Kaithar’s shrug is slow; almost menacing. “He does. Sometimes.”
I sigh. All the more reason for me to handle father and his vicious temper. “I’ll speak with him.”
Kaithar turns to Sergeant Luvan. “The guards can escort the arriving party into the forecourt. I’ll be at Lady Solisar’s side.”
They exchange a look; a silent communication. The atmosphere has changed. The air is charged with icy tension.
“Come, my lady.” Kaithar gestures toward the gates. “Let’s go and greet your father, Baron Solisar.”
I reach his side, walking briskly to match his big strides. “About the archduke,” I say quietly; insistently. This is starting to get ridiculous. I’m like a dog with a bone now. The more Duthriss avoids me, the more I want to meet him. I’ll give him a piece of my bloody mind, too. “I trust that he will introduce himself to me before he meets with my father. It’s only decent. I am his betrothed, after all.”
“He isn’t going to do wrong by you, if that’s what you’re worried about. Corvan has his reasons for the way he goes about things.”
Did he just call him… Corvan?
I shake my head. Kaithar’s casual use of the Rahavan Crown Prince’s first name is jarring.
Nobody does that.
The big Vikurian lowers his voice conspiratorially. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but… I like you. You’re direct. It’s refreshing. I haven’t met anyone from the minor nobility like you before. I think you’ll be good for him.” Kaithar’s dark eyes are piercing, but his shrug is laced with good humor. “So anyway, let me tell you this. About Corvan…”
I hold my breath.
“Lady Solisar, I think you have enough common sense about you to understand that things… people… aren’t always what they seem. No matter what Corvan looks like; no matter the way he goes about things, or that you might not understand him… the way he is now…” Kaithar sighs; a tired, almost exasperated sound. “I’ve known him for a long time. Even though you might think he’s always had all the trappings of power and wealth at his fingertips, none of that’s come easy for him. Underneath everything… he’s got a good heart, and that’s why he’s got a little fear of what he’s become.”
“What he’s become…？”
Kaithar doesn’t answer. He turns away, leaving me no choice but to follow as we pass the looming stone walls, our footsteps ringing in the cold, still morning air.
A lone crow caws, splitting the cold morning air with a harsh, jarring note.
And then I hear a familiar voice in the background; belligerent, demanding, laced with entitlement.
My heart shrivels.
This castle feels like a den of wolves. For all his arrogance and cunning, my father has no power here.
Does he even understand that?
Can he?
15
CORVAN
I rub my forehead and frown, trying to make sense of the numbers and graphs and diagrams on my desk. I’ve arranged them in meticulous order as is my habit, by geographical location rather than name.
Over the past year, my surveyors have collected an impressive amount of data. Even in the midst of winter, they hunker down in their underground base beneath the mountains, slowly making sense of the hidden depths.
Preliminary signs point to the presence of large mineral deposits at the exploration site.
High-grade Ruvenium. Extremely rare and valuable Luthenia.
And serpenstone. Coveted by sorcerers and witches alike.
I scan the documents, my attention briefly caught by a paragraph detailing the presence of thick Luthenia veins in igneous rock.
It’s the kind of information that would make my father’s eyes glitter with avarice.
Few things can excite my old man these days.
The promise of riches is one of them.
But my concentration shatters as a pair of familiar voices reaches my ears.
It’s Kaithar and the girl. My most trusted war-commander and Finley Solisar, my apparent bride-to-be. They’re down in the square, walking.
I’ve been told she’s sharp-eyed and restless; curious, quick-witted, and not afraid to speak her mind.
And she isn’t the type to sequester herself in her room, despite the fact that I ordered the servants to make it warm and luxurious.
No. She wanted to walk. In the biting cold of morning.
Accustomed to the comforts of their opulent palaces in the sunny midlands, most ladies of the nobility would show little interest in the frozen surroundings.
Even from here, I can smell her. Her blood-scent is the sweetest, purest, most tempting thing I have ever smelled in my entire cursed life.
The hunger hits me like a punch between the eyes.
The world swirls around me. My vision blurs.
Need. Her.
I grip the edge of the desk, steadying myself.
Three days.
That’s as long as I can go, apparently, after drinking her blood.
Three days without the terrible thirst.
And then it all falls apart.
It was presumptuous of me to hope that her glorious blood might be some sort of cure-all for my condition. That the feeling of satiety might be a permanent one.
No; life is never that simple.
I’m craving her blood again, terribly, and she’s down there in the square, walking around with bloody Kaithar.
And even though I’ve been preoccupied with my work, I can’t help but listen, can I?
As they speak.
As Kaithar tells her things about me. That I’m a good person, despite my failings. And he knows I can hear him.
My commander… my old friend. He’s doing this on purpose, because he doesn’t agree with me on certain things, which he’s made very clear. An exasperated puff escapes my lips as I try and put a leash on my temper before it turns foul.
We’ve had this conversation before, more than once.
Kaithar’s one of those rare souls who’s never afraid to speak his mind around me.
“This avoidance business is pointless, Corvan. She’s here now. Doesn’t seem like she wants to be, either. You might as well just talk to her.”
“I have my reasons.”
“Well, you need to snap out of them, Your Highness. Because the way I see things, the Rahavan Empire is turning to shit in a handbasket, and recluse or not, you’re one of the few people that can keep it from going to the dogs.”
“Hell.”
“What?”
“It’s hell. Hell in a handbasket, Kaith.”
“Shit, hell, same difference. You and your insistence on detail. You see? That’s why they need you. Not bloody Ansar the Rake.”
“My brother is competent enough. He trained at the Knights’ Academy. He’s received the highest level of military and diplomatic education.”
“So what? Education doesn’t equal intelligence or decency. He’s not you.”
“You’re deviating from the point, Kaithar.”
“No I’m not. See, who sent her here in the first place? Why now, of all times? Don’t you want to know what Daddy Duthriss is scheming?”
“Not really. And he’d flay you alive if you called him that to his face.”
“Yeah, well your old man never could take a joke. And you know he doesn’t do anything without an agenda.”