“Can you talk about this outside?” Alchan asked gently.
Luykas and Bryn ran out of the house.
Zayden didn’t move, but he felt hands touch his shoulders, strong hands.
“Let’s go,” Alchan whispered. “Let’s go, Zayden. You don’t need to sit here. Let’s get some fresh air, Zayden.”
He jerked his shoulders, knocking the king’s hands off. They returned, grabbing hard under his arms.
“Don’t fight me,” Alchan growled, pulling him up to his feet. Zayden sagged back, seeing the blood Leshaun had coughed up onto the table. Alchan forced him to move, taking him outside. He led him down the steps and into the grass, forcing him to take a seat with his back against the stone cliffside. Then he was gone.
While Zayden had come quietly, Mat did not. From the sound of it, he roared and fought, kicking furniture, breaking wood. Zayden looked up the steps at the door and saw it took both Alchan and Nevyn to wrestle the big male out of the home and down the steps.
Zayden finally realized what he needed to do. When they got close, he reached out to Mat and pulled him close.
Mat broke down, big, ugly sobs wetting Zayden’s shoulder. Mat hit his chest in fury, but Zayden could take it. He clung to Mat as though their lives depended on it and tried to fight back his own tears. He couldn’t.
“You think we have a what?” Alchan roared. It shocked both Mat and Zayden into reality.
“Sir, I’m sorry—”
“Repeat that, Bryn,” Alchan snarled. Zayden turned, his eyes going wide at the fearful rage on Alchan’s face directed at Bryn.
“A spy, sir,” Bryn said in a small voice. “I thought I was being paranoid. There are a dozen other explanations for what’s been going on, but this…”
“By the Skies,” Luykas gasped. “Who would it even be?”
“I don’t know, which is why I tried to stay vigilant, but…” Bryn went to his knees. “I failed everyone. I’m sorry.”
Zayden and Mat moved, grabbing Bryn to get him away from the king, fearful what the dominant male would do.
Alchan only stared at Bryn, then looked up at them.
“I wasn’t going to do anything,” Alchan whispered. “This isn’t his fault. Even if we have a spy in the camp, it’s a bold and dangerous move to assassinate someone. Leshaun doesn’t even seem like the proper target. He’s retiring. Most of his duties have gone to Luykas. This is…not anyone’s fault, but whoever did it.”
“Sir?” It was Learen. “There were supposed to be six bottles in the shipment for Leshaun. Dave and I were worried about that one because the others had been pilfered. We need to find them all.”
Alchan cursed. “Thank you for letting me know. The bottle was sealed when you found it in the shipment, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then that means…” Luykas shook his head in disbelief. “They were poisoned in Kerit, if not earlier.”
“Yes,” Alchan whispered.
Zayden let them handle it. He grabbed Bryn and Mat by their wrists and took them to a quiet spot. Luykas would keep them up to date. Every husband had a duty to each other. Luykas would be their forward point, handling everything around them. Zayden decided he would shoulder the burden of helping Mat and Bryn get past this.
Zayden didn’t want them to know it was his way of trying to ignore what had just happened. He didn’t want to break on them. He loved all of them. They were his family, and his family had been attacked. He was blinking back tears as he forced Mat and Bryn to sit down.
“We’ll get through this,” he told them. “Do you understand? We’ll get through this.”
“He’s gone,” Mat whispered.
“I know,” Zayden said, swallowing the painful emotions trying to break out of him again.
Bryn only turned away, flipping his legs around to watch the woods. He didn’t leave the bench, but he detached himself from them all the same.
Zayden didn’t know how he was going to hold everyone together, but a hand touched his shoulder. He looked up to see Luykas, who nodded, then sat down with Bryn and wrapped his arms around the smaller male.
Zayden took a chance to look around the group. Nevyn was talking to Rain and a healer who arrived, who was shaking his head sadly. Alchan was listening as well, standing away but his attention clear.
Zayden’s heart cracked in two again as he realized there was no one to comfort him from the pain. Mave was on a mission. Mat was hurting.