“Aye.” Fie shrugged. “So he needs to believe you’ll do it, and he’ll keep up that nonsense the whole way to the Marovar, just to prove it. Unless you tell him the truth.”

“It’s not that easy.” Tavin stepped back. “Again.”

Annoyance made her hasty. Block. “Twelve hells it isn’t.”

Step in. “It’s not about me,” Tavin said, “it’s the king.” Strike. “Again.”

“What’s the king to do with it?” Fie returned to her footmarks.

“King Surimir has a … a shine for Hawks.” Tavin frowned. By dark, Fie could pretend she hadn’t polished away his scars. “He’s the sort of king who travels with half an army just to remind people he commands their blades. He wants people to think he’s dangerous. To treat him like he is.”

Fie remembered the first time she’d held Phoenix fire. She hadn’t wanted to burn the world down; she’d wanted the world to know she could.

“He’s a Phoenix witch,” she mumbled. “He’s a king. Isn’t that enough?”

Tavin shook his head. “Again.” Block. “He married Queen Jasindra mostly to add her to his armory. I was given to Jas so he could start his own Hawk collection.” Step in. “But Surimir wants an imitator, not a son. Jas has no interest in throwing himself parades or yanking half the Splendid Castes into his bed. The queen raised him to be a good ruler. I was raised to be a good Hawk. You can guess which of us the king thinks is useful.”

Strike.

She knew what he meant, yet she couldn’t help another jab. “And how does you tumbling all those palace waifs help the prince, then?”

Fie hid her delight when he actually slipped. Then she tripped on her own snare: he righted himself, all fluster and fumble, and Fie discovered she found that disturbingly close to charming. Damn him. Of course he’d find a way to make stumbling about attractive.

“It—it would have been cruel to ask for more,” he said, blunt. “To try to make anything last.” She lowered her scabbard, feeling as though she’d waded into waters deeper than she’d thought. “I’m a bastard, an heir to nothing. For ten years, I’ve been told my only purpose is to keep Jas alive. That the best thing I can do is die for him. Of course I met people I wanted, but how could I ask them to stay mine when I couldn’t truly be theirs?”

Any sneer or jest had long withered on Fie’s tongue. “You’re still going to disappear once we’re out of this. What are you going to tell him then?”