Page 33 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
I furrowed my brow, wondering when he had seen her.
“She talked to me on her way out of the ballroom with—” he cut off, possibly because I went on a more rigorous offensive for completely unrelated reasons.
At least she wasn’t treating everyone from Clan Bear like the villain from her sweeping three-week romance with Korhonan.
“You could talk to her a lot more if you wanted to attend court with me,” I muttered, effectively pivoting the conversation.
Though I had wanted to keep him away from the court, he would be a nice distraction for the rabid ladies therein. He wasquieter and generally kinder than either Taras or me, not to mention a titled Socairan with a soldier’s build.
He shook his head. “Unless you order me to that court, Van, I’m just as happy where I am.”
I could hardly blame him there, and we both knew I wouldn’t order him to do something so pointless when he already gave up pieces of his soul for the sake of being one of my men.
I disarmed him with a few more quick moves. Clapping sounded as he tumbled to the dirt floor, and his cheeks colored as we both turned to face the intruder.
The ring was one of the smaller sparring arenas available, and comprised of only my men, none of whom would clap at any point in training.
I was unsurprised to see that it was Davin, wearing a smirk that reminded me of everything—and everyoneI had come here to avoid thinking about.
“Don’t worry,” he said to Yuriy, crossing to the center of the sparring ring. “My cousin kicks my arse all the time in this ring, too.”
“The princess?” Yuriy asked.
“Worse. Lady Gwyn.” Davin said her name like it was the topic of a horror story told around campfires, shooting me a smirk as he added, “Though, I hear you’ll be getting to know her better soon.”
Yuriy raised his eyebrows as he took my proffered hand, getting to his feet.
I declined to comment, turning to fully face Davin.
“I never said he was my cousin.”
His smirk widened. “And I never said Rowan was mine.”
That was fair enough. Yuriy’s resemblance to me wasn’t as strong as his brother’s, but we shared most of the same features. They just looked softer on him.
Still, I suspected Davin had many ways of obtaining information. That had been true even in my kingdom.
His brow furrowed, his countenance turning more serious. “I won’t go announcing it to the court, though you should know that we wouldn’t allow threats to any of you within these walls.”
I shrugged noncommittally. “All the same,” I said shortly, then changed the subject. “I assume you aren’t here for fun?”
Something told me that Davin rarely sparred for fun, of his own accord, though I was sure he had been trained along with the rest of the royal family.
“Not for me, but my auntie sent me to invite you to family dinner tonight.”
His auntie, the queen. So it wasn’t an invitation I could decline, on top of which it would be foolish of me, considering the reason I was here.
“Shall I assume I’m not the only one invited to dinner?”
“Of course not,” he said. “Where would be the fun in that?”
He turned to go without waiting for my response, since we both knew I had no choice but to go. At least if I knew anything about the Lochlannian royal family, I wouldn’t be the only one uncomfortable at this dinner.
Korhonan was uptight, even with his own men. He had no idea what he had in store for him here.
Dinner was even more chaotic than I had predicted, and I hadn’t even rounded the corner.
That wasn’t a problem for me. I had been trained relentlessly to adapt to an array of circumstances. This dinner was like any other battle in the midst of enemy territory, and not unlike being in the middle of a skirmish with theBesklanovvy.