An hour later, I sat at a fire pit across from Ruck and the two Trogolese guards, with Trebalda on my right and Niako on my left. The lambent glow sharpened the angles of Niako's profile while softening his eyes... his hair... his lips. Instead of satisfying me, that one kiss had just opened the door to a new realm of possibilities and desires.

Niako turned to meet my gaze. His eyebrows lifted and lips twitched as he dipped his head in acknowledgement. Heat rose inside me in response, but now desire rather than embarrassment fueled the burn. I remembered how he yielded beneath my fingertips and gasped when my lips grazed his neck.

He could smirk at me all he wanted. I knew he was mine.

"So, Ruck," said Trebalda from my right as she poked at the fire, "Please explain why you are here representing Trog after spending the last fifteen years as Niako's guard in Rakim."

I blinked and pulled my gaze away from Niako.

Ruck said, "When Rakim raided Trog fifteen years ago, they murdered my wife and son."

Niako's head jerked toward Ruck, and the fire poker rolled out of Trebalda's hand.

Ruck squinted at the fire, eyes barely visible slits. "They also Claimed a few Trogolese, including Princess Anopa. Makash calls her Obsidian. Then the Trogolese queen asked a volunteer to infiltrate Rakim."

The woman beside him stroked the bronze hair on her cheeks and shuddered. "So Ruck burned his face to hide his heritage and applied to guard the Rakim chief's little brat."

I suddenly remembered Ruck watching Obsidian as we sat on the palace steps so long ago. "You planned to rescue the princess?" I asked.

"Hmm..." Ruck shifted and lifted a finger to scratch his lumpy nose. "Actually, Princess Anopa did not wish to simply be rescued, and the people of Trog desired more than the princess's safe return. They wanted revenge."

Trebalda lifted the poker to prod a crumbling log in the fire. "What kind of revenge?"

When Ruck's gaze flitted to Niako on my left, a cold foreboding pushed through my stomach. Suddenly, I did not want to hear Ruck's next words.

"I planned to take the chief's younger son back to Trog," said Ruck. "Everyone who lost someone to Rakim would cut a piece off the boy in a public ceremony. And I would deliver the pieces back to Rakim."

In the silence that followed, the crackling fire and hum of insects suddenly sounded ominous, and dark shadows shifted around us. Nausea bubbled in my gut like poison as my mind unwillingly conjured the image of a ten-year-old Niako, strung up and sliced to pieces. I glanced at Niako now, both to gauge his reaction and to reassure myself he was still whole.

Staring into the fire motionlessly, Niako said, "Well, that sounds... unpleasant."

"It does," Ruck grunted in agreement.

I itched to scoot closer to Niako and wrap an arm over his shoulder, but I wasn't sure the gesture would be appreciated. Instead, I laid my left hand palm-up on the ground beside me and slid it a few inches toward him.

His gaze dropped to contemplate the offer. After a moment, he reached a shaky hand toward mine. When I threaded my fingers through his, he gripped tightly.

Across the pit, Ruck's eyes locked on our joined hands, and his lips twisted in a... grimace?

No. It was a smile.

But the smile dropped before he resumed speaking.

"At first, it all seemed too good to be true. The king and queen asked nothing of my background and offered me a week off each month. And as my supervisor, Makash assured me I would not be held responsible if my charge disappeared. All I needed to do was persuade the boy to come see my sailboat. But he refused to go anywhere near water."

He was quite friendly... he kept offering to show me his sailboat, Niako had told me.

An almost imperceptible shiver passed over Niako. I squeezed his hand, and Trebalda pushed to her feet and headed toward the pile of firewood. When she returned and propped a new log up against another in the pit, Ruck continued.

"I decided to get him interested in boats by reading him stories about traveling on the sea," said Ruck. "The boy asked if I got my ratty books from the same place I got my face, and he pretended not to listen while I read. But each morning, he met me on the steps again, and I read him one more chapter."

Ruck's chest expanded and held still for a few seconds before deflating again.

"Then one afternoon, Niako disappeared during a ceremony, and Anopa traced the Trogolese symbol for lagoon into the sand. When I reached the lagoon, I found the boy alone on a ledge, and I knew my opportunity had finally arrived. But as I prepared to grab him, I saw... I saw the book in his hands."

