Chapter 25
Emrys
The wine between us was dark and strong, poured from a carafe so cold I had to protect my hands from the stinging burn with a pulse of magic.
Nisien had dumped too much of his rare frosty temper into chilling the drink.
He’d also thrown open his balcony doors when I arrived, claiming the cool night air might “calm me down.”
Ass.
Even without the curse stirring under my skin, I’d have been justified in my fury after what had befallen him and our men.
Outside, the late spring storm thundered against the castle walls, matching the mood I’d barely kept in check all day. Had I not been worried about his and the injured guardsman’s safety, I surely would’ve left the castle to find a more satisfying outlet for my vengeance.
Nisien leaned against the stone archway that led to the balcony, backlit by flickering torchlight, wine sloshing gently in his goblet. He gestured toward me with exaggerated irritation.
“We’re lucky Owain’s family is so damned understanding of tempers! You almost killed him, Emrys. After you snubbed him on arrival. Catrin said you tried to skip out on dinner too? You almost embroiled us in what would surely turn into a two-front war, Emrys!”
“I stopped,” I said flatly, swirling my wine.
“Yes. Thanks to our visiting diplomat!” He stalked inside, coat flaring, shoes loud on the stone floor. “You were half a breath from collapsing the entire eastern alliance!”
“Isca,” I corrected before I could stop myself. Her name still felt strange in my mouth, like it was a word I hadn’t earned, wouldn’t earn the right to say.
The tincture she’d sent me yesterday had given me my first real night of sleep in over a decade. I’d woken disoriented, unsure of the day, the time, or even my own name for a few hazy heartbeats. Even today I could feel its lingering effects, allowing me to control my mood more than normal.
Was it wrong that I wanted to ask her for another?
It would bring her nearer. Too near.
Even for another blessed night of sleep, I wasn’t prepared to take that risk. The curse had purred through my blood when she touched me in the hall, when her hand had rubbed my back in the training yard. It was too content for me to trust that it wasn’t simply waiting to pounce.
I loathed the ambiguity. I couldn’t read its intention when it came to Isca. Was it malice, possession in the worst way, or something worse still?
“You’re enjoying this,” I muttered, trying to ignore Nisien’s questioning look at my correction of her name.
Nisien blinked. “What?”
“Being right. For once.”
He broke into a grin, stretching as he collapsed into the opposite chair. “Of course I am. But that doesn’t make the precarious position you put us in any less real.”
I leaned forward, elbows on knees. “And you leaving the castle to bless that marriage didn’t?”
“I had to,” he said simply. “Your arse was firmly on the throne while I was gone. That’s the great strength of our arrangement, Emrys. One of us is always here. The Assembly forgets that.”
“A lot of good I’d do as king,” I muttered, drinking deep. It burned on the way down.
Nisien sobered. His fingers traced the etched stem of his goblet. “If I’d been killed, Darreth would’ve clamored for war. Even in one of your…states, you’d be the perfect king for it.”
I looked away. I couldn’t even entertain the thought.
“Speaking of war,” he continued, adjusting the cuff of his tunic too casually, “what are we going to do about Gelida?”
I gave a slow shrug, the gesture deliberately casual. It was rare that I saw Nisien in a murderous mood, and I didn’t want to add to it. “You said yourself we have no solid proof the raiders were official troops.”
His mouth pressed into a grim line. “I may have…defended the men a bit too aggressively.”
“I heard,” I said, suppressing a grin. “Flinging magic and cutting men down with your sword from horseback? The court will be buzzing about it for weeks. That’ll help repair your ‘weak’ image.”
“Image rehabilitation.” His eyes glinted. “You know I love taking a bad situation and making it work for me. Half the court’s whispering about my ferocity.”
“Exactly the outcome you wanted.”
He smirked as he returned to the table and refilled his goblet. “Think it will stain my reputation for diplomacy?”
“Unlikely.”
Now he grinned. “Which brings us to our ferociously talented visiting diplomat.”
She was. Wickedly sharp of mind and tongue, and eminently capable of handling any situation, political or otherwise, she was thrown into. There was simply too much to like about her.
Those thoughts were exactly why my shoulders tensed before the words had even finished leaving Nisien’s mouth. I swirled my wine, slower this time. “Okay…”
“She’s been receiving letters from Maeron and her family. No lovers that I’ve seen, though…” He trailed off as if expecting me to comment. Gods knew I couldn’t comment on that last bit, not without losing my composure.
