Page 20 of The Cost of Blood and Bonds

I step toward the ring and the air shifts. I glance over my shoulder. Percival is walking to the edge of the yard with the five freshly awakened nobles flanking him. All silk and smooth edges, where the rest of us are dust and sweat. They stop at the line like it’s beneath them to cross it.

“Your Highness,” Percival says, nodding to Hayes. Then his eyes slide to me. “Prince Ryewood.”

Ryewood. That’s all it takes. The yard blurs, and I’m back in that alley, her voice light and confident as she says my name like it’s already hers. Hearing it come out of Percival’s mouth snaps my jaw tight.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

Grier must feel the shift because he steps in without hesitation, coming up behind me like he’s always done. “Congratulations on your awakening,” he says politely.

I give him a small grin, grateful for the interruption, for something to anchor me back here.

Percival’s attention flicks to me, brief and assessing, the kind of look meant to acknowledge rank without offering respect. Then his gaze slides past Grier and Finn entirely, like they’re part of the yard itself, before settling back on Hayes. Like only the crown prince is worth his time.

Hayes’s jaw ticks subtly. Finn catches it too and claps Hayes on the back, all easy confidence. “Hey, pretty sure I saw Rosie down in the gardens,” he says lightly. “We should go say hi.”

Hayes’s shoulders loosen as he turns. He’s already halfway gone when Rowena Thornwick smiles at him, the trials barely behind her, magic still new on her skin, like surviving puts her above the rest of us.

“Oh, Rosie,” she says. “Sweet girl. Though I suppose she’s more suited to…well, guards than princes, wouldn’t you say?”

Hayes stops and turns, and the air shifts.

“Rosalie made it through those woods without a single guard protecting her,” Hayes says, his voice cutting clean across the yard, causing heads to turn and conversations to die. “How many of you would’ve survived the trials without guards keeping you alive?” His voice rises, control slipping even further. “The same guards you seem so eager to look down on.”

“Hayes—” I start.

But he doesn’t slow. “She earned her place here,” he says, raw and furious. “Can any of you say the same?”

He draws breath again, and I feel what’s coming, the part that won’t be forgiven. I move, stepping fully into his space and closing my hand around his forearm. Not hard, but firm enough, and public.

“That’s enough,” I say, low, pitched only for him, but the yard hears it anyway.

Hayes jerks against my grip once, then stills, his jaw locking. I can see Rosie staring at us from the gardens below, and the other nobles standing stunned. Even the swordmaster doesn’t breathe.

He looks at me, and whatever he was going to say dies there.

Then I hear it. Measured footsteps, controlled and familiar. I don’t have to turn to know who it is.

Father steps out from the atrium with High Commander Voss at his side, and just like that, the yard remembers who it actually belongs to.

“Hayesland,” Father says, his practiced lightness slipping neatly into place.

Hayes doesn’t look at him at first, still staring at the nobles, jaw tight, and shoulders rigid. Father steps in close and clamps a hand on his shoulder, with his smile fixed for the watching nobles.

“Perfect timing. High Commander Voss has some court matters he’d like to review with you.”

The words are polite, but the order isn’t.

High Commander Voss doesn’t move to follow Hayes. He stays where he is, watching me. I watch Hayes go, knowing this won’t end cleanly.

Father draws a slow breath in through his nose before his gaze turns to me. The weight of it lands immediately, the way it always does.

He turns smoothly back to the nobles. “Percival, my boy. I hear your magical training is coming along nicely. Your family must be quite proud.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Percival says, bowing just deep enough to be correct.

Father smiles, the kind meant for an audience, then his eyes return to me.

“Ryewood.” His tone stays pleasant, almost cordial. “Walk with me.”