at it, but I wanted you here to do something for me.”
“What type of favor?” Mave leaned on him. “You know I’d kill for you, brother.”
“That is…very apparent every day. I don’t need the reminder.” He chuckled. “No, I wanted to ask you if you…could help me with something.”
“What is it? I would say anything, but…that’s never a safe offer.”
“No, it’s not,” he agreed. “Train with me.”
She stopped walking now, frowning at him. “You train with Rain.”
“Rain isn’t as good as you,” he said with a sigh. “No one is. I train mostly with Nevyn, but I want to train with you. We can set a time to meet. Live steel. You’re the best I have, and if this escalates, and Shadra gets soldiers in the mountains successfully and keeps them here by next spring, it’ll come time, I need to start leading troops.”
“And potentially die on the battlefield,” she concluded.
“So, I want my best training with me. Dying isn’t an option right now. Not for me. There’s only one circumstance in which my death would be acceptable, and that’s not possible and not an option I want to take. The honest truth? I’m afraid to die and fail my people by ending the line of rulers they’ve always known, but I can’t bring myself to do what I must, either.”
“Have children,” Mave whispered. “No one is going to force you to do that.”
“Yes, I’m a good warrior, but I’m a little out of practice, since Ellantia, since I fought our enemies, and that was two years ago. I want to train with you. The best and the one person I know who won’t take it easy on me.”
“Can you beat Nevyn?” she asked, frowning at him.
“Sometimes, when I try to kill him. He does his best not to put himself in that situation, and it’s normally when I’m with Rain. When I’m training with Nevyn, Rain isn’t around anymore. He can’t be. It’s too dangerous. When I train with Rain, he’s competent, as good as Mat or Zayden, but I can’t bring myself to fight him at my best. Plus, he turns into a wyvern, so…the sword is his secondary weapon, not his primary.”
“I’ll train with you,” she promised, lowering her head respectfully. When she looked back up, she met his eyes, a reminder she could just because she wanted to. “And when we do go to war, I’ll make sure you come off the battlefield alive. I can’t promise to be intact, but alive.”
“Thank you. How does sunset training sound?”
“It works for me,” she agreed.
“Good. Go home and get some rest. I’ll send Bryn along as well. I’ll need to keep Luykas. I won’t be heading back to sleep, and I’ll need him and Leshaun to reach out to our spies as soon as possible.”
“Aw, you get to spend time with Leshaun?” she asked, feigning hurt. She got to see him once a week for dinner. It was always a quiet evening when he was in as they just tried to make him comfortable and give him company.
Alchan rolled his eyes. “Go. I’ll handle everything from here. Thank you for waking me…and talking to me about this.”
“Any time.” She didn’t jump off immediately, staring at him as he waited. A thought struck her that kept her feet planted to the ground. She didn’t know if it was appropriate to ask, but she did anyway.
“Alchan, why don’t you have children yet? Or do you not want them at all?”
“Because you’re my sister, I’ll answer that,” he said softly, looking away into the darkness. “I’m scared to be a father. I don’t know how much you know about my father, Luykas’ father, but he was a terrible male. He used people. He claimed them, then he used them. He was also bitter. He hated the way our culture worked. He thought as the firstborn son and dominant, he should be the heir. He hated how he was passed up. And…” Alchan’s eyes closed. “When he lost my mother, he tried to beat me to death. He blamed me for losing her. He only wanted to have me, so he could tie her to him for the rest of their lives. When he met Luykas, he blamed Luykas for his ruined life. He was living in disgrace. He was lucky not to be executed…I should have killed him when I had the chance, but that’s another story. Well, he tried to hurt Luykas, his son. He hated both of us. I