“No.”
“I asked if you heard the most recent rumor about Hector?”
Fire threads along my veins as I sit up a little straighter and try to not lean toward them. After all, I don’t want to be revealing.
“What rumor?” Luc asks.
“They are saying he wields two swords in battle, and he has the blood of a serpent running through his veins.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Gabriel says as he plucks up a goblet of wine from a nearby table.
“I wasn’t speaking to you. I know how you feel aboutHector.” The Carnelian smirks, gaining a quick frown from Gabriel.
“He’s a coward.” The sharpness of Gabriel’s tone surprises me.
“This is why I wasn’t talking to you,” Hero says.
“Don’t disparage Hector. He’s the future.” Luc smacks Gabriel’s arm, then moves to where Kassandra stands.
She smiles up at him, admiring him as she accepts his hand and follows him to the dance floor.
Malachi joins me at the table, sitting across from me. The lines near his eyes crease as he grins, easing some of the tension in my chest. “Hello.”
“Hello.” I reach for my goblet and take a long drink.
“How are you coping being wed to Gabriel?”
“Well enough.”
Empathy glints in Malachi’s eyes.
I take a rare opportunity to lean forward and ask a burning question. “How did you come to live among the Bloodstone?”
“It’s no secret.” Using his left hand, Malachi traces a deep grove in the table. “I saved Alden’s life.”
My mouth pops open before I snap it closed. “You did? When?”
“About two summers ago. We met in a village south of here. Someone attacked him, and I saved his life by stepping in front of a dagger meant for him.”
Why would Malachi do such a thing? Maybe he didn’t know who Alden was at the time.
“That’s mighty heroic of you.” And foolish. Oh, so foolish.
Malachi shrugs. “It was instinct.”
I witnessed Malachi protecting his younger siblings from his abusive father when he was younger. Maybe being heroic is part of who he is. He has always felt the need to protect.
“Sol.” A somber expression encases Malachi as he continues. “I heard a rumor, though I don’t know how true it is, but I thought you should know.”
My breath catches. “What is it?”
Malachi hunches forward and waits until Gabriel and Hero disappear into the crush of the crowd to speak. “Rumors have carried to the cobbler I work with. Rumors that speak of a scheme to murder Roland.”
Ice slides into my veins, freezing my chest, my lungs, my breath.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper.
“Jasper, the cobbler, believes the scheme worked. Roland is dead.”