Then Ruck's voice hitched, a choked unbalance I had never heard from him before.

"He started backing away, mumbling apologies. He thought —" His voice broke off entirely for a moment before he finished. "He thought I was angry about the book."

Niako continued to stare into the fire, but his hand twitched in mine. I rubbed my thumb in circles over the back of his hand.

Ruck cleared his throat. "So then I persuaded Trog to change the plan."

In a cautious, measured tone, Niako said, "Sounds like that boy owes you his life."

Ruck ripped a snort and shook his head. "That boy owes me nothing. When I saw what his monster brother was doing to him, I never intervened. Only thing I ever did just made it worse. I told Trebalda. She told her parents. I denied it. And she was exiled."

Trebalda released a huff of air beside me. "Why did you never intervene? And why did you deny it?"

"Couldn't risk losing the job. Princess Anopa had all of Makash's Claimed reporting what they heard to her while she painted them. Then she left Trogolese messages for me in the paint on her skin. And I carried the messages back to Trog each month."

"And it worked." My voice sounded distant to my own ears, swallowed up in the din of my mind. "Trog crushed Rakim in every battle after that."

Ruck nodded. "It did work, up until Makash killed the one called Copper a few years ago. Then Princess Anopa finally broke, and she stopped leaving messages. I thought I would try to get her out of Rakim, but she rejected my efforts. Since then, I have done nothing for Trog."

Trebalda leaned forward, elbow on her thigh and chin on her fist. "Then why did you stay in Rakim?"

Ruck hesitated. "Well... turns out that boy wasn't half as bad as he pretended to be."

Niako went very still, but his grip crushed my hand. When he spoke, his voice cracked.

"You stayed... for the boy?"

Ruck lifted his shoulders in a lopsided, uncomfortable shrug. "Somebody had to."

* * *

When we met the representative from Fooja the next afternoon, I was still so wrapped up in the revelations from the night before that I forgot to be surprised. I greeted her as though she were returning from the market — as though the world had not turned upside down since we had last met.

"Hi, Aunt Mitzy."

Her mouth fell open, her eyes widened, and her hands flicked toward me in half question and half exclamation. Windblown frizzy locks tangled around her face in jagged lines, and bangs sloped from her eyebrow on the left up to her hairline on the right.

I wondered if she had cut her hair with a sword again.

"Toom," she sputtered when she finally regained her speech. "I came here to meet with Trebalda about how to rescue you from..." Then her eyes drifted to Niako at my side. Her teeth clacked as her mouth snapped shut, and she emitted an inhuman growl.

Niako took a step back, raised a tentative hand just as high as his chest, and fluttered a few fingers. "Nice to meet you, Mitzy. Sorry about Claiming your nephew."

Mitzy snatched up a dagger from the sheath slung around her generous hips and stalked toward Niako. I side-stepped to block her and opened my mouth to speak, but Trebalda responded first, her voice low and commanding.

"Mitzy, you will not harm my brother."

Mitzy froze mid-step. After a moment, her hand with the dagger flopped to her side. "Trebalda, you said you didn't have any —"

"I know what I said. But I was wrong."

I considered trying to explain what had happened, to justify Niako's actions, to help Mitzy see him as I now saw him. But the words jumbled and stuck in my throat. Instead, I simply stepped toward Mitzy, plucked the dagger from her loose grip, and slid it back into its sheath. Then I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to my chest.

Her head now barely reached my armpits, but her soft warmth remained exactly like I remembered from my childhood. After a minute of silence, she clutched a handful of my tunic, dabbed her eyes, and then blew her nose into the fabric.

I snatched the tunic from her grasp with an appalled laugh. "Mitzy, that's disgusting!"

"You're right." She flicked my chest and snorted. "When did you last wash this thing?"

But before I could respond, Finny's voice sliced the air. "Mitzy!"

We both turned to see Finny bounding toward us. She flung herself into Mitzy's arms, knocking her back a step. Then in unison, both said "Ow," and drew back. Finny rubbed her forehead, and Mitzy rubbed her chin.

"You need to stop growing," said Mitzy.

"You need to stop cutting your own hair," said Finny.

Then Mitzy hooted with laughter and yanked Finny back in for another hug.

