Chapter 24
LUTHER
Islumped forward, glaring at the meeting room door—Shut. Locked.—and seethed at the knowledge that my Queen was on one side, and I was trapped on the other.
After the infuriating meeting with the Twenty Houses, we’d spent the afternoon in Lumnos City. Diem had been incredible, as she always was, using her Montios magic to stabilize damaged stone buildings and her Arboros magic to grow food to restock smoke-ruined kitchens.
My blood boiled at the snobbery that met her efforts. Diem’s magic, though strong, was novice. The elite Houses were accustomed to artfully carved marble and long tables laden with steaming delicacies. They were neither impressed nor grateful for her rudimentary rock walls and raw potatoes.
Equally irritating was the delight they took in their peers’ misfortune.
In Mortal City, I’d witnessed countless examples of people sacrificing what little they had to help those who had even less, but here in the heart of the realm’s wealth, the only thing being shared was gleeful speculation whether any of the top families had lost enough to open up a spot among the Twenty Houses.
I was grateful for Eleanor. She used the visit to show Diem off to the clandestine Embers she’d recruited, which gave them a chance to compare the rumors they’d heard to the truth of the woman she was. Tucked among the upturned noses, I caught more than a few looks of surprised admiration.
As nightfall arrived, Diem offered to move those without shelter to the palace. Her evening was spent delivering hot meals to their rooms and nodding silently while they vacillated between pelting her with complaints and wheedling for a seat on her new council.
Just when I was about to steal her away for a quiet dinner alone, the Ignios contingent cornered her and demanded a meeting. I was eager to join, but Diem sent me to check on her mother and brother. When I returned, I found the door locked.
“There he is,” Taran’s voice carried down the hall. “Told you if we found her, we’d find him.”
Zalaric’s eyes rolled as he and Taran sauntered toward me. “Funny, I remember suggesting we look here first, and you insisted we search the whiskey casks instead.”
Taran’s grin wavered. “I just wanted to celebrate Queenie and Lu’s return with my first drink in a month.”
His eyes darted nervously to mine, searching for my reaction.
For a long time, I had been more father than friend to Taran, urging him to abandon his self-destructive vices, and for a while, he did.
Then his brother did something unforgivable.
After that, even I couldn’t stop Taran’s dark descent into barfights and drinking.
To my deep relief, it seemed he was finally finding his way back to the light—and I was certain I knew the reason why.
My stare slid to Zalaric. “A month of no drinking? How did you manage to talk him into that?”
“Please,” he said tartly, “I cannot be blamed for every wild idea this walking tornado comes up with.” He examined his nails. “That decision was all his.” Though he feigned boredom, his mouth lifted in the smallest, almost unnoticeable smile.
The door threw open with a crack. A red-faced man went flying across the corridor, pinned to the opposite wall by a net of hissing shadows.
“How dare you,” he roared. “I will not be sent to my chambers like a child!”
“Then you will be sent to my dungeon like a prisoner,” Diem’s voice floated out. “Your choice.”
The orange-eyed woman I recognized as the Ignios High General, Nidara, approached the doorway. “You are no longer Regent. Accept it and return home.”
“Tonight,” Alixe added as she slid past Nidara.
I frowned. Alixe had been asked to join Diem’s meeting, and I had not?
Alixe ran her hands over the pinned man, pulling out weapons hidden beneath his robes while he sputtered out protests. When her arms were full of blades, she turned to Taran and dumped them in his hands.
“There’s another in his headscarf,” Nidara said. “A small one in the back.”
Alixe fished out a thin blade behind the man’s head. “I’ll take him from here, Your Majesty.”
The man glared at Nidara. “Why am I being sent off and she isn’t?”
Diem appeared at the door. “Because she was honest with me, and you were not.” She tapped a finger to her temple. “Never lie to someone who can read minds.”
Alixe gave me a quick, awkward glance before hauling the man down the corridor. I turned to Diem and pressed my palm to my chest. “My Queen, your family is safe. Your mother is at camp, and your brother has decided to remain here, in his chambers.”
I left out that both had given me an earful of complaints about the other—the latter, angry at his mother’s lies, and the former, frustrated at his unwillingness to consider the many reasons why she felt she had to. Somehow, I’d become the Bellator family mediator.
Strangely, I didn’t hate it.
Diem and Nidara retreated back to the room. “We’re almost done here.”
