Kade didn’t know what to do.
“Gross,” said Porthos. “Who’d want to bend Hokda over?”
Taiga smirked. “Like I said, you’d be surprised. He’s quite pretty, if you can get past his mouth and attitude and the fact that he hates everyone except—”
“Don’t say it.”
“—the king. I’m sure he’d happily bend for Fyar any day.”
Porthos groaned. “Oh, fuck. I just imagined it. Look what you’ve done.” He put his head in his hands. “I need to pour acid into my brain to forget this conversation ever happened.”
Taiga looked delighted. “I only speak the truth. Everyone wonders about those two. It makes sense.” He turned to Kade. “Don’t you agree, del Torau?”
Kade cleared his throat. He didn’t want to mess this up. “I could see it.”
Taiga grinned and Porthos groaned louder. “Don’t encourage him, Kade.”
Rolling his eyes, Taiga said, “Grow up, Porthos. Just because he’s your cousin, doesn’t mean you have to be a baby whenever he’s brought up.”
Kade furrowed his brow, confused. “Hokda’s your cousin?”
Porthos made a choking sound. “No!”
“Oh.” The look in Taiga’s emerald eyes reminded Kade of Hokda, that evil kind of glee. “You don’t know? Our young healing protégée here is cousin to the king. Aren’t you, Prince Porthos Yvylr?”
Kade’s jaw dropped. What? Porthos? A prince? Cousin to the king? ToFyar?
“Taiga,” Porthos warned.
“What?” Taiga shrugged loosely. “Everyone knows.”
“You’re a prince?” Kade’s mouth had just caught up to his brain.
Porthos sighed. “That title means nothing now. I’m here as an apprentice, and I’ll go on to be a healer someday. Just like you and everyone else.”
Lip curling a bit, Kade couldn’t help but say, “I thought you looked like him when I first met you.”
“I really don’t,” said Porthos, meeting Kade’s eye with a steady gaze. “Listen, I don’t want to talk about it. Can we just move on? We still have this salve to perfect.”
But Kade didn’t know how to move on from that. He felt betrayed, somehow, like Porthos being related to Fyar changed everything.
And maybe Porthos saw that in Kade’s face, because he took a shaky breath and said, “Look. It really doesn’t change anything. My cousin and I…it’s complicated. Our family is complicated. I don’t want that life and I don’t want special treatment.” He bit his lip. “I just want to be healer. That’s all. I just want to help Netyere and her people.”
Kade chewed the inside of his cheek.
Taiga looked between them. “He’s just third in line for the throne. No big deal.”
“Taiga, shut up already.”
“Alright.Touchy.” Taiga held up his hands in surrender. “Get on with your salve then. Start from the beginning. I’ll walk you through it so you don’t fuck up again. You too, del Torau. Get a move on, I don’t want to be here all day.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
WINTER CAME WITH morning chills and mild, sunny afternoons, and though the days seemed to drag on, the weeks passed quickly.
Killian watched as everything settled, as everything slowed. Kade found a rhythm in his new role, his newfriendshelping him catch up and soon the chaos that had been those autumn weeks subsided. It was concerning how close Kade was getting to Porthos. It made his skin crawl and his stomach clench whenever he saw them together, which was more often than not these days, along with another dark haired elf with distant noble blood.
Killian and Kade were both busy with their duties, both servants of a master they couldn’t refuse, but they always found time to meet. Carved out spaces in their schedules to visit each other in the Keep or in the infirmary, and of course in Killian’s quarters. After that first night he’d found Kade curled in his bed, the younger elf always seemed to find reasons to break in.
