He gave her a short bow, out of politeness rather than respect, and turned to leave, a little surprised that he had managed to remain so calm.
“My Lord?”
He turned back. “Was there something else?”
“May I leave this chamber, now that I’m a
“Only under escort, I’m afraid. You are in the middle of a war camp, your Highness. The Lord Defender would not wish any harm to come to you.”
“You wouldn’t mind a bit, though, would you?” She met his eye evenly, her gaze a blatant challenge. Damin almost let his desire to strangle this woman get the better of him, before he swallowed his annoyance and forced himself to smile.
“I am also a guest here, Adrina, and I’m compelled to abide by the wishes of my hosts. The Lord Defender wishes to see you treated well, and I will see that you are. But don’t mistake my cooperation for weakness. If I can prove you are lying, I will cheerfully slit your throat myself.”
If his declaration frightened her, she gave no sign. Her gaze never wavered; her expression did not change. “I find your honesty a refreshing change in a Wolfblade, my Lord. Perhaps there is hope for your family yet.”
“Unlike the Fardohnyan Royal Family, we Wolfblades strive for quality, not quantity.” Damin almost enjoyed her refusal to cower in the face of his unveiled threat.
Adrina’s eyes glittered; they were quite a remarkable shade of green. “Ah, quality. Is that what you call it? One can only hope your striving for
Damin was far too aware of his uncle’s peculiarities for her barb to have much impact, but he admired her courage. You did not trade insults with a Hythrun Warlord, or impugn the character of the High Prince, unless you were very, very sure of yourself. Then she unconsciously touched her hand to the glittering wolf collar, reminding him sharply of her true nature. His momentary admiration withered and died in an instant.
“Perhaps, if you live long enough you’ll find out, your Highness.” He turned from her again, unsure how much longer he could keep his temper.
“I’d like to get out of here. Out of this keep. I want to go riding.”
Damin stopped with his hand on the latch. “I’ll see what I can arrange.”
“And I want this collar off.”
He shrugged. “It will take time, your Highness. I don’t make a habit of carrying court collars and their keys to war.”
“Not even for your own
“I don’t make a habit of bringing
She smiled maliciously. “I suppose you hardly need them, with all these big handsome soldiers around.”
He was across the room, his hands around her throat, before he realised what he was doing. The collar was warm to the touch, and ironically, was the only thing stopping him from squeezing the life out of her, there and then.
“Don’t push me too far, Adrina! I could
“Get... your... hands... off... me!” Her voice was fury coated in ice.
He let her go with a shove and strode from the room, shaking with anger, slamming the door behind him.
Tarja was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. “How did it go?”
“Wonderful!” he growled as he walked past without stopping.
“So you didn’t try to kill her, then?” Tarja called after him with a laugh.
“Only once.”
It took Tarja a few moments to realise he wasn’t joking.
Chapter 38
The next time Mikel met Dace, he had a little girl with him. She was a pretty little thing and looked to be about five or six. She had bare feet and wore nothing but a flimsy, sleeveless shift, despite the cold, although she hardly seemed to notice the weather. The child examined him with a slight frown then looked up at the older boy.
“He’s so
“What do you expect?”
Mikel glared at the pair, annoyed that they spoke as if he wasn’t there. “What are you doing here? Have you come to steal something?”
Dace grinned. “In a manner of speaking. This is Kali. She’s my sister.”
The little girl smiled up at him. “Do you love me?”
“I don’t even know you!” Mikel retorted, a little taken aback by the odd question.
She sighed. “Oh well, once you get to know me, you’ll love me then. Everybody does.”
Mikel frowned and wondered what sort of home this odd brother and sister came from, that Dace would proudly claim to be a thief and Kali would expect everyone to love her on sight. He glanced around, expecting Monthay to yell at him, but the sergeant was talking to another Defender and seemed oblivious to the fact that Mikel had stopped to talk to the children.
Dace noticed the direction of his gaze and grinned. “Don’t worry about him.”
“Easy enough for you to say,” Mikel grumbled.
“Did you want to come and play with us?” Kali asked.
“I can’t. I’m a prisoner.”
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. I’m a prisoner of war.”
“But you’re just a little boy!” Kali sounded quite upset. She turned to Dace and tugged on his sleeve. “Go and make that man in the red coat let him go. For the afternoon at least. Then we can have some fun.”
Dace pulled a face at her. “I don’t do that sort of stuff.”
She let out an exasperated sigh. “Think of it as
“Oh, well if you put it like that,” the older boy said with a grin. “That’s easy.”
Almost as soon as he spoke, Monthay suddenly turned to Mikel.
“Hey! Boy! Take the afternoon off. I don’t want to see you until dinner time!”
Startled, Mikel looked at the children with wide eyes. “How did you do that?”
“Magic,” Dace replied. “Come on!” The boy began to walk away, his sister at his side. “What shall we do, Kali?”
Mikel hesitated for a moment, then ran to catch up.
“I don’t know. Did you want to visit with your friends?”
“I have no friends here,” Mikel told her glumly as he fell into step beside them.
“What about your brother?” Dace asked. “Isn’t he with the Hythrun, or something?”
“How did you know...” he began, then he remembered what Jaymes had become and shook his head. “I have no brother.”
Kali looked up at him curiously. “Why are you lying?”
“I’m not lying.”
“Yes, you are!” she insisted. “We should have brought Jakerlon,” she added to her brother.
“Well, if I’d known he was a liar, I would have,” Dace replied.
“Who is Jakerlon?”
“The God of Liars,” Kali explained, giving him an odd look. “He doesn’t know much, does he?”
“That’s Xaphista for you,” Dace shrugged. “He pretends the rest of us don’t even exist.”