tossing an easy retort, a challenge Rafe would have never ignored, he quietly led Rafe to his room, followed him inside, and shut the door behind them.
“Tell me what happened. The truth.”
“I did…” Rafe's gaze roved over the imposing city on the other side of the crystal walls.
“You expect me to believe an unknown dove jumped between you and a dragon? And that you got away without a mark on you? What do you take me for, Rafe? I assure you, my mind is fully intact even though my body may not be.”
Rafe threw Xander a pleading look, silently suggesting the dig was unfair. And it was. His brother, of all people, knew how capable Xander was. But something about this secret nagged at him.
“What happened?” Xander pressed again.
Rafe pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can you just listen when I say that this one time it’s better if you don’t know?”
“No,” Xander said, undeterred. He stepped closer, closing in on his sibling. “Do you have any idea how sick with worry I’ve been? The blood on the bridge, I know it was yours. There was so much of it, Rafe, so much. I really thought that this time you’d died. That you’d left me. There’s no way you healed yourself so fast, not from a wound that large.”
“Shh.” Rafe covered Xander’s mouth, even as his expression softened. “You have no idea if these walls have eyes and ears. We’re in a foreign land, not home at the castle.”
Xander bit his tongue, chest ablaze with the sudden fire of fear. Rafe was right. And they both knew what the penalty might be if someone overheard them. Yet, the magic was there, invisible, hanging between them as it always was, unspoken but present.
“You know I’m right,” Xander whispered. From his pocket, he pulled the item he’d been carrying around all day—a single, crumpled ivory feather. “I found this on the bridge. I know someone was there. By the size of the footprint, I’d say it was a woman. Don’t try to tell me she fought off a dragon all by herself. What’s going on? Why won’t you talk to me?”
Rafe released a long, slow breath, his body deflating as the air left his lungs. He took the feather from Xander and touched the bristles, the barest hint of a smile on his lips. Xander frowned, curious as he watched a tender feeling play over his brother’s face—a feeling he’d never seen there before. When Rafe looked up, his eyes had a brightness that caught Xander off guard.
“You know what happened, Xander. Think about it and you’ll know, without my needing to tell you. As you said, your mind is fully intact and far sharper than mine ever was.” Rafe shoved the feather back into Xander’s hand, jaw clenching for a long moment before he opened his lips to continue, “Besides, it doesn’t matter anymore. We have bigger things to prepare for, like the trials. What’s done is done. There’s no going back.”
Rafe stepped to the side. Xander stayed by the window, watching as his brother walked to the bed and collapsed in sheer exhaustion. He turned toward the crystal city, thinking over Rafe's words.
There had been a fight. There had been a wound. There had been a woman. Of that much he was sure. And the fact that Rafe wasn’t speaking could only mean one thing—there had been magic as well. New magic. Magic that wasn’t his to share. It was the only bond between strangers that could possibly be stronger than blood.
But who?
And what?
And why?
And—
Xander cleared the questions from his mind as his eyes landed on the crystal palace looming in the center of the city.
Rafe was right.
They had more important things to worry about, more important things to focus on.
“I’m going—” Xander stopped as he swiveled to find his brother fast asleep, a bit of drool dripping onto the wing he had folded like a pillow beneath his head.
I’m going to let it go, he finished silently. I’m going to let you have this secret, because I know you wouldn’t keep it from me if it wasn’t important to you. The obsidian ring still hung from Rafe’s neck, the ring he hated to wear, the ring he was wearing solely because Xander had asked it of him. And I know the sacrifices you are making for me.
Xander walked to the edge of the bed and put the white feather on Rafe’s nightstand. He left his questions behind him, looking