I gaped and shut my mouth. I wanted to be angry. It was familiar and comforting. Beating them in a duel would be child’s play, whether I used magick or not. As their king, I held their lives literally in my hands. And yet . . . it took courage to talk back to me. Courage to question me. An annoying personality trait they likely picked up from Wren.

Wren.

She expected better from me than rage and anger, than accusations and bravado. Or maybe she didn’t after how I’d treated her. Anger had nearly killed her several times, yet she still claimed to love me. Shame burned my ears, because I knew I had yet to deserve any of it.

I vowed to keep trying. Kieran and Ronan eyed me warily and I huffed, turning my attention again to the sky. “Anything else, or am I no longer trusted to go on a simple fly on my own?”

The tips of their ears darkened in embarrassment, but the shock and relief that I was dropping the issue was evident enough to all three of us.

“We are in a mateship, all four of us. Your wellbeing is important, not only as our king, but as a fellow mate and . . . friend,” Ronan said earnestly.

I stopped mid-air, my wings straining to keep me aloft. “Friend?”

Kieran gave me one of his easy smiles. Kieran, who made friends with everyone and saw the raw potential in others. Ronan had his own small smirk—Ronan, the runt of his mother’s children, who everyone had ignored and tossed aside. He was my right hand now, with a vicious mind for strategy and organization. What would I do without both of them?

“Kings can have friends,” Kieran remarked offhandedly, diving down through the air. Ronan gave me a cheeky grin and took off after him. “Last one to the valley is on

magma breaking duty!”

We streaked off across the sky.

Chapter Five

Wren

Thad’s chamber was a sight better than the dungeon. It was simple, but efficient. The single, small bed shoved up against the wall had linens that were clean, and the room at least looked as though it had been tended to sometime in the past century. Thad strode through the door and set down his knives and belt on top of a small table. I eyed the weapons greedily, wondering if I could get my hands on them while he slept.

“They bring meals if I ask for them. You can eat those, and I will eat elsewhere. That will help build your strength back up.”

I nodded vaguely, my mind still back in that large cavern with the witches. “If the witches are being used as a breeding program, then where are the children? They would need the mothers to feed them, wouldn’t they?”

Thad’s gaze darkened. “Those women didn’t look healthy enough to survive on their own, let alone feed a newborn.”

Thad sat on the single chair in the room, right next to the door. He gestured vaguely to the bed, and I sank cautiously onto the blanket, appreciating a soft surface. The small table on the far wall also had his goblet sitting on top, the one I had drank from when I was injured. Small, dried stains dotted the area around the cup.