Ian smirked. “All of your city friends will know exactly who you are, brother.” He said the last word as if it was a curse. “Your fate now rests with ours, Dell. Maybe that will help you choose a side.”

Dell’s eyes widened. They knew of his meeting with Edmund.

And they’d just told all of Madra he was one of them.

They’d claimed him and entwined his future with theirs.

Crap.

Chapter Eleven

The announcers voice rose into the air and Helena lurched forward in her seat.

“Dell Tenyson will serve as Ian Tenyson’s second.”

No, she couldn’t have heard that right. Tenyson?

Dell was one of them? Disbelief coursed through her and she couldn’t take her eyes from the boxing ring.

The boy she’d found fighting in the center of the city, who she’d worried over, was the son of the tip of the spiral? She’d never have spent time with him if she’d known.

Something didn’t add up. His threadbare clothes and utter lack of manners… what was she missing?

Her eyes found Dell as they hustled him to the changing area. The lords who fought in that ring arrived at the games in fine clothing that spoke of wealth. They wouldn’t risk dirtying it in a fight.

But Dell… had Edmund known? Of course he did. Edmund seemed to know everything that happened in Madra. That would explain how he’d known Dell.

But what about Mari and Corban? What did two magic folk have to do with the son of such a powerful family?

Dell’s blonde hair shone as the sun beat down into the arena. He disappeared around the corner and Helena barely breathed until he returned.

Dell Tenyson.

The crowd cheered as he smiled up at them with an ease in his posture that hadn’t been present in the other lords. He’d changed into linen pants cut off at the knees. He lifted his arms into the air, his bare chest straining with each movement.

“Honey,” her mother said to her father. “Did you know there was a third Tenyson boy?”

Her father grunted. “Of course.” But his eyes held more truth than his words. It was a shock to him as well. One thing was certain, the king’s guards would be looking into the situation immediately when the fight ended.

Cole shifted in his seat, his eyes darting away from their father. He had to have known. He was closer to the Tenysons than his own parents.

“You knew Dell was Ian’s brother, didn’t you?” she asked.

Cole fixed her with a wary stare. “And how is it that my sister who has left the palace twice in her life knows a commoner like Dell?”

She refused to answer his question. “Apparently, Dell isn’t a commoner at all.”