“Okay,” I eventually said, narrowing my gaze. Only then did I notice how bruised and cut Nisien’s hands were. He’d given the raiders a beating, but my free fist clenched with rekindled anger. I didn’t like seeing the marks of a struggle on anyone I cared about. “Why are we discussing this?”
“Thought you might benefit from the reminder that our diplomat has a life outside the Tir she might want to return to. Knowing Maeron, he’s applied pressure on her to get us to shape up.”
Nisien was more perceptive than I’d given him credit for. “You know what that pressure is, since you’ve clearly been spying on her letters.”
“I have not!” His indignation was too sharp to be genuine. His shoulders slumped. “Fine. I read one letter out of protective curiosity.”
I couldn’t blame him for it. I might’ve done the same if I weren’t so determined to avoid anything to do with her.
“She’s close to her family,” he said, the familiar tightness in his voice hinting at a topic he was reluctant to raise, for fear of my reaction. “If Maeron squeezes them, she’ll feel it.”
“He already tries to control us,” I growled, voice thick with resentment. “We can’t allow him more leverage, not on someone he’s placed within our walls.”
Nisien didn’t hesitate. “Agreed.”
Even after all this time, we still understood each other without having to explain.
“It will have to be covert. I’ll go myself in the morning,” I suggested.
“You are anything but covert, Emrys.”
“Fine,” I snapped, hating how caged it made me feel. I didn’t like something so important being out of my direct control, but Nisien was right. “I already have the names of men I want on the job. All arrangements for this will go through me.”
Nisien studied me for a long moment, seeing too much, then nodded. “That’s settled.”
I already felt lighter.
Then his entire demeanor changed in an instant, and he looked me directly in the eye. “I’m asking you, Emrys…please stop putting Isca and this kingdom at risk by your continued absence.”
“Sometimes I have to run,” I argued, albeit weakly. “You know this.”
He nodded and leaned forward, elbows resting on the table. His voice was smooth, a little too casual to trust. “Catrin said Isca used magic on you when you attacked Owain. That true?”
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. I was thinking of the way it had felt when her hands were on my back, on my arm. The curse had silenced, soothed like a beast lulled by song.
He kept talking, even though my mind was still in a different place. “How do you think she’d respond if I asked her to use that magic publicly?”
My gaze snapped up. “What are you plotting, brother?”
He waved a hand. “Nothing vulgar. Calm your rage. She sent me a tincture of contentment. I slept like a babe for half a day. Emrys, it was powerful. She’s done well so far without using her magic.
But if an opportunity presents itself at court, I want her to demonstrate her strength.
Show the people, show the Assembly she’s not just a pretty face. ”
My goblet hit the table harder than intended.
I hated the way my chest wrenched at him calling her pretty. Hated that the monster stirred again, sharp claws scraping at the underside of my skin with ugly, irrational resentment.
She hadn’t just given the tincture to me. Of course not.
“She’s sweet,” Nisien went on, perfectly handsome face purposefully oblivious to my rising pique. “Makes me wish we could keep her in Darreth. Think the Assembly would object? I heard that Owain offered her sanctuary from you.”
Mine.
The thought came too fast, too strong. It was a roar under my skin, and this time I couldn’t choke back the thought.
I imagined slowly slicing that inhuman swine Owain from neck to navel and letting his contents spill out across the grass. The only reason I didn’t immediately ride to Larethia to make my thought reality was that I knew Owain had offered it to protect her.
And even now, my arse of a twin couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of another kingdom daring to offer refuge to one of our household’s women. From me.
As I stood, my chair scraped violently and toppled behind me.
Nisien flinched, finally looking up from his goblet. “Emrys?”
Not waiting for whatever foolish thing he was about to say next, I turned on my heel and strode out, magic sparking in my chest, looking for a release. I needed to destroy something replaceable before I hurt someone who wasn’t.
Behind me, Nisien’s voice followed, maddeningly amused. “Good night, Emrys! You know she turned him down, right?”
By the cursed gods, were my feelings that transparent?
I didn’t respond. If I had, I might not have been able to stop myself from leveling the walls of the bloody castle.