“Little cub? What does that even mean?” I shout, circling her again. Iza throws her head back and laughs. Taking my chance, I spin my leg, swiping hers from underneath her. She falls on the ground but immediately spins back to her feet.
“You have no idea, do you?” she says with sincerity in her voice. I don’t think I’ve heard her talk to anyone without venom lacing her words.
Pouncing again, she pummels me, and I land on my back with a thud. I hear the crowd ‘oof’ in unison. “Don’t you remember?”
I scramble to my feet, my vision now fuzzy, and I rub my head, trying to keep an eye on her. She swings for me again. Istep back as the crowd gasps, my heel precariously balancing on the black powdered edge of the ring. Iza grins and runs for me. I duck down and toss her over my head.
She lands on the ground groaning. The crowd cheers. I haven’t even realised what has happened before Arel steps into the ring, lifting my hand in the air, announcing me the winner. Ronan smirks as Kaleb jumps up and down, slapping his shoulder.
Pushing Kaleb off, he holds his hand out for me to shake.“Congratulations. Although you lost me a shit ton of coin to Kaleb.”
“Thanks for the support, Ronan,” I roll my eyes, grumbling.
Iza rolls around on the ground. I lean down with an outstretched hand. Surprisingly, she takes it. “You gonna tell me what this is about?” I ask. She was toying with me in the ring, but now she owes me some answers.
“Fine. But I need a drink first.”
Iza and I sip from our cups in silence beside the fire. Long, drawn-out minutes go by before she finally speaks, “Little cub.” She laughs under her breath. “I didn’t think I would see you again, and then one day there you were bound and weeping in that wagon on route to Zury.”
“I wasn’t weeping,” I grunt.
Iza ignores my comment, “I didn’t believe it was really you, not until you mentioned Vendyl. It’s been ten, no, fifteen years.Misneach, I feel old.” She gulps down some ale, and I stare into my cup.
“You’re my little cousin,” she blurts out.
I blink at her, my eyebrows furrowing on my head. Cousin?
“Our mothers are sisters, were… sisters. Part of an order of fighters known as Iron Claw. A stupid name I always thought. Our ancestors used to wear daggers on their fists during battles,hence the name. They were fierce and fought off the best of them. We grew up in Eilia, our family was loyal to the Tanith royals. Which you know all about.”
I nod, taking a sip of my ale. Andi’s family? My family? How do they tie together? This can’t have been a coincidence. I wonder if Iza knew Andi was in Vendyl. But then no one knew Andi was there, no one knew she survived. Except Caelan, somehow.
“Mercenaries hunted and killed anyone loyal to the Tanith’s for years after the attack on the castle. Until Zayn put an end to it. No one was safe. I was fifteen when they came for us, although I could fight, my parents made me stay behind and look after you. If anything went wrong, we were to leave. Which is what we did. I took you to your dad’s brother, Nik. He left the order years before, fed up with fighting, I’m not sure, I never asked. Then I found my own way.”
I swallowed down the contents of my cup, slammed it on the ground, and pace back and forth. “Do you know what happened to me after you ‘left me’ with my uncle? He beat me, for no reason other than the fact that I was there.”
Iza looked at her feet to avoid meeting my eye. “I didn’t know,” she whispered. Lifting her head to look at me, she says, “Wyatt, if I had known he would abuse you, I would never have left you there.” Her jaw twitches, composing herself, she says, “You were what, seven, eight? I could barely look after myself. I thought… I thought I was doing what was best for you. Get you away from this life. Have a normal childhood.”
I couldn’t argue, I did have a normal childhood, once I met Andi. I look at Iza, my cousin. I can see in her face that she’s been through a lot, living with no home, no family. No one. How can I judge her for trying to look after herself, and at fifteen? At that age, there is no way I could have been solely responsible for a child. Yes, my life was shit, the beatings and his wordswill always be with me, but the memories of Andi and Elana overpower them every time.
Sitting down beside Iza, I pour more ale in her cup. “It’s fine. It’s in the past.” Her face softens.
For the first time since meeting her, I’m gobsmacked.
“And hey, look who’s got a new family member. Bring it in.” Leaning forward to wrap my arms around her, she pushes away.
“Fuck sake, why did I tell you?” I laugh at her, nudge my cup off hers.“Little cub,” she laughs under her breath.
“You’re gonna need to explain that one.”
She snorts. “That was my nickname for you, you were fierce as a child, never backed down from a fight. Always crawling around, growling at people.” She sighs. “I’m sorry Nik broke you, but you’ve proved yourself. Those idiots really like you.”
“What’s not to like?” Settling into a peaceful truce, we watch the fire for a while until my stomach begins to rumble.
“Tell me about them. Your family.”
I don’t know if I can. I’ve been pushing thoughts of them to the back of my mind to stop the guilt tearing me apart.
“Another time. I need food, come on. My treat.”
