“He was gone then,” Erich replied, looking back at Ian. So that answer was true, but it was also evasive.
“Right, but did you tell him after he returned?” Ian said.
“That was so long ago!” Erich’s voice was forcibly cheerful, but Ian could feel the strain behind it. “Do you expect me to remember every conversation I’ve ever had?” Erich was getting frustrated by this interrogation, but Ian was not done yet.
“Please tell me our sweet, innocent sister has not been informed that her childhood hero is now a common thief.” Ian let his voice rise in anger if not in pitch.
“Thank you,” Robin interjected. “That common thief is standing right here.”
Ian waved a hand at her. This was between him and Erich, and he would apologize later. He could not fathom that his brothers had known about and worked with Robin without telling him. Surely they had not drug Meena into their deception. “Meena would never survive that kind of betrayal,” he said, though his words were likely more about himself than his sister and he knew it.
“Our sweet, innocent sister who married a Majis and helped destroy two centuries’ worth of stored magic? That sister?” Erich said. “Is it her betrayal we are speaking of, or yours?”
Ian felt the urge to swing his fist against his brother’s face.
“No,” Erich continued, his voice dropping to a quieter pitch. “I did not tell her.”
“You didn’t?” Ian’s chest expanded in relief at this one small victory.
“No, I didn’t need to.” Erich grinned. “It was Robin who helped Sol escape Istroya, so I’m assuming Sol told her.”
Ian turned away from his brother.
Robin stood beside him, a smirk on her face, as she shamelessly listened to their conversation.
Ian glowered at her.
“What?” she said. “You were speaking of me. I had every right to listen.”
Ian also turned away from her. He wanted to be alone, but the small clearing under the oak tree had slowly been filling with people. The other Iseldan guard had made it back safely and was sitting beside Kiral.
The sight of Kiral’s bandaged arm brought Ian back to the present moment. His anger at Erich—and Onric, and Aden, and all of them—would have to wait. But as the anger dissipated, a confusing sadness rose to take its place.
Ian turned back to Erich. “Why?” he asked.
“Because you said,” Erich replied, “‘Never speak that name in my presence again.’”
Ian’s anger came back, strong and surprisingly explosive. “That was ten years ago!” he hissed. “I was barely sixteen.”
Erich shrugged. “But you never took it back. So we decided...Well, we never officially decided on it, but we all just thought it would be better not to tell you. Because...” Erich gestured at Ian, then turned to Robin. “Your name is the only thing that has ever made him angry.”
Ian brought a single hand up to his forehead. “Don’t tell her that.” Even if his brother’s words were true, he did not want Robin to know how badly he had missed her.
She had left him.
She had walked—well, ridden—away from him. He had written her, letter after letter. But she had never responded. So yes, when he was sixteen, the sound of her name had made himangry. But he had buried those feelings long ago, along with the name that he had not spoken aloud since. Until tonight.
“Why were you traveling south today?” Robin asked. She had dropped the jesting tone, and she sounded focused and serious. When Ian lowered his hand to look at her, the smirk was gone.
“We need to get to Meena,” Ian explained. “She sent a messenger that she and Sol will land on tonight’s tide...”
Robin nodded, and Ian realized that Sol had probably sent word to her as well.
“Of course you already know that,” Ian continued. “Did you know that they have been found out by Gareth? She requested an unmarked retinue to escort her back to the castle under cover of darkness tonight.”
Robin’s eyebrows furrowed. “Her ship is arriving sometime tonight, but she is not on it. I have already arranged for some of my men to have her disembark early, and they are taking her to a safe port further down the gulf. Meena would have known this as it was all coordinated with Sol before they left. How did this message reach you?”
Ian crossed his arms, concern knotting in his belly. “By a messenger from the port city this morning. I...did not recognize him.”
