I Got You a Present
CAELAN
Riven had stayed the night with Sera.
I lay in bed and did not sleep. Instead, I waited for the familiar warmth that would rebound from the bond whenever she—
It was ridiculous. My brother planned an assassination against me, and what worried me was whether or not my best friend was sleeping with the woman who left me.
I was not going to think about it.
I absolutely thought about it.
The warmth never came, and dawn began to break. That was when I finally relaxed enough to sleep, but it was already time to get up.
Brie found me cursing at a cup of coffee that failed to remain upright. The aftermath was present across parchment on my desk.
What caught my attention first wasn’t the way she opened the door hard enough that it bounced off the wall. But the fury in her eyes that I had only seen once in my lifetime—the day I told her I was being sent to the border.
“It was Mallas,” she seethed. “It was Mallas, and you didn’t tell me. If I didn’t see Maelor readying soldiers, if I didn’t make him tell me, were you ever going to?”
I stared at her and said nothing.
She slammed both hands onto my desk, rattling the cup.
“He’s my brother too!” Her glassy eyes raked over my face. “There’s a chance I might lose one of you tonight, and you thought I didn’t need to know?”
“I was protecting you.”
“That’s not protection, Caelan,” she choked, tears welling in her eyes. “That’s you preparing me for loss without letting me fight it.”
I looked at the wall behind her and clenched my jaw.
“I’m joining the dinner.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You are not pushing me away. If I matter—“
My fist hit my desk before I made the decision to do so. The wood rattled, something clattered to the floor. The pressure from my magic thickened the air enough that breathing felt like an effort.
Brie flinched.
“It’s because you matter. That is precisely why I didn’t tell you,” I forced out.
“Because you never choose yourself. You don’t hesitate.
You throw yourself in front of anything that threatens me like your life is expendable.
” I dragged a hand through my hair, breath uneven.
“You left Crown. You came to the border without a thought. You keep denying yourself Maelor again and again because you think I would…what? Be inconvenienced by your happiness?”
She gaped at me with tears sliding down her cheeks. One drop. Then another.
“I lost Sera,” I said, softer now. “I lost Mallas. I am not losing you too.”
She searched my face like she was trying to recognize me. Then she shook her head slowly.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
“I do.” I forced authority into my voice that was already splintering. “You can hate me. But you are not coming to dinner.”
Realization washed over her face. Her shoulders sank as the fight drained out of her all at once.
“No,” she breathed.
“Guards.”
She stared at me, eyes wide with betrayal. “You can’t do this.”
Two guards entered and flanked Brie. She did not look at them. She only looked at me.
“Take Her Highness to her room,” I ordered. “Ensure she does not leave it.”
“Caelan,” her voice broke. “Please.”
They began to guide her back. Gently, but firmly enough to force movement.
“You can’t do this!” she cried, panic rising. “Caelan!”
The door slammed shut.
My throat closed as the room turned blurry.
I rubbed my face with both hands.
For a long moment, I sat there, listening to the echo of her screams from the corridor.
I straightened the papers on my desk and smoothed the creases.
Then I took a deep breath, clenched my fist to force the tremors out of it, and stopped thinking about anything else.
Mallas was coming, and I needed to prepare.
Mallas arrived with a smile that made me wish he had driven a blade through my heart instead.
He walked into the room the way he always did. White hair brushed back, stark against the dark navy robes edged with silver threads. Gray eyes catching the candlelight. Completely at ease, body relaxed, already reaching for me as if he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.
I had missed him.
“You look tired,” Mallas said, his hands clasped in mine.
“Diplomacy is exhausting.”
We moved to our seats at the dining table.
Mallas had brought six guards with him. The bare minimum a prince from another kingdom should have around at all times.
He peered behind me. “Where’s Brie?”
“The city,” I smiled. “Shopping, and should be returning soon.”
Mallas frowned. “I had been hoping to see our sister. I brought her silk from Aurelion that she would have loved.”
The servants brought in the dishes for the evening meal. Arranging roasted meats, vegetables, and a bread basket on the table.
“How are you?” he asked carefully, concern written plainly across his face. I almost believed it.
“Fine?”
“There have been rumors about border restrictions.” He smiled up at the servants as they bowed before retreating. “That you reinforced the borders.”
“That’s all it was, Mallas.” I busied myself with the decanter. “Just rumors.”
I handed him a glass of whiskey. My best one that I had saved in the back of the cabinet for special occasions.
He took a sip and turned the glass in his hand. “This is good.”
“Fifty-three-year reserve,” I stared into the dark liquid. “Distilled before the Treaty of Ash and Iron. Most of the casks were lost when the border distilleries burned. Only two bottles remain.”
He raised his eyebrows and made a thoughtful sound .
“Try not to look too impressed,” I sipped. “I have a reputation to maintain.”
“To what do I owe the honor?” he asked over the rim of his glass.
