I put my hand over my chest, three fingers folded and two pointing toward my heart. "You know you can trust me with your secrets. I vow never to disclose them without your explicit permission."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"I'm betrothed," she said.
28
ALAR
"The true worth of a friend is revealed not when standing beside you is easy, but when remaining beside you comes at a cost."
—Elurian Proverb
"He lives," Aric announced as he and Aden entered my sitting room without knocking.
I put my caff cup down and rose to my feet. "Are you ever going to learn that it's not polite to enter without knocking or being announced?"
"Who cares?" Aden pulled me into a brotherly embrace. "Oh, wow, Alar. You are all muscle." He leaned away and started patting my arms. "What have you been doing during all these months, working in a quarry and hauling boulders?" Still holding on to me, he turned to Aric. "Come check this out. Baby brother got ripped."
I rolled my eyes as I endured another pat-down by Aric.
They were almost identical, but not quite. I could always tell them apart. It was as if one were the slightly altered reflection of the other. Same light brown hair that was chin-length but brushed back, and the same broad jaws with equally broad smiles. Even their clothes were variations on a theme, not because they were trying to look alike but because they had the same taste and used the same tailor. Or at least that was what they told everyone. They enjoyed playing tricks on people, and especially the ladies, so the clothing choices might be deliberate.
"It's good to see you two," I said.
"We've been desolate without you." Aric helped himself to the bread on my breakfast tray. "The court has been a wasteland of tedium. Do you know there hasn't been a single decent scandal since midwinter? Lady Verrish's affair with the Heldorin envoy collapsed before it produced anything interesting, and the Atherian trade delegation turned out to be exactly as dull as we expected it to be."
"A barren season," Aden agreed mournfully. "No new ladies-in-waiting, not even new sexy maids."
I sat down across from them and let them do their thing, because there was no stopping the twins mid-flow, and I'd learned a long time ago that there was no point trying. They were my brothers, and I loved them, but I could only tolerate them for a short period of time. They were loud and performative, staying away from anything of substance as if it were the plague.
A quarter hour in their company was enough to understand why our father had concluded that neither was fit to rule. They were clever in their own way, and they were charming, but they were entertainers above all else. If they hadn't been born princes, they would have no doubt found a home in the theater.
"How is Arlen doing?" I asked, when there was a gap.
Their performance faltered, and they exchanged one of those glances that communicated whole conversations between them.
"Ah," Aric said. "Yes. Poor Arlen. Not too good."
"They've got him tucked away in Grandmother's old wing." Aden sat down. "He has a guard on the door, and he doesn't want visitors. He agreed to see us once, about a week after the incident, and it wasn't good."
"He's in pain," Aric said. "He tries to hide it, but he can barely hold a conversation."
"It might be the pain medication," Aden said. "The healer is pumping him with it, and maybe it's affecting his ability to talk."
"It's the hearing loss," Aric picked up where Aden had left off. "I think he can't hear well, so he prefers not to converse with anyone, so he won't have to keep asking them to repeat what was said. It's embarrassing."
"Why would it be?" I asked. "He did a heroic thing, got hurt, and he's recuperating. It's perfectly honorable."
"He's too proud for his own good." Aden lifted his booted legs onto the table. "I think he can't deal with not being who he used to be. It's tough. I get it."
"He's depressed," Aric added. "Which, well…" He spread his hands. "Wouldn't you be? He might never walk again."
A ray of hope ignited in my chest. "Might never walk again? Does it mean he might walk?"
Aden gave me a sad smile. "The healers are not optimistic. He most likely will not walk again."
"The worst part is the look in his eyes," Aric said quietly. "His eyes are haunted, and he's jumpy, which is the part that really rattled me. A maid dropped a tray in the corridor outside, just a clatter, nothing broke, and Arlen came halfway out of his chair with his arms up over his head. Then he was furious that we'd seen it and ordered us to leave. He's been refusing to see us ever since."
