Their mother made a strangled sound, as though she wanted to add something to the conversation but bit her tongue just in time. Tears shone in her glowing golden eyes.
Enough was enough.
“Our father was a miserable bastard,” Eiric snarled. “And it breaks my heart to see you turning out just like him.”
For a moment, silence reigned in the throne room. Magnus blinked, his mouth dropping open. Then his eyes blazed. He swung at Eiric and hit him square on the jaw.
Eiric nearly fell over from the force of the blow. His world went dark at the edges, and stars danced across his vision. Then, with a second’s delay, the pain registered like an avalanche, threatening to knock him out.
He was dimly aware of a shriek—Lottie? He glanced around, worried, needing to make sure she was okay.
She stood next to him, clutching Elise to her chest, safe and untouched. He put himself in front of her on instinct, shielding her from his brother. Not that he thought Magnus would ever hit a woman, but then he hadn’t really thought he would hithim, either, so what did he know?
A baby wailed, and as Eiric’s head cleared, he saw Elise was crying, hiding her face in Lottie’s t-shirt, frightened of her mother’s tension.
Magnus—his brother, his king—stood very still, hands clutched into fists. He was staring at Lottie and the screaming girl, and all color drained from his face. He staggered a step back and glanced at Eiric.
“I’m so…” he muttered, then clamped his jaw shut.
For a moment, they simply stared at each other, the air between them charged with all their shared history. Then Magnus turned on his heel and fled, his long strides carrying him out the front door until he disappeared from view.
“Shh,” Lottie murmured to Elise.
She sat on the steps next to Aksel and scooped him up in her lap. The boy patted his sister’s cheek, and she stopped crying, comforted by her twin.
Lottie examined him from her perch. “You should ice that.”
Eiric touched his jaw, where a bruise was probably forming. “It’s fine. He didn’t knock out any of my teeth.”
His mother stepped up and peered at him. “Hm,” was all she said.
“What? You think I deserved it?” he asked, still on edge.
She shook her head sadly. “No, I agree with your assessment. Ragnar was a bastard, and I’m very sorry I didn’t do more to protect you and your brothers from him.”
Eiric put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. “That’s all in the past. But Magnus keeps forgetting that. He’s so dead set on being the perfect king according to our father’s rules, he never stops to think what kind of a monarch he actually wants to be.”
“I don’t want my kids around him,” Lottie said suddenly. “If he can’t control his temper, I won’t feel safe.”
Eiric’s mother sat next to her and patted her knee. “He’s going to calm down. And he’s not violent. I don’t say that lightly, you know. His father was a terrible man. But once Magnus gets used to you living here, you’ll see he’s a good person.”
Lottie frowned. “What do you mean, living here?” she asked.
Eiric’s stomach dropped. They’d never actually talked about this, but he assumed Lottie knew what this visit was about: bringing her to the island so she could see her new home.
“Lottie,” he began, “you and the twins can live here now. All sea dragons do, at least until they’re grown enough to control their changes.”
She struggled to get to her feet, a baby on each hip, and glared at him. “Um, no. I have a job, Eiric. I can’t commute from Drageøy five times a week.”
She wasn’t wrong. In the winter, the seas were often rough, and weeks could pass with the island being almost completely isolated from the mainland. For sea dragons, swimming in a stormy sea was an exhilarating workout, but a human wouldn’t be able to take a boat across the wide bay.
“You don’t need to work anymore, darling,” his mother said softly. “We’ll take care of you.”
Eiric groaned. It was exactly the wrong thing to say. “Mom, can you give us a moment, please?”
Biting her lip, his mother sent him a worried glance, then disappeared through the side door.
Eiric turned back to Lottie. “I’m sorry she dropped that bomb on you. But she isn’t wrong.”