So engrossed in watching them, I didn't notice Trebalda beside me until she touched my elbow. When I turned toward her, she said, "Toom, when you finish greeting your aunt, please join me at the firepit where we sat last night. Now that all of the representatives have arrived, we will spend tonight celebrating our reunion with dancing and drinking. Tomorrow, decisions will be made. And before any of that happens, I would like your input."

I scraped my teeth over my upper lip. "My input? I'm flattered, but negotiations are not really my strength."

"You know more than you think you do. But I also..." She hesitated a moment, eyes flicking past me. "I also invited Niako. And he seems to do better when you are near."

* * *

When Niako and I finished meeting with Trebalda, I returned to my guest room to bathe in a warm bucket of water. Then I pulled on the fresh clothing laid out on my bed, a blue tunic and trousers which fit me surprisingly well. By the time I made my way to the grassy square at the village's center, a lilting flute already pranced over the arpeggiated chords of a harp. Liquid splashed the bottom of clay mugs, and subdued conversations slowly crescendoed.

While the budding positive energy proved infectious, I knew the attempt to ease the tensions between the various parties present could just as easily end in drawn swords. Alaski and a number of other guards stood in clusters along the outside of the square, eyeing the gathering crowd with thinly-veiled apprehension.

The celebration was a carefully-calculated risk.

My eyes were immediately drawn across the square to Niako. His left hand propped against his hip, and his right held a clay mug. Although his new black tunic and matching trousers drooped loosely on his slim frame, his proud stature somehow gave the impression of perfect tailorship. With freshly-washed black ringlets perfectly framing his face, I had the notion that he could wear a blanket and still look like a king.

Although he would probably look best in nothing at all.

Niako was chatting with Sakap, the representative from Kulas. Sakap eyed Niako frequently while he spoke, smiling broadly. At his side, Niako nodded at whatever Sakap had said and flashed an equally charming smile.

I took a slow breath. More people liking Niako should have pleased me. And if Niako liked them too, even better. Niako definitely needed more people he liked.

Yet as I watched Niako and Sakap laugh over some unknown shared humor, my stomach tightened and my nails dug into my palms. And I then noticed Sakap's slightly bulging eyes. The protruding mole above his left eyebrow. The too-slender fingers gripping his clay mug. The unnervingly straight white teeth. He was smooth. Slick. Slimy.

"Well, hello. Who are you, and where did you come from?"

I jerked my head to the left to see a curvaceous woman batting her lashes at me. Flaming red hair spilled over her shoulders, leeching the pigment from her already pale skin. Only her cheeks possessed any color, rosy spots induced from drink.

I scratched my head and then dropped my arm to lace both hands in front of me. "I am Toom from Fooja."

Her green eyes widened slightly, and then her eyelashes fluttered. "Prince Toom? I am Mik, the representative from Bund."

Niako was easily wooing the Kulas representative across the square, and I knew I should be doing the same. But my smile felt forced, and my words even more so.

"We appreciate Bund's support against Rakim," I said. "I know Bund has many excellent archers."

Mik's gaze trailed down my body and back up again, and her pink lips curved up in a smile. "I heard you are an excellent swordfighter, yourself. That must be where you got these muscles." She reached toward my forearm.

Just before she could touch me, I jerked up my hand to scratch my nose. "I am a bit out of practice, actually."

She nodded speculatively, her eyes still tracing lines over my body. "Well, I also heard you are also an excellent lay... though perhaps you are out of practice for that, too?"

I blinked and coughed into my arm before I somehow managed a measured response. "It seems the people of Bund are very interested in gossip."

She cocked her head as her smile grew. "We are interested in many things. What about you? Say, just for an example... are you interested in women, Toom?"

A burn rose to my face. If Bund truly enjoyed gossip, she likely already knew I had been with both women and men. Once, I might have been pleased or at the very least flattered to receive her interest. But now I only felt uncomfortable.

Finally, I said, "Not... not at the moment, no."

Then a tug on the sleeve of my tunic provided welcome reprieve. Glancing to my right, I said, "Hi, Finny."

"Toom, you better come," said Finny. "I think Aunt Mitzy is about to fight Ruck." 

