Still, she was curious. She had always loved a book with a good hero. An adventure.
“What kind of monster?” she asked.
She was surprised to find Leighton deflating at the question. As if this wasn’t the greatest honor that it sounded like. The realm was teeming with cursed beasts, at least according to Thom. They had terrorized people since the Cursed Night. What reason did Leighton have for such trepidation?
The crown prince rubbed his face, seeming to avoid eye contact with his brother. “It doesn’t matter now. We’re back to square one anyway.”
“Cursed sky! We weren’t even that late!” groaned Micah. In a show of frustration, he made his best attempt at kicking the sand, but from his seated position with his knees bent, all hemanaged to do was jostle his own body and kick a cloud of dust in the wind that blew back in his face.
“We weretwo dayslate,” Leighton corrected him.
Micah blew sand out of his mouth. “That’s nothing. You once waited a whole month for Efrem and I to return from Greenwitch. And that’s just across the sea, not across entire kingdoms.”
“That’s different.”
“Yeah, a few weeks different! That’s my point!”
“No, I mean—” Leighton shook his head, the blond tuft of hair swaying and catching the light. “I know the kind of trouble the two of you can get yourselves into, and the kind you can pull yourselves out of. I knew you’d make it back. Our contact at Mutiny Bay, however? He doesn’t know us. What was he supposed to do when we didn’t show? Wait forever?”
“People are always late when they travel. A couple days is hardly asking much. You’d think a businessman would know that,” grumbled Micah.
“A businessman also knows that time is money,” Leighton shot back. “And if he spent all his days waiting on people who might’ve died in their journeys, let alone changed their minds, then he’d go out of business.”
As they bickered, Kestrel’s head jerked between the two of them, struggling to keep up. When there was a lull, she managed to butt in, “What sort of business brought you to Mutiny Bay then? And what does it have to do with proving you’re ready for your crown?”
Micah’s arms shot up. “Look, it’s not all my fault is all I’m saying.”
Leighton gave him a look that said he disagreed, but rather than arguing anymore he answered Kestrel. “Rumor has it, there is a mighty beast that dwells in one of the abandonfortresses in Vallonde. The Fortress of Thirst, they call it. Have you heard of it?”
Kestrel shook her head, and the way he nodded made her feel like it was okay not to know things, like he understood her and would help her learn.
“Our plan was to meet a man in Mutiny Bay to inquire about buying some boars off him because we heard the beast has a proclivity for hunting them.”
“So much for that plan.” Micah sighed.
The fox whined, one eye twitching open.
“Surely they didn’t mean to feed them to the monster—” Kestrel said to the fox, giving its head a reassuring scratch. And then she added to Leighton— “Right? Animals are a sacred thing. At least that’s what Thom...”
The brothers exchanged another look, only this time she thought she understood it. That would be a topic for another time. For now, Leighton continued his story.
“If we could’ve helped it, the hogs would’ve survived. But I’d be lying if I said we weren’t bringing them with us to use as bait. And as I mentioned before, my intention is to keep no more lies between us; I get the sense that you’ve had enough of those to last you a lifetime.”
Kestrel’s chest tightened, her gratitude immense.
Micah averted his gaze, perhaps to give the two of them a modicum of privacy, for which she was also grateful. Leighton’s words had churned a warmth inside her that she hadn’t felt since they’d first laid eyes upon each other. Only this was more intimate. More personal. They were just strangers then, using each other to meet whatever the need was in the moment. But now they were learning about one another, discovering each other’s vulnerabilities, their fears, their strengths.
Leighton’s lips twitched in a cautious smile, one that begged for forgiveness.
The truth was, the longer they spoke, the less certain Kestrel was that he had owed the truth to her back then anyway. They’d only spent a handful of moments together in that alleyway. He hardly had the time to divulge his life story to her. But maybe that wasn’t what he was apologizing for now.
She had sensed it the moment she fled the alleyway and left him behind with his brothers. Saw the remorse in his eyes as he watched her go. He had regretted his words to her, even then. Perhaps if she had waited, he would’ve been able to explain, would’ve tried making things right.
Kestrel was too short on friends to hold a grudge now.
With a soft smile of her own, she granted him the forgiveness he sought.
Relief and appreciation washed over him. But it was short-lived when Micah, who apparently had been growing uncomfortable in the silence, clapped his hands suddenly. “Alright, so, now that the old plan is out, we need a new one. If we don’t have bait, we’ll need another advantage.”
