full-blooded troll at home with him while he sent Xaydin off to suffer.
Zagrun had been stupid and easily led astray by their father’s enemies, and especially their uncle.
At least you don’t have his fate.
True. He’d only been enslaved for a short time as a child. Zagrun would never again know freedom so long as their uncle lived. It was why he didn’t kill him. He wasn’t about to spare his brother one single day of misery given the nightmare their father had endured.
It was also why the other trolls respected him and why the current king didn’t dare come after him even though everyone knew Xaydin was the rightful king of Vaskalia.
To try and come for him would be the last mistake King Gregun would make. If he ever came for him or sent an assassin, Xaydin would take the crown from his head and choke him with it.
Uncle or not.
Forcing his thoughts away from that topic, he glanced over to the woman in his bed.
