hot spring aquifers in these woods.” He motioned to the forest on our right.
Hot springs was the magic word where Melaina was concerned. “Hot springs?” She perked to attention, no longer appearing so bedraggled, exhausted, or temperamental. “Yes. Show me now.”
With a chuckle, Indigo led us into the woods. “I lived not far from here, so I know the area well,” he explained as he traveled deeper into the trees.
“That was after your grandparents died, right?” I asked.
Indigo glanced at me in surprise. Then he gave a stuttering nod, as if my attention flustered him. “Uh, yeah.” Clearing his throat, he held back a tree branch so both Melaina and I could walk through. “I went to live with my mother’s brother, Everett, and his family just outside Tyler when I was fifteen until I joined the king’s army when I turned eighteen.”
“Hmm.” He seemed very dismissive of that fact, which made me wonder why. He was usually all too eager to tell us more than we wanted to know about his family. So I pressed the issue. “And how was that?”
“What?” His brows rose curiously as he glanced at me again.
“How was living with your mother’s family?” I asked pointedly.
“Oh! Uh…” He blinked as if his mind had gone blank. Then he said, “It was, you know…” He shrugged. “It kind of sucked,” he finally admitted. “Since I was a High Clifter, my uncle treated me like something lower than a human being, expecting me to serve him and his family in gratitude for their oh-so-wonderful benevolence because they’d agreed to take me in at all. I had to earn every scrap of bread I was given, and most nights, I slept on the floor next to the ovens in the kitchen with the dogs. But it was better than being homeless, I guess. So I probably shouldn’t complain.”
“Wait.” Melaina held up a hand. “I’m confused. We’re in the kingdom of High Cliff right now. How could they have an issue with their own countrymen? Their own fucking family?”
“Ah, but this part of High Cliff was the kingdom of Teller before that,” he explained. “And my mother hailed from House Teller, the very line that ruled here. So her brother was determined to think of himself as a Tellerite.”
Melaina hummed in understanding. “Still sore about losing the throne, huh?”
Indigo shrugged. “Well, it was only three generations ago. My great-grandfather, Havern, was the last Teller king before High Cliff overthrew him and took the land for themselves.”
“So, wait!” I spoke up, blinking. “Are you saying that if High Cliff hadn’t invaded, and Teller was still its own kingdom, you’d probably be a fucking prince right now?”
He snorted and shook his head. “No. I wouldn’t. But my first cousin, Axel—Everett’s son—now he’d be a prince. Besides, I wouldn’t even exist if this land was still under Tellerite rule. My grandfather, Mikkel—that would be Havern’s only son—was taken to the capital city in High Cliff to be raised after the Bjorn family took over. It was their attempt to assimilate him into their culture, so he’d be less likely to ever try to reclaim his birthright. Both Everett and my mother were born there, which wouldn’t have been the case if Teller had stood strong, and thus my mother never would’ve met my father.”
“So if your uncle was raised in the heart of High Cliff, why did he hate it so much?”
“He learned he should’ve been the heir to his own kingdom, and he turned resentful. He moved back to Tyler when he reached maturity, and there his resentment has grown ever since.” Shaking his head, he drew out a long, sad sigh. “All I can say is that it's a blessing I had moved out of his control before the Great Lowden War. I heard he didn’t take it well when High Cliff defeated Lowden, and instead of claiming the land as their own, as they did with Teller, they let the House of Gill take back the rule because the Gills had been reigning there before the Graykeys stole the throne from them. Uncle Everett would have taken his anger and resentment out on me, I’m sure of it. He’s always believed the House of Bjorn should’ve allowed the Teller line to keep control after their defeat.”
Melaina snorted and rolled her eyes. “Your uncle sounds like a brute.”
Indigo didn’t dispute the claim. He merely pointed to the right. “The best hot spring is just this way.”
The clearing that we’d reached