"Good point," he relented. But then he sighed. "Liam, I don't know how to keep her safe." He meant his sister; that much was clear.
"That's Rain's job," I reminded him.
But Torian shook his head. "It's not. Rain's job is to be fair - and she is." He laughed once. "If you'd seen her snap at people for calling me a monster - or Aspen a half-breed?" And a smile flickered across his lips. "She stood for Hawke without even knowing it. To her, there's no line. Not between wildling and sidhe, nor between seasons."
"Because all she knows is that here, she finally belongs somewhere. Here, she has a home." I paused for a moment to let that sink in. "So do you, Torian."
"I don't."
"You do," I insisted. "You have your family, your friends, your court, and it sounds like there might even be a romance starting."
He scoffed. "There's no romance."
"Could be."
Slowly, this barely-eighteen-year-old boy blinked his eyes up to look at me blandly. "I'm not interested in romance, nor in anyone who's looking to fuck royalty!"
"How about a man who was willing to fuck a wildling?" I countered, lifting my hand to hold off his response. "I promise that's not from Rain. Or Keir."
"Hawke," he guessed, nodding to show he wasn't surprised. "He took the brunt of Keir figuring it out, though. The times he worried about me being a monster and Hawke had to hear all of it - when it's Hawke who's the jevadu?" He shook his head.
"And what did you take the brunt of?" I asked.
Torian's entire body stilled. His gaze jumped over to the wall of shelves, settling on a picture I'd only recently put there. It was me with my family from Christmas. Rain was wearing pajamas that matched both me and Bracken. All of us were smiling in pure joy, knowing we were finally a real family.
"He had her by the throat," Torian said again, softer this time. "He wanted Aspen, but Rain got in the way. She put herselfthere. He knocked Jack to the ground. Hawke got lost in the fog." And his voice pinched slightly. "I couldn't stop it."
It wasn't much, but I'd been around this boy long enough to know his tells. That slight climb in pitch? For most people it would look like breaking down completely. For Torian Hunt, any crack in his perfect composure was too much. Now I needed to give him a place where he could shatter - safely - and then prove I would put him back together.
"But you trusted them, and that's got to be hard," I admitted. "I would've been frozen, too scared to help at all."
He nodded, pressing his lips together.
"Then trying to compare that fear to the time the Huntsman had Aspen by the hair?" I shook my head. "Nope. Not something I'd want to do. I think I'd curl up in my bed, bawling my eyes out."
He swallowed, his Adam's apple visibly bobbing.
"But you didn't stop, did you?" And I lifted a brow.
He huffed out a breath that was meant to be a laugh. "I know what you're doing, Liam."
"Then talk to me," I told him. "If you talk, I'll end this early. If you don't, we're staying a full hour. And if you want more, my entire evening is free. I don't have to be anywhere else until eight tomorrow morning. Right now, Highness, I am at your complete disposal - but that means you have to give me something to work with."
The kid licked his lips, watching me much too carefully. He'd turned eighteen mere days ago. For a race of people who lived to be nearly a thousand years old, his age made them think he was even younger. And yet, the way Torian looked at me held more wisdom and weariness than I'd seen in hardened soldiers.
"I made Hawke the Duke of the Elysian Fields," he finally said, the words mumbled.
"I think he's more than earned it."
Torian chuckled once. "But he's a wildling."
"He's still yours, Torian."
"Yeah..." He pulled in a tense breath. "He is. And Wilder's Aspen's. Duke of Avalon, she thinks. Keir swore to Rain. She knighted him."
"Sounds like your court has it all figured out."
"Not my court."