Before I could even process her words, she grabbed my hand and tugged me toward a split-log table on the outskirts of the square. Mitzy and Ruck stood beside the table facing each other. Mitzy's hands fisted at her sides, nose crinkled in disgust and ample bosom heaving. Ruck faced her with hairless brows raised and arms folded over his chest.

I jogged to Mitzy's side and squeezed her shoulder. "Mitzy, what is going on?"

Up close, I could hear each furious breath she dragged in and snorted out. "Ruck here seems to think Niako watching you take twenty-seven lashes was perfectly justified. Twenty-seven fucking lashes!"

"Niako saved both your nephew and your niece," said Ruck. "If you don't approve of his methods, you should have saved them yourself."

Her noisy breathing cut off, and her hand shot toward the dagger at her side. I snagged her wrist before she could reach the hilt.

"Mitzy, I am sure this can be resolved without violence," I said.

"Fine." She shook off my hold and raised her palms as she met my eyes, smiling as though to say 'See how reasonable I am?' Then she said, "We will solve this with a drinking contest, instead. First to finish a mug of slurg wins."

Ruck tilted his head, and his brow bones raised even higher. "I should warn you... the Trogolese are legendary drinkers. Every Trogolese I know can outdrink a Najilan man."

"Luckily, I'm not a man," said Mitzy. Then she swiveled to thrust an arm toward a group of startled onlookers. "If you are going to watch, at least make yourselves useful. Fetch two mugs of slurg. Both filled to the brim."

The gathered crowd exchanged wide-eyed glances before two departed, dashing off toward the serving table.

I sighed heavily. "Mitzy, Finny is watching."

Gaze still fixed on Ruck, she replied, "And learning, I hope."

"Learning to drink?"

"Learning to win."

Then the two drinks arrived. As a man reached forward to hand a mug to Mitzy, a little slurg splashed over the side.

Mitzy scowled. "Give that one to Ruck. I'll not accept any advantage."

The drinks were exchanged. Ruck and Mitzy fastened eyes on each other, drinks clenched at chest-level. The crowd began an impromptu countdown in time to the perky jig the musicians had launched. When the countdown finished, the two mugs lifted in unison.

Ruck's throat bobbed with each quick gulp.

Mitzy's throat opened wide, pouring the liquid in.

Five seconds later, Mitzy's empty mug hit the table with a thud. Ruck finished shortly after her and lowered the mug slowly, blinking at Mitzy's empty mug and then raising his eyes to stare at Mitzy. As the crowd cheered, Ruck dropped his mug down next to hers.

"Suppose this is the first time I've competed against a Najilan woman," said Ruck.

"First and last," said Aunt Mitzy.

For a moment, his gaze remained fixed on Aunt Mitzy, face utterly impassive. Then his lips twitched in a smile. And a moment later, he was laughing. His laugh grated like a saw through wet wood, but the mirth crinkling his face made him look almost handsome.

And Aunt Mitzy began laughing, too.

I glanced down at Finny beside me, and she jerked up her eyebrows and her shoulders in an incredulous shrug. Then a flash of black caught my attention. Niako strode to my side, holding two mugs. He lifted one toward me with a nod, avoiding my eyes.

I frowned as I accepted the mug. "Slurg?"

"Yes."

"You know how I feel about drinking."

Still without looking my way, he shrugged. "If you don't want to drink, don't drink. But you are not your father." And then he slipped back into the crowd.

The crusted clay felt rough and heavy in my hand, weighted by a thousand memories of my father drowning his sorrows in nool. I jiggled the mug and watched the amber liquid splash up against the side. Liquid poison.

You are not your father.

My eyes fell closed briefly. And when I opened them, the liquid suddenly appeared innocuous. I lifted the mug to my lips to take a sip. The drink felt cool and refreshing on my tongue, perhaps a bit minty. When I swallowed, warmth spread through me almost immediately.

And the moment I felt that warmth, I wanted only to be with Niako.

I spotted him right away, but reaching him proved difficult. The crowd converged before me with each step as a new person greeted me. Some knew who I was, and others did not. Some greeted me with delight, while others chanced a hesitant glance toward Trebalda.

Trebalda appeared to be the only adult refusing any slurg. I saw a man and later a woman approach her with a mug, but Trebalda turned them away with a tight smile. Her analytical gaze traveled across the crowd like one discerning bluffs in a card game.

