Shaking my head, I felt my hatred for Eugene grew even more.Useless fucking Line.
“Did you know he was coming?” It was Svenna who asked the question, so clearly they weren’t as close as I’d thought, or they knew better to discuss these things out loud in a building when even the walls had ears.
Proxius shook his head. “Yes and no. He arrived earlier than I expected. I would have preferred to have been here when he arrived. But the Heir is young and eager to prove himself. He has always championed the idea of coming out of the shadows sooner rather than later.”
On that, we could agree. Wars weren’t won by arguing them into existence.
“And do you hold the same goals as Lierick Hanovan?” I asked seriously.
This time, Proxius paused, like he was weighing up how much I knew, and what the Heir had told me. Finally, he nodded. “Yes, I believe so. We both want every citizen of Ebrus to have what they deserve.”
Yeah, that wasn’t ambiguous at all. Was he forgetting I’d been raised in the poisonous quicksand of the Court of Fortaare? I’d been speaking in double-talk as my first words. I let that all show on my face: my disbelief, my distrust, and the fact I thought he was full of crap. However, I’d let it pass for now.
“So, where were you really? Although I don’t doubt you were on a boat to Fortaare, I have a sneaking suspicion that you didn’t end there.”
He ran his tongue across his front teeth. “With all due respect, Heir Vylan, I don’t think it’s any of your business.”
I narrowed my eyes at Proxius. Now that I looked at him, with his light hair that had turned prematurely gray and hishigh cheekbones, there was a resemblance to Lierick. Relative, perhaps?
“And if I choose to make it my business? Perhaps tell my father of this little insurrection?” I met his eyes, and we stared at each other. I’d been going toe to toe with monsters for years; I wasn’t so easily cowed.
Finally, he sucked in a breath, his nostrils flaring. “That would be your prerogative. But I don’t think you will. I think you also have a lot to lose.” His eyes shone, and I wondered what secrets he was privy to. Had Svenna told him about Avalon and I being in a relationship?
Proxius’s face softened. “I also believe you’re a better man than your father, Vox. There is very little that happens in these walls that I don’t know about, and I know that you don’t support the forced starvation of over half our population just because they have no discernable magic. I know you don’t look at the Twelfth Line conscripts and see a waste of resources. I know you’ve come back from Fortaare with your own war wounds.” His expression was too compassionate, grating against my skin like a pumice stone. “But mostly, I have faith in you, Vox Vylan, even if you don’t have it in yourself.”
Pressure swelled in my chest, and at first, I thought perhaps he was trying to use his abilities against me again. But no, it wasn’t the chill of mytal.It was something far more dangerous. It was gratitude. Respect. Pride. All dangerous emotions.
I stood. “I’ll keep your secrets, Proxius, but know that if our values no longer align on a particular issue”—I didn’t need to say Avalon’s name—“I’ll use every terrible skill I learned at my father’s knee to end you.”
The crazy old bastard just smiled. “Understood, Heir Vylan.”
Leaving his office, I walked through the hidden halls of the main building back toward the atrium. I’d had my suspicions about Master Proxius being the Second Line when I’d firstwalked into that meeting, but it could have blown up in my face if I’d been wrong. It had been Shay who’d made the connection—she’d run into roadblocks in Master Proxius’s history, but usually, there wasn’t an ounce of information Shay couldn’t find if she was really searching. That was her true magic. She was like a hound on the scent of prey when she needed to be.
I ran into a stormy-looking Hayle in the atrium and joined him as we walked toward the food hall. Lucio Taeme had spread a very subtle rumor that we’d reached some kind of truce, a way to explain our sudden lack of animosity. Apparently, to do that, he was pretending he and Shay were an item. I didn’t know how he managed to convince my ornery second it was a good idea, but when I’d pressed, she’d snapped back that she’d agreed and the fallout was her business.
I was more than a little worried that it would get back to my mother, and she’d insist Shay make their affair more permanent, but I trusted that Shay knew what she was doing. If she had to be forced into a political marriage, I thought perhaps Lucio Taeme was the best of a lot of bad options. He respected her, which was more than ninety percent of the other possible connections. I’d never tell the little asshole that, though.
I raised an eyebrow at Hayle. “What’s wrong?”
“Alucius said he tried to kiss her.”
I didn’t need to know any more details than that. “Did Alucius maul him?”
Hayle huffed. “No. But she reported that Avalon used her foresight magic and put a stop to his advances. So I guess his training methods worked.” He sounded like he was physically pained by the admission. “I’m still going to beat him to a pulp.”
I nodded my agreement. I wouldn’t mind seeing Lierick Hanovan bloodied. Sighing, as we entered the main part of the atrium, shining brightly beneath the dome, I lowered my voice. “She likes him, you know.”
It wasn’t a question, not really. If I’d noticed her attraction with my dull First Line senses, then Hayle would already know. It might explain some of his irritability when it came to Lierick. That, and the fact that the Second Line Heir was a sneaky bastard who would take every opportunity to weasel his way into her life.
Hayle gave me a sidelong look. “You’re taking his interest in her with less… ire than I’d have suspected.”
That wasn’t true at all, but it was nice to know I was able to hold the mask in place, even under the scrutiny of the Third Line Heir. I wanted to rip off Lierick’s hands too, but I was looking ahead, toward the future, and to all possibilities. There was a not-insignificant chance that this could all go to the craphouse and Avalon would need to run, would need to hide somewhere outside of my father’s reach.
And what better place to hide than a city that didn’t exist? A city that was almost impossible to access by land or sea?
No, if she fell in love with the Heir to the Second Line, and he loved her in return, then it could only be beneficial to Avalon, and she was what mattered. Not my own pride or jealousy, not even Hayle’s soul connection to her. Avalon Halhed needed to live; I couldn’t fathom a world without her.
I didn’t say that to Hayle, though. That unhappy line of thought would never be voiced to the universe, in case I spoke it into existence.
