Hamish stared up at the entrance to the dining hall. His mother waited inside. Did his father and siblings also linger? I hope so. He could face her readily enough with Darshan at his side, but having them there as well would help immensely.
“It isn’t too late to leave,” Darshan whispered. His lover had slipped into speaking exclusively in Udynean from the moment they had entered the courtyard. The menacing presence of the guards milling around the gate likely had something to do with that. The man walked as if expecting an attack at any moment.
Hamish couldn’t be entirely certain that Darshan wasn’t wrong.
Ideally, this was the safest place for an ambassador, but he couldn’t say whether or not his mother’s senses had slipped enough to believe she could harm or contain Darshan without repercussion.
“I cannae just up and leave.” He had to try and repair some of the damage. Maybe even give his siblings something to build upon to possibly smooth over any grumblings the clans might have about a Udynean nobleman participating in the contest.
Darshan squared his shoulders. His whole face seemed to grow stiff, once again donning that emotionless mask. “I understand,” he murmured.
“Thank you.” He gingerly clasped the door handle. If the worst was to happen, then they would be as good as trapped until either Darshan’s magic took its toll or they managed to force their way out. “Just… stay vigilant.”
The coolness of his lover’s answering laugh prickled Hamish’s skin. “Believe me, I’m already well there.”
Hamish pushed open the door. Relief sagged his shoulders upon seeing his family. Not the children, but he wasn’t going to be facing his mother with only the source of her ire at his side.
“You!” his mother screamed. She lunged at them, stopped only by his father’s hasty grab at her waist. Whilst he effortlessly lifted her off the ground, her voice wasn’t so easily contained. “You dare to enter this hall as if you are an ally? I looked the other way when you blatantly attempted to corrupt me son, but now you dare interfere with our sacred traditions? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“Sacred?” Darshan shot back. “You are offering your son up like he is some… trinket.” He took a few steps towards her, putting himself between her and Hamish. “And whilst we are on the subject, I won that contest.”
“Won?” If his mother’s eyes bulged any further, Hamish was certain they would pop out of their sockets. “Won?” Spittle flew from her mouth with each word. “You entered under another clan’s banner. That little bout of deception alone makes you ineligible. You dinnae deserve that fecking favour!”
“Well I could hardly compete as myself. Doing so would rather defeat the purpose of everyone being anonymous, would it not?”
Rather than answer the spellster, she twisted to glare at Hamish’s father over her shoulder. “Do you nae see what your laxity has allowed?” She indicated both Darshan and himself with a wave of her hand. “Are you blind? Are you going to just stand there and let him cheat his way to your son’s soul?”
His father’s gaze flicked between his wife and them. He lowered her to the ground, keeping a firm hand on her shoulder. “It’s me understanding that he didnae actually cheat, so I dinnae see why you would think—”
“You mean nae one caught him,” his mother scoffed. “He’s a Udynean and a spellster, of course he bloody cheated. Probably killed the poor lass whose place he stole. Where is she?” she growled at Darshan. “What did you do with the woman whose clothes you wear?”
Hamish laid a hand on his lover’s arm, hoping that simple gesture was enough to keep Darshan from doing something foolish.
“They’re Muireall’s clothes, Mum,” Gordon said before anyone could utter a word. “I gave them to him. I put the idea of him competing into his head. The Dathais Clan wasnae sending anyone. He didnae cheat his way in. He went through every trial, just like the others.”
Hamish swallowed the sickly lump building in his throat. Gordon might’ve helped Darshan, but he doubted his brother was aware of the spellster using magic in the first trial to bolster his strength. Or really understood how the messy business with the arrow hadn’t been entirely Darshan’s doing despite Hamish explaining at great lengths.
His mother shook her head. “Oh, ideas were certainly put into someone’s head, but it was nae yours into his.” She whirled on Darshan, thrusting an accusing finger in his direction. “You bewitched them,” she snarled. “You’ve cast one of your insidious spells and turned me whole family to your twisted way of thinking.”
Darshan’s whole body vibrated beneath Hamish’s hand. “I have done no such thing.” Shimmers of heat rose from his fists, but he kept them at his side. “There is not a spellster alive who can hypnotise a group of people.”
“You admit it,” she crowed, her face warped in malicious glee. “Nae as a group, but individually…”
His father turned his mother around. “All your children are doing is what you’ve always taught them to do: Stand by each other. You cannae ask them to change that nature just because the thing they are standing against is you.”
Hamish stuck out his chest, welling pride stinging his eyes. His father was right. None of them had dared face her in the past, but now…
It was too much. She had made too many demands for them to back down.
“Even if the lad had used a little magic during the trials,” his father added. “There’s nae law against it.”
She stepped back from her husband as if she had never seen