I stepped forward. “Would you like me to join y—”
The door closed in my face.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Taran and Zalaric exchange raised eyebrows. I clenched my jaw and slammed back down onto the bench.
“I’ll help Alixe,” Zalaric said. “You two should catch up.” He took the weapons from Taran and nudged him toward me with a pointed flare of his nostrils, then hurried away.
Taran crashed down beside me. “Alixe told everyone the Crowns lied about Queenie being with the Guardians. I can’t believe you two spent the whole time apart. I bet you were a nightmare to deal with.” He grinned, elbow digging into my ribs. “And I bet the reunion last night was wild.”
I raked a hand through my beard, debating my answer.
There was no point in pretending with Taran.
Though he accepted my need for secrets, he never let me get away with lying to his face.
But until I understood why Diem was acting so strangely, I wouldn’t risk saying anything that might betray her trust.
“Have you and Zalaric been having wild reunions while I was gone?” I asked instead.
A guilty flush rose on Taran’s face. He shoved my arm, and I finally cracked a smile.
“I like him,” Taran said. “He’s not like anyone here.
He worked for what he has. He doesn’t care who your family is or what titles you’ve got.
And he only cares how much money you have so he can find a way to take it.
” He snorted. “He persuaded five of our cousins to pay him their entire allowance. I was worried the snobs here wouldn’t accept him, but they’re all desperate to make him like them.
He has this energy about him . . .” His face turned soft and thoughtful.
I recognized that look and the profound emotion that fueled it. My own heart roared as I thought of the woman who inspired it in me.
“I used to make fun of those people who get turned on by strong magic, but when we spar together, Zal doesn’t even have to try.” Taran blew out a breath. “Fuck, it’s hot.”
He winced and adjusted his crotch, and a sympathetic laugh rumbled out of me. “Believe me cousin, I understand.”
“He and I have so much in common. We both had shit childhoods. Our fathers are top candidates for most evil man in Emarion. We both . . .” He looked down and shrugged. “We both never felt like we belonged.”
I laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it hard. I knew he’d never been at peace here. I’d talked him out of leaving Lumnos countless times, worried that without me to watch over him, his vices would quickly become his end.
He groaned and stuffed his face in his hands. “He probably thinks I’m some damn fool he can have fun with until he makes enough money to leave. It’s going to be just like before.”
“It’s not,” I said firmly. “Zalaric followed you to Lumnos, didn’t he?”
“He followed Diem here. He thinks she’ll make things better for half-mortals.” His head turned to me. “Like you.”
I wasn’t so sure Diem had been Zalaric’s reason so much as his excuse, but I also knew there was no talking Taran out of this state. His faith was not easily given. Only time would tell if Zalaric was up to the challenge.
“Did you know?” I asked.
“That you’re a half-mortal? ’Course I knew. Aunt Avana dotes over Lily and ignores you. I thought you were the result of an affair, like half our cousins are. Then I saw how much you were risking for the half-mortals. People like us don’t do that without a reason.”
“You helped, too.”
“I did it for you. If anyone else had asked, I would have said it was none of my business.” His head hung lower. “What kind of man ignores suffering until it affects someone they love?”
“Even the best men do things they’re ashamed of.” I grabbed the back of his neck. “I’m lucky to have you, Taran. So is Zalaric. If he doesn’t know that, then he’s the damn fool.” I gave him a rare grin. “But I think he does.”
We fell into silence, our minds on the strangers who entered our lives without warning and turned them upside down, leaving us begging for more. The quiet was broken by the sound of approaching footsteps, followed by the face I least wanted to see.
“Remis,” Taran grunted in greeting.
My lips twitched up at the subtle insult. My father insisted on formality, even among family. For Taran not to address him as Regent, or at least Uncle, was a targeted blow.
“Nephew,” my father gritted out. “I’d like a word with my son.”
Taran looked at me, his expression clear: Want me to tell him to fuck off?
I gave my head a subtle shake. Taran clapped my arm, then dragged himself to his feet. “Sure thing, Remis,” he said with a smirk. He whistled a Descended funeral dirge as he strolled away.
My father’s sour look shifted to me. “You could have warned me before sharing our secret with all of Lumnos.”
Hot, vengeful sparks leapt to my palms. How dare he reduce my mother’s life, her murder, to “our secret”?
“Avana is mortified,” he said archly. “The Hanoverres won’t even speak to us.”
I leaned back against the wall, staring at the door that kept me from my Queen. “Good.”