“If we get the chance to,” Ios said. “Kit always prioritises the younger kits before us.”
A sudden stillness in the arena drew Nick’s attention; Kit had stopped moving and faced him. His clear blue eyes fixed on his bandaged arms. His tail lashed to the side in an agitated arc. The kits surrounding him dodged, hyper-focused on his every move.
Kit turned sharply to his students. “Evus. Lin.” The two older boys who had earned an ‘excellent’ trotted forwards. “Lead the cool down for everyone. Who is trained in first aid?” His eyes swept over the others.
Three children who looked no older than twelve raised their hands.
“You’re to tend to all injuries and report their status to Evus and Lin. You’ll then report to me. Understood?”
Even from a distance, Nick saw the delight in Evus’s and Lin’s expressions. They nodded, and when Kit turned away, they immediately spoke up, going about their assigned duties with the utmost seriousness. Kit held out his wooden sword, and three kits raced to take it from him. He approached the fence in large strides, scanning Nick’s face, then his bandaged arms once more.
“What happened?” Kit asked when he reached them. Ios peered down, noticing the bandages too.
“How about I tell you over dinner?” Nick asked.
Kit nodded sharply. The onlookers dispersed, and Kit neatly vaulted over an empty stretch of fencing.
“Did you talk to one? Which one was it?” Ios jumped down from the fence, sidling up on Nick’s other side as they headed towards the castle. “Can we get those symbols drawn? Iwant one. Seche says I’m the fastest kit he’s ever trained.” Ios’s shoulder bumped into Nick’s.
Nick winced at the contact. Kit hissed, tail lashing out whip-fast.
Ios dodged. Grinned. “See?”
“It didn’t go as planned,” Nick admitted.
Both Ios and Kit glanced at his bandaged arms. Kit’s nostrils flared, and his tail curled protectively around Nick’s legs. Ios didn’t try to get close again. Kit kept quiet until they were sitting in the mess hall next to a warm fire and Ios, after a pointed look from Kit, left them alone.
“They lied?” Kit asked. “There were no merfolk? They harmed you?” There was a growing anger in his voice, his emotions leaking out to show in more than just his lashing tail.
“They didn’t lie.” Nick explained what happened. Kit listened, and finally he stared at Nick’s bandaged arms as if he could see the symbols beneath the gauze. “Connor can’t find me because I block him, but that’s something different.” Though perhaps more closely linked than Nick wanted to admit.
“I don’t understand,” Kit finally said. “They are your kin, and they mean you no harm.”
“They’re the reason Connor got hurt,” Nick said. “They’re the reason that my brothers and my dad are in constant contact with things that can hurt them. If it wasn’t for Adonis, I wouldn’t even be here.”
Kit watched Nick’s face closely, understanding in his eyes, sympathy in his softening mouth. His tail brushed against Nick’s leg, finding a bare patch of skin above his boot where his trousers had rucked up.
Nick scrubbed both hands over his face. “So because I never got over what happened last year, because I’m still checking windows and doors, because Ihatethem leaving my sight to go off on the ocean, rather than protection fromanything actually dangerous, these symbols are hiding me from the mermen. And I still blame them. Sitting here with you, I still feel, like, if Adonis had just never shown up, everything would be fine. Laurence would be planning to go to art school, Dad would be running his café stress-free, Connor would be –okay, Connor’s a bad example because he’d be dead if Adonis hadn’t…” He trailed off.
“Adonis saved him?”
Nick lowered his hands. “In more ways than one.”
“You care for Connor,” Kit said. “And he is merfolk.”
“He’s mostly human.”
“I saw your brother. Even from a distance, I could feel his influence, and he did not feel human to me.”
Was it time for Nick to start acknowledging all this ‘monarch’ crap? He picked up his fork. “Let’s just eat.”
Kit’s eyes flicked to the side, and he nodded to someone. A few seconds later, two young kits—one of whom Nick had picked as best Lua brewer—appeared at the table edge with two cups. One was placed before each of them, and they scuttled away again before Nick could get a word in. Nick ate and finished the cup of wine before he gathered enough resolve to face his problems.
“I’m afraid that they’ll get hurt, and I don’t know how not to be afraid of that.” Kit’s tail wound its way up his trouser leg, the pliable tufts bending out of shape against the back of his knee. “Especially now that I’ve seen how dangerous it is here.”
“There are few who would dare raise a hand to any monarch kin,” Kin pointed out.
“You did.” The words were out before Nick could stop them. He quickly jammed his legs together, stopping Kit’s tail from retreating. “Desre,” Nick corrected. “Not you.”
