“I wish I could go with you,” Ethan whispered, jolting Darshan from his fruitless search.
“And be miles away from your family?” he replied, keeping his voice just as low. He continued to follow the boy’s footsteps closely, doing his best to step in the same places to reduce noise. “All the people who love you?”
Ethan froze for a heartbeat, then dropped to his stomach.
Knowing better than to hesitate, Darshan followed suit before daring to risk a peek at what had caught the boy’s eye.
A man stood at the base of a tree not far from their position.
Ethan threw a rock off to their right, disturbing the undergrowth as it tumbled downhill. With the man momentarily distracted, they darted the other way. “What people?” the boy asked, apparently sure they wouldn’t be heard. “Me grandma willnae love me once she learns about me.”
Darshan hid his surprise in a scoff. Did the boy really mean what Darshan thought? “Of course she will.”
“She doesnae love Uncle Hamish.”
He bit his tongue, torn between placating the boy and the truth. “I am… fairly certain she does.”
“She doesnae let him live as he wants, though.” He hopped over a creek via a few suspiciously well-placed stones. “If she didnae ken, I’d understand, but she does and still insists on him doing things that make him sad. She wouldnae do those things if she loved him.”
Darshan grunted noncommittally.
“Being away from me family would be really hard,” Ethan conceded. “Especially if I went as far as Udynea. But I dinnae think it would be so bad if it meant I could find someone like you to marry.”
Darshan pressed the veil closer to his face, muffling a chuckle. “A dear boy like you would not want to marry someone like me.”
Ethan stopped abruptly beside a dense, green bush before dropping to his knees. At first, Darshan thought they were in the presence of another obstacle, but the boy whirled around to squint at him. His lips pursed as he jutted his jaw out. “You love me Uncle Hamish, right?”
Spreading his arms, Darshan gestured to the clothing he currently wore. Was his participation in these trials not indicative of such? “Clearly, I hold enough affection for your uncle to go along with this madcap plan to compete for his hand.”
The boy nodded as if expecting such a response. His face softened, a small smile lifting one corner of his mouth. “Then I definitely want someone like you when I’m older.”
Darshan ruefully shook his head. If Ethan knew even a fraction of what Darshan had done, of what he’d been like in his youth, then he doubted the boy would be so quick with his declaration. Darshan certainly wouldn’t have wanted a man like his younger self.
“Me brothers should nae be much longer.” Beside him, Ethan fidgeted before adding, “If you dinnae win me uncle’s hand, would you compete for mine?”
Caught off guard by the question, Darshan fought to repress a shudder, even though it felt terribly like a droplet of ice had tumbled down his spine. The boy was—what?—ten years of age? The very idea made his stomach roll. What was next? A query as to whether he would also proclaim himself a god like the previous emperor of the Stamekia?
Even with Darshan’s face largely hidden by the veil, his silence must’ve been answer enough for the boy as Ethan hunched his shoulders. “I meant when I’m older. I’ve six more years before I’m of marriageable age, you ken.”
That didn’t make the thought any better. “I am twenty-three years your senior. I am certain you would connect more with someone your own age. You are young, you have plenty of time.”
“Unless me grandma locks me up and kills all the boys I like.”
Shock stole Darshan’s breath for a moment. “What makes you think Queen Fiona will do that?” he asked, trying to keep his voice light. Gordon had been of the opinion that the children knew very little of what transpired when it came to their uncle and their grandmother. Clearly, they were more aware of the situation than given credit for.
“Because it’s what she did to Uncle Hamish.” He frowned out at the forest. A wave of moroseness seemed to take him, slumping his shoulders. “Everyone always acts like we cannae possibly ken all that she does to him. That we dinnae hear the guards or see how she treats him. But we do.”
Darshan bit his lip. Due to the abundance of daughters his father had sired—by-products of his once desperate need for sons to take the throne should his heir die—whenever death stalked his family it was often from a sibling’s scheming. One daughter in particular.
Onella had mellowed slightly with the birth of her son, but that made her no less dangerous. If he heeded Hamish’s desire for children, she would be the one they’d have to tread carefully around. It wouldn’t be the first time one of her targets had died in their crib.
Still, he was aware such a threat wasn’t as commonplace even in other Udynean noble houses. “I am sorry you have been burdened with such knowledge. Children should never fear their elders, especially within their own household.”
Ethan hunched his shoulders, his face growing darker. “It’s nae your fault that she would rather me uncle was dead than living how he is.”
“No, but I swear, this cycle of her hurting your uncle will stop come tomorrow.” Once it was plain he had won this absurd contest, ensuring Hamish’s safety would be his priority. No one seemed to know just how Queen Fiona would react and insisted he prepare for the worst.
They continued their wait in silence with Ethan fidgeting the whole time.
Darshan returned his thoughts to the buzz surrounding them. It wasn’t as loud as when the boys had first made themselves known, but if he focused, he could make out individual melodies amongst the noise. Those soft notes buoyed the deeper thrums of something ancient. Older than himself, at least.
He laid a
