Piers kept his gaze turned down. No missing the choke in his voice. “He woke me in the middle of the night and told me to leave our apartment down the fire escape. When I looked back, flames shot out of the windows. I… I never saw him again. The cops assumed he died even though they found no bodies.” The words came out recited, like he’d told the story many times.
The circumstances confirmed Wycke's previous beliefs. “They wouldn’t in a magical fire.” He lowered his voice. “How old were you?”
“Seven.”
Very young to be on his own. Wycke had been in the same condition, orphaned young. For a moment, he recalled sitting in the great hall in Myrgren, Saris pleading to take Wycke with her. If not for her, he’d have suffered an equally lonely childhood.
“I am Chynne,” the cat sat, butting Piers’ idle hand to restart the petting. “I was your mother’s familiar. Now, I am yours.”
“My what?” Piers’ eyes appeared a bit unfocused.
“Your familiar. Your magical helper, as it were.”
“Your bound helper,” Wycke clarified. “Who wants you to release him.”
Chynne growled. “You didn’t have to tell him that yet.”
The door swung open. Didn’t anyone in this accursed palace knock? Oh, Saris. Much better than Radre. Saris stepped in, head high and every inch the queen. “You may wait outside, Sir Broderick. I need to speak with my brother… alone.”
Broderick mumbled words Wycke couldn’t quite make out. Saris nodded and closed the door. She homed in on Wycke. “So, you’re why Radre visited me in such a sullen mood.”
“Aren’t I always the reason he visits you in a sullen mood?”
Saris pulled her lips back into a half-smile/half-sneer. “He’s my brother, but I wish he’d stay far from me. I… I don’t trust him or how he’d use my position as queen if he thought he could.” Her gaze fell on Piers. She paused a long moment, quietly assessing. “Oh! Good evening to you, sir. Ice blue eyes, blue highlights in dark hair, high cheekbones. Am I to believe you are Pieravor Gimitri? You have the look of your mother about you.” Saris chattered away, circling, taking in every inch of Piers. “I’m sure you don’t remember me, but I used to hold you when you were a baby.”
Wycke snapped out of his stupor. “Piers, may I introduce my sister, Saris, Queen Consort of Tirra Neu.”
“Queen?” Piers did his landed fish impersonation and held out his glass, which Wycke filled.
Saris inclined her head. “I see you’ve made my brother’s acquaintance and lived to tell the tale.”
Piers had a gobsmacked look about him as he rose shakily to his feet, held out his hand—which Saris stared at—then blushed and tried a clumsy bow.
Wycke answered for him. “We’ve only just arrived from the human realm. Apparently, someone else knew of his whereabouts and set hellhounds on him.”
Piers found his tongue. “Hellhounds? Those were hellhounds? They didn’t look like dogs.”
Wycke exchanged a look with his sister. Together they said, “Baby mage.”
“What?” Piers looked a bit shaky. With a flick of his paw, Chynne conjured a chair. Piers collapsed into the soft padding without even looking.
Chynne remarked, “He vocalized far more while being—”
Wycke managed a quick silencing spell without turning Chynne into a pile of feathers. “What Chynne means is that Piers is a bit in shock right now.”
“Actually,” Chynne remarked, shrugging off the spell, “I believe drunkenness is a bigger problem at the moment.”
They watched Piers slowly drift to the side and keep on going, his momentum stopped by the chair arm. He let out a snore.
“This is the man Captain Lyvianne died for?” Saris asked, whirling on Wycke. She folded her arms across her chest.
Wycke squashed the impulse to defend Piers. “Piers referred to him as Uncle Lee.”
“Uncle Lee.” Saris hung her head. “Lyvianne had a mate and daughter. They died before he came to the castle. He’d talked of how badly he missed them.” She gave a watery smile. “Maybe he enjoyed having a child around. But I’d certainly never meant for him to stay gone forever.”
“What did you intend?”
“I’d seen only fifteen summers. We’d all have been prisoners before daybreak if I hadn't done something. I thought of nothing but keeping you safe. And the baby.”
