Page 84 of Feralheart

Eradin’s expression didn’t change. “Then who?”

“I don’t know.” But I needed to know, because whoever it was would try again, and next time I might not be there to stop them. “I’ll find out.”

“Why do care?” She took a step back, putting distance between us.

“I’m still trying to figure that out.”

Meckard had been walked out the gates for a few whispered words in an arena. What would two bodies in a garden cost and which person would the queen eliminate to pay it? A fountain trickled nearby, water over stone, carefully controlled. Like everything in the elite world. Except this. This was chaos I’d stepped into willingly, and I still didn’t know why.

“You should go back inside,” I said. “Stay with the other survivors. Don’t be alone.”

“Is that an order, Sire?”

We were back to that, were we?

I bristled, wanting the authority to command her to safety. I didn’t want to watch her walk back into danger.

But I couldn’t order her to do anything. She wasn’t mine to command.

“It’s advice,” I said. “From someone who just killed two professionals who were going to slit your throat.”

She held my gaze for a moment, then sheathed her blade.

“Where did you get that?” I asked.

“From a friend.”

“You fought well enough,” I said.

“Without training.”

“You tried. That’s more than most would’ve done.”

Her eyes jerked up to meet mine. “Don’t make it noble. I swung a blade I barely know how to hold and got lucky it connected. If you hadn’t—” She swallowed. “I would’ve died.”

“Yes.”

“So don’t pretend I did something brave.”

But she had. Clumsy and desperate and useless, but she’d pulled a weapon and fought instead of freezing or begging.

It told me a lot about her.

She sucked in a breath and released it. “Thank you.”

“Put it on my account,” I said.

“Your account is getting expensive, Sire.”

“I can afford it.” I tilted my head toward the fortress. “Go inside. Stay with the others.”

“Alright.” She passed close enough I caught her scent under the taint of blood. Soap and herbs and something wilder underneath. The same scent that had clung to her when she’d challenged me in the ceremonial chamber.

When she’d made me question things I’d stopped questioning years ago.

She walked away without looking back. I waited until she disappeared through the garden gate, then turned to the body.

The crown prince, killing outside of sanction, without calling guards, and for a commons woman. If I was lucky, this wouldn’t reach my mother by morning.