When I reached Niako, he was chatting with a woman I did not recognize and swigging from his mug. Even when I came within several feet of him, he still refused to look at me. I wondered suddenly if he regretted kissing me. Perhaps the kiss was too much all at once. Or perhaps he hadn't enjoyed it as much as he had hoped.

My expression soured against my will as I turned away.

A hand touched my elbow, and Niako appeared at my side. When I stopped, he flashed a smile at the woman behind us and said, "Excuse me. I need to speak with this man."

Then he turned to face me, though he still didn't meet my eye. "Care to explain why you are glaring at everyone I am speaking to?"

I hissed out a breath. "Should you even be drinking in your state?"

Niako only smirked, eyes on the growing group of dancers near the flute and harp at the center of the square. "Is that how the people dance in Fooja?"

I followed his gaze to see Finny at the center of the crowd, flailing her arms, kicking out her legs, and flopping her head around in time to the beat.

"Uh... no. That's just Finny."

"Then show me how the people in Fooja dance."

"I would need a partner."

"I am sure that Bund representative would be more than willing."

I raised my eyebrows, surprised he had noticed the interaction. "I... had a different partner in mind."

Niako's gaze flitted my direction just briefly before sweeping past me. "There goes the fifth person Trebalda has turned down."

I darted a glance at Trebalda. A man stood before her, swaggering a little as he gestured to her and then toward the dance floor.

"How do you know she will turn him down?" I said.

"She's not interested in that."

"Dancing?"

"Men."

"She prefers women?"

"She prefers no one."

Trebalda waved off the man, and his shoulders drooped as he retreated. When I turned back to Niako, he continued avoiding my gaze with infuriating nonchalance. An ache in my chest demanded that I ask him why he would not look at me.

Instead, I asked, "How would you know that?"

"I asked her. I was ten and just starting to think I preferred boys." 

I studied his profile. "You already knew you liked boys at ten?"

"I mean, not sexually. But yes. When did you know?"

A flash of movement drew my attention back to Trebalda. Finny now stood before her, cocking her head as she hooked her thumb toward the dance floor. Trebalda tilted her head skyward for a moment before bringing it back down with a smile. Then she flipped her hand out toward Finny and allowed the small girl to drag her off the bench.

"I guess I was twelve," I said, and then I grabbed Niako's hand and began to tug him toward the center of the square. "Come dance with me."

We stopped near a pair of familiar faces. Sakap's hands draped around Mik's waist, and his slightly-bugged eyes gazed into Mik's green ones. He had certainly come a long way since refusing to lodge near the Bund and Busk representatives the day before.

Perhaps he wasn't so bad, after all.

I caught sight of Finny and Trebalda dancing. Finny adjusted for the now slower-paced music by spreading into new dramatic poses on each beat. Trebalda shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, but her smile was as bright as midday sunshine reflecting off copper.

I laid a tentative hand on Niako's shoulder as I swayed to the beat. He moved stiffly, eyes trapped somewhere just over my shoulder. When I hooked an arm around his waist and drew him in close enough to feel his body heat an inch from my own, his breathing staggered, and the movement of his body relaxed to match my own. But he still would not meet my eyes.

I leaned forward so my lips were near his ear and whispered, "Tell me what's wrong."

He swallowed and shook his head. "What do you mean?"

My heart thudded an anxious rhythm against my chest, but the slurg in my system emboldened me. "You have been avoiding my eyes all night. Do you regret kissing me?"

He huffed an incredulous laugh, and then his gaze finally met mine, eyes both dark and bright. "I was only avoiding your eyes to avoid thinking about what I'd rather be doing right now."

My heartbeat picked up a notch as a smile threatened to split my face. "Really? And what would you rather do?"

Niako's lips quirked, and his head inclined to regard me beneath his eyelashes. "I've already looked at you now. I might as well show you."

I licked my lips and cast a glance around us to see everyone absorbed in their own conversations and dance partners. "If you want... I mean, if you're sure... we could go back to my lodgings."

He watched his own hand trail up my arm over my shoulder to trace my collarbone — a simple, sweet gesture that somehow sucked the air from my lungs.

"Lead the way," he said.