“Mother!” Aaden called, suddenly discovering he was being watched. He treaded water, losing his rhythm for a moment so that his mouth dipped below the surface. Up an instant later, he spat, then spoke. “Mother, Devlyn saw a hookfish in the pools. As long as a man, he said!”

Corinn stepped to the raised lip of the pool. She gestured for the boys to swim to the edge nearest her. “A hookfish, you say?” Aaden nodded. Devlyn did not, but he swam with a motion somehow more graceful than the prince’s. “What’s a hookfish?”

“You don’t know?” Aaden asked, though he seemed quite pleased to hear it. “It’s one of those long, scaly things with barbs down their tails. Like hooks but sharp as Marah swords.”

The queen could not help but bend and wipe the light strands of hair back from the panting boy’s forehead. Though the very notion of such a fish swimming below her son’s feet stirred a flash of unease through her, she knew it was nonsense. The pools had been safe since the sixth king built them for his wife generations ago. Why do boys always wish for monsters? she wondered. Out loud, she said, “Really?”

“Yes! And they have teeth sharp enough to cut to the bone! If they bite you, they don’t let go, even if they’re taken out of the water. Right, Devlyn?”

The other boy did not immediately meet the queen’s gaze. Speaking to the stone rim just in front of him, he said, “Yes. They have green eyes.”

“You saw the color of its eyes? That’s alarming. Why, then, are you still in the water?”

“To hunt it,” Devlyn answered.

Aaden nodded, but Corinn kept her eyes on the other boy. He was handsome enough in his way, with dark eyes and curls of brown hair that glistened with moisture. He would be stunning in a few years, a notion that did not sit altogether comfortably with her. Would he, in olive-skinned beauty, outshine Aaden? “And I suppose you plan to slay the beast yourself?” she asked.

To her surprise, the boy did not miss a beat in responding. “No,” he said, his eyes darting up to hers for just a moment, “Aaden will. I’m his second.”

Ah, so you do know your place? “And as a second, what do you do for Aaden?”

“Whatever he needs me to. Anything. I have to keep him safe.”

“I’ll be the king, Mother,” Aaden said, sounding older, a bit weary, for a moment. “He knows that. He knows to protect me. That’s why—”

Aaden stopped himself, but not before Corinn knew what he had almost said. He had nearly mentioned his wish that Devlyn become his chancellor again. He had stopped, knowing that she would not welcome the conversation in front of the boy. That was wise, although it was obvious from the way both boys’ faces went momentarily blank that they had discussed the matter between themselves. That was not as wise.