new secret weapon?” Astor’s face was serious, as though he was now made of stone. “You mean Bianca.”
Torrin nodded. “Yes. The Reamers have the weapons, but they won’t know how to use them. She will. Mattis, get the girl branded. She now belongs to me. And no one is to know she was ever anything but mine. Dreama, I trust you to make the questions go away.”
“How do you expect me to do that?” She snorted and looked around.
“Manage it.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Mattis, after you’re done, bring her back to my quarters. She’ll stay there with me, where I can watch her to make sure she isn’t up to some trickery.”
Astor shook his head. “I’m not willing to give her to you, brother.”
All movement stopped, and Torrin turned around. “Excuse me?”
“I’m making a claim on the girl Bianca. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nox and Mattis are as well.”
Nox looked from one brother to the other, his uncertainty obvious. It occurred to me that he was junior to the rest of them, either younger or lower born, maybe both. Oh sure, they liked him and respected him, but he wouldn’t have been able to argue successfully against Torrin on his own. This was why he’d brought me to Astor first, to prevent me from going into Torrin’s cage and becoming his weapon, or worse. But Nox also had a duty to the war planning, and a loyalty to his leader, which was pretty obvious by his unquestioning acceptance of Torrin’s commands. Poor conflicted Nox, I really did get the sense that he wanted to do what was right. Sometimes, the world and our circumstances made that impossible.
Torrin’s mouth hardened when he turned to Astor. “Must you always lead with your heart, little brother? It’s bad tactics.”
“Must you always lead with tactics,” Astor flung back, “to the exclusion of your humanity? Claiming a woman only to throw her at our enemies is not just bad logic, it’s cruel. She has more value than that, and you know it.”
I quickly revised my earlier opinion of Astor. He might have been a tad silly and a natural trickster, but clearly there were some things he took deadly seriously. Lucky for me, the safety of females appeared to be one of those things. I wondered if it had something to do with his mother or his sister. Or a lover?
“Look, I don’t have time for your sentimental nonsense,” said Torrin. “I do not claim this woman in expectation of setting up household or breeding her. I only want to protect our people, and she can make that happen. If she is useful as I suspect and we survive this battle, you can do whatever you wish with her. I won’t stop you. But right now, you will stand down.”
“Swear it,” Astor said, not moving, “on the bones of our fathers, after the battle, you will cede her to me. There will be no use of her person until that time, only of her knowledge.”
“And in return, little brother, what will you give me?”
Nox’s eyes were glass green and just as hard. “Exactly what you want.”
“Say it.”
Astor reached into a fold of his tunic and retrieved something that glinted in the meager light but was too small for me to see. A signet? A coin? A key? He handed it to Torrin, who took it.
“Mattis and Nox will accompany her wherever you’re taking her, to ensure you don’t harm her,” Astor said. “You will be held to your promise.”
“Oh, I’ll do better than that,” replied his brother, pushing past Nox and striding to the doorway and not sparing a glance back at any of them, as if he had complete confidence they would do as he commanded. “I’m putting all three of you in charge of her for the duration. I’ll let you know when I require her and for what purpose. Don’t make me regret this. Dreama, with me.”
His sister hurried to catch up with him. On her way out the door, she looked over her shoulder at me. I didn’t know her well enough to understand what the look she gave me meant. It wasn’t alarming, just different.
Mattis took my hand. “Come. We have to get you branded and fast.”
I didn’t pull away. I’d be crazy to try. Where could I even go? Still, I searched for Astor before I left. “Thank you. Whatever you just did, you saved me. That much I gathered.”
He nodded at me. “I’ll see