“Who said I was letting my father get away with anything?”

“You will be if you go to the Queen yourself. She’ll take your head and won’t even bother to look for your father because she’ll have gotten her revenge.”

“How? He feels nothing for me.”

“Do you think Addiena will care?”

“Why are we bothering with all this?” Bercelak demanded, his forehead still swelling. “If she’s not going to listen to reason, then let’s take her back to the Queen as she wants and let her deal with it!”

Brigida’s head snapped around, her steely gaze locking on Bercelak. Black smoke snaked from her nostrils, and Bercelak immediately threw up his hands.

“Fine. Fine,” he said quickly. “Do whatever you want.”

Braith briefly closed her eyes. “Please don’t bicker about this.”

“We will if you don’t let us help you,” Addolgar promised. “At least let us take you to Arranz. He’s no big fan of the Queen either, so he’ll be more than happy to help.”

“You’ll be safe there,” Ghleanna added. “His cave is like a maze and our cousins enjoy tormenting anyone who tries to enter. You’ll have no fear of anyone tracking you down there.”

“This doesn’t seem right,” Braith hedged.

“It’s all we can do right now, child,” Brigida explained. “At least until we come up with something else or we track your father down.”

“Which I will do,” Addolgar promised. “He tried to kill me. It’s the least I can do for him.”

Finally, Braith relented. “All right. I’ll do as you ask.”

“Good,” Brigida said with a nod. “Now, you’ll need one of Arranz’s kin to accompany you. Take that one with you.” She motioned to Addolgar. “And the one with the thick neck over there.”

Ghleanna’s hand went to her throat. “Me neck isn’t thick.”

“Thick like a tree trunk,” Brigida muttered.

“It’s graceful. This neck is long and graceful.” Powerful legs landed on the table and Ghleanna crossed her arms over her chest. “Graceful,” she growled, appearing to fight an instinct to yell.

Addolgar shrugged at Braith. “Me sister’s graceful.”

“Yes,” Braith replied, her eyes briefly crossing. “I can see that.”

Chapter 8

With the chains broken, there was no point in forcing Braith to sit around at dinner with the cuffs still on, so Addolgar removed them.

She rubbed her wrists and nodded a thanks while food was brought out from the kitchens.

Addolgar retrieved wine from the side table and poured Braith a chalice full. He sat down while she sipped it and watched his kin eat, argue, and laugh at dinner.

“You all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Everything will work out, Braith. I promise.”

She gave him a smile that was clearly forced and said, “I know it will. I’m just tired.”

“You must be hungry, too.”

Braith studied the platters of meats, roasted potatoes, and still-warm crusty bread. “No. I’m not.”

“Addolgar,” his mother said to him, her small hand resting on his shoulder. “Why don’t you take Braith upstairs to get some sleep? It’s been a long day for both of you.”

When he looked into his mother’s face, she frowned a bit and motioned to the back hallway with a tilt of her head.

Taking the hint, Addolgar stood and waited for Braith to follow. She placed her chalice on the table, thanked his mother, and followed him up several flights of stairs to his room. He held the door open for her and Braith stepped in.

“I’ll see you in the morning.”

Braith did no more than nod before she crawled onto the bed, dropped her head to the pillow, and closed her eyes.

Worried, Addolgar watched her for several moments before he stepped out of the room, carefully closing the door behind him. He turned around, but took a surprised step back when he found his mother standing there. His shoulders hit the bedroom door hard.

“Hello?” a sleepy-sounding Braith called out.

“It’s all right, Braith,” he told her through the door. “Go back to sleep.”

Addolgar took his mother’s arm and led her down the hallway.

“What are you doing up here?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

“You’ll need to keep an eye on her. She says very little, that one, but I can tell—there’s all sorts of things going on in her head.”

“You don’t trust her either?”

“I don’t trust her not to throw her poor, foolish ass on the altar of her mother’s honor. She’s a Penarddun, Addolgar. They are . . . a special kind of royal. I met her aunts when I lived in Devenallt Mountain, and . . . well . . . honor means everything to them. Which I do appreciate, but this girl is trusting that bitch Addiena to do what is right, which is the stupidest thing she could ever do. So don’t let her sneak away from you on this trip.”

“I won’t, Mum.”

“Good.” Frowning hard, she studied the floor. He knew his mother was thinking about something, but he didn’t expect what she said next. “I like her.”

“You do?”

“I do. And I know exactly what she’s doing. I used to do it, too, when I was forced to spend time with Addiena. There’re all these things you want to say but you keep to yourself out of fear or guilt or whatever.”