“I guess we really did beat you all into submission,” Shearen said. “Not that it took much effort. Rhodairens are weak. You hid behind the crows, and without them, you’re nothing.” Derision dripped from every word. He truly did hate us. The feeling was mutual.

“Your people deserve what happened to them,” he pressed, his voice scraping against my skin. “If it were up to me, I’d have seen you all burn. Maybe I’ll still get to.” He laughed, but it cut short abruptly, followed by a sharp yell and a loud crash. I whirled, arrow nocked and drawn, then relaxed.

Ericen had slammed Shearen into the ground, his boot on the back of his neck, one arm wrenched painfully behind him. “I’d appreciate if you didn’t talk to your future queen that way.”

“You bastard—Ah!” Shearen’s face twisted in pain as Ericen tugged harder on his arm. His friends stepped forward. I leveled the arrow at them. They stopped.

“All right!” Shearen yelled. Ericen released him, and he scrambled to his feet, massaging his injured shoulder. He glared murderously at Ericen, but behind the anger, something else seethed.

“Watch your back,” he hissed, but for some reason, I didn’t believe the threat for a second. He was like a cat puffing out his hair to look bigger, only he lacked the teeth and claws to back it up.

Without another word, Shearen pushed past his friends for the exit, and they followed.

I only lowered the arrow once they were gone. “We could have handled that ourselves.”

Ericen opened his mouth to respond, then shut it and stalked away, his shoulders hunched in frustration.

I turned back to Kiva, whose face was frozen in a wide-eyed stare. “Did you see him take that guy down?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“I’ve never seen someone move like that. Be careful around him, Thia.”

A chill trickled along my spine, and I turned grudgingly back to the targets. “Come on. I need to shoot something.”

* * *

I went looking for Ericen when Kiva and I finished. A servant showed me to his rooms, though I had a feeling he wouldn’t be there. Finding them empty, I traced my way back to the main hall, then out into the rapidly chilling evening.

Rocks crunched underfoot as I followed the curving path to the stables. Whenever I’d been angry or sad, I would spirit myself away to the rookery, where the quiet presence of the birds made me feel safe. When Ericen had shown me the stables and I’d seen the way he looked at the horses, I knew they were a similar refuge for him.

In some ways, we weren’t so different, and I didn’t know what to make of that.