“I’ll be fine, Your Highness. I’ve been running House Bernek for years already.” Zora smoothes out her already-pristine mourning robes, collecting herself. “But I hear that man Ludvik is in the city. You might dig him up and see how he’s doing.”
Marek hasn’t heard that name in years.
Ludvik was Wing-Captain Irenka Miraz’s adjutant. A non-rider member of the dragon corps whose duty was assisting Irenka with anything she required of him. Ludvik left the dragon corps after Irenka died letting Rakos Tem escape.
And Petir Bernek was obsessed with Irenka. Her death was the catalyst for his downward spiral and official suicide.
“Maybe I will,” Marek says. “Thanks, Zora.”
“Donotmention it,” Zora replies with a bow.
Sei clings quietly to Marek’s arm until they return to the waiting carriage and horses. This time Marek waves his groom away and enters the carriage after Sei.
The carriage is too small. Even sitting on the forward bench, all the way to the left, with Sei on the opposite facing bench all the way to Marek’s right, they’re too close together. Marek prefers the open sky. He doesn’t like being enclosed. But he needs to talk to Sei in private now.
“I’m sorry for ruining the visit.” Sei twists his hands together. Then he catches himself and folds them in his lap. “I didn’t mean to upset her.”
The carriage jerks forward, and Marek settles against the bench. “You were perfect. You knocked her off balance. I wouldn’t have gotten half as much information without you.”
Sei’s mouth opens, then closes. Marek is distracted by the soft, round curve of Sei’s lower lip until Sei finds his next words. “Any help was an accident, Your Highness. I just thought she might like to know something nice about her brother.”
Marek resists the urge to knock his head against the carriage wall. Fuck, he’s an asshole. He prides himself on being straightforward, not getting tangled up in palace intrigue. But even that is a strategy. A necessary strategy, because there’s nothing people with power hate more than other people grasping for it.
Sei’s sincerity puts Marek to shame. Especially when a nagging part of Marek insists,His sincerity could be just another scheme.
“That was kind of you,” Marek says eventually. “Don’t worry about upsetting Zora. It was the sort of upset she needs right now.”
Sei twitches the curtain open. Sunlight gleams across his soft features before he sits back on the bench. “What information were you looking for?”
Marek doesn’t believe Sei is a double agent sent to wrest information from him. But if Sei was, his every distracting breath would put Marek off guard. “It’s safer if you don’t know.”
“You brought me with you, Your Highness,” Sei points out. “I won’t reveal anything.”
Fuck. Marek isn’t usually this much of a hypocrite. “Petir Bernek died the same night as your mother’s servant.”
Sei understands immediately. “Before Prince Vana disappeared.”
“Might be a coincidence. Might not.”
Marek debates how much more would be wise to share, but Sei falls quiet for a moment. Shrugging in on himself, Sei hardly takes up any space. Like he’s trying to reduce his presence. But that only means Marek focuses harder on him. Like Sei is a puzzle he needs to solve.
“I always thought having siblings might be nice,” Sei says. “I imagine reality is more complicated.”
Marek snorts. “You could say that.”
“What do you… never mind.”
“Ask whatever you want,” Marek says, because Sei seems like he needs permission. “I might not answer, but I won’t get mad.”
Sei fiddles with his coat sleeves. He always dresses warmly, clearly not used to Draskoran weather. “I know you and Prince Kazia don’t get along. Did you get along with Prince Vana?”
The carriage rocks to a halt. Marek hates not being in control of their movement. “Don’t bring up Vana in front of my father, all right?”
“I’m notthatnaive, Your Highness.”
Marek leans forward, elbows on his knees. “Vana and I got along well enough. We were never close, though. Maybe we should have been. He’s only a few years older than me, and House Dire adopted us only a few years apart. But Vana has this distance to him.”
Sei listens intently. Marek is used to people paying attention to him—mostly fellow riders jumping to his orders. Sei’s watchfulness is different.