My gaze flickered to him, lingering for just a moment.
“Brotherhood.”
He nodded and raised his glass. “To brotherhood, then.”
We clinked our glasses together before drinking.
I watched as he refilled our glasses with the ease of someone who had eaten in my estate a hundred times. The feeling of grief settled in heavily.
“Thank you for coming to the trial.” I cut into the roast on my plate. “And for the verdict.”
Mallas waved a hand dismissively. “Nonsense. You did Winter a great favor. And I only did what was right.” His gaze lingered on mine. “That’s how we’re raised to be, after all. Our father was a model of warmth.”
He smiled, and it had never felt so cold. I wondered if it had been this way all along but I had just failed to see it.
“Mmm.” I returned to the plate in front of me.
“Have you spoken with Luceris lately?” he asked.
“Can’t say I have.”
“I had an envoy there recently. Verdant nobles have been seasoning their wine with rumors.”
“You’ve been quite fascinated with rumors, brother.” I popped an olive into my mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “It almost sounds like you’re feeding them.”
I held his gaze across the table.
Mallas didn’t look away. He leaned into the moment, gaze bright with something unreadable.
Silence hung heavy in the air.
Then he tipped his head back and laughed.
“For a moment, I thought you were serious.” He shook his head.
I forced a smile that was probably too wide.
“I wonder what Elion would’ve said about it.” He stabbed a piece of roast with his fork. “He was always the mediator between you and Luceris.”
“Elion knows when to keep out and remain neutral,” I said. “Peace is simply more profitable.”
He pointed a fork at me. “You sound like Tide.”
I shrugged a shoulder and picked up my glass.
“Though I wonder if the neutrality between the kingdoms runs on blood,” he leaned on his elbows. “Or perhaps power.”
My glass stopped midway to my lips. “It runs on loyalty to the crown.”
A slow smirk came from him. “Of course it does,” he said lightly. “If it ran on blood, then I would’ve been disqualified long ago.”
“We have never thought of you any less of our brother.” I lowered my glass.
The smirk faded from his mouth, and he looked almost thoughtful for a moment.
“No,” he said quietly. “I suppose you never did.” He took a drink from his glass. “You were always good at pretending I belonged.
I studied him.
There was nothing on his face that read like regret. It almost made me think we were wrong about him. Until my eyes moved to the guards.
Mallas’s men were positioned too well for a courtesy visit. Two in the corridor. Two had drifted from the center of the room to behind me. The remaining two stood close to Mallas himself.
Outside, Maelor should have had the delegation contained. The numbers Mallas brought into the city matched what we expected.
“The sky above your kingdom has been behaving strangely,” he said without looking up from the glass. “Unusual weather. The kind that moves like something alive.”
“Weather.”
“The starwardens recorded an unusual amount of magic saturation from your…weather anomalies.” He looked at me as if he were testing the sharpness of his blade before deciding where to drive it.
I shrugged. “The sky resulted from my accident. Magic saturation is expected.” I patted my mouth with a napkin before tossing it on top of my barely touched plate. “I wouldn’t dwell on it.”
Movement in the corridor caught my eye.
Maelor.
When I returned my gaze, Mallas was looking at me.
“I have a gift for you.” His smile did not reach his eyes.
“You know I don’t like gifts.” I replied.
“You’ll like this one.”
Maelor moved in.
The king had not sent an arrest after all.
I should have felt something about that, but I didn’t.
Mallas didn’t look at the Twilight soldiers moving into the room. Didn’t look when they restrained his men and flanked him on each side. He looked only at me.
“Caelan.” His voice was mild. “This is abrupt.”
“Why did you send them after me?” I kept my voice as flat as I could.
Mallas didn’t move. Didn’t answer me. He only kept smiling. The smile that men wore when they knew exactly what was about to happen and had planned accordingly.
I went still.
His smile spread when he noticed.
A hiss tore out of me without warning as pain detonated in my right hand. My fingers curled into a fist on their own.
My eyes blazed into his.
“Where is she?”
His shoulders relaxed as if he had been waiting in anticipation for exactly this moment, and it had arrived.
“You didn’t let me tell you about your gift.” He tilted his head.
I stood up fast enough to send my chair crashing down behind me. Air pressed inward, and the fire in the hearth went out.
Mallas looked even more amused than he had before.
“Mallas,” I warned. “Where is she?”
He didn’t answer me.
“What did you do?” I shouted at him.
He laughed and leaned back into his chair. “Two centuries and you’ve never raised your voice at me.”
I was just about to rearrange his handsome features when he spoke.
“My gift, Caelan,” he said cheerfully. “It’s about Sera and your bond.”
The air thinned. Maelor froze and glanced sideways at him.
Every muscle in me tensed.
“I’m going to break your bond.” He picked up his wine glass and drank.
The smile on his face didn’t change.
But everything else just did.