Page 45 of A Court of Wings and Shadows

I let out a long breath. “I should have asked Kaelith.”

“She was part of the trial. Lurik wasn’t.”

“Thank you.”

He winked at me after I touched his arm. But he glanced toward Zander who was now watching us.

As we walked back toward the others, Teren’s arm still draped over my shoulders, his voice dropped low enough that only I could hear it, laced with something quieter than teasing now.

“Careful, Ashlyn,” he said. “You’ve got more eyes on you than most prospects ever will. And not all of them are rooting for you.”

I glanced up at him, brow furrowed. “You think someone’s going to try something?”

He shrugged one shoulder, casual as always, but I could feel the tension under the grin. “I think your ties to the court make you a target. The kind of target that’s not always shot at from outside. Sometimes, betrayal comes from within.”

My gaze slid toward Zander, who had moved a few paces from Cade and now stood with his back to us, facing the dragons. His posture was too stiff, too controlled.

“I trust him,” I said quietly. “I just… don’t always like him.”

Teren snorted. “That’s fair. Trust and like aren’t the same thing anyway.”

He glanced toward the rest of Thrall Squad—Cordelle, Tae, Ferrula, Riven, Jax—then back to me. “Just be careful. I like your squad. I’d rather not come visit and find half of you dead or locked in the dungeon for knowing too much.”

My lips curled slightly. “Too much about what?”

“That changes with the tide. The nobles can’t be trusted.”

“I will be careful.”

Teren nodded, but his expression shifted again, eyes sliding across the yard until they landed on Remy. The man hadn’t moved. Still watching. Still unreadable.

“Don’t forget that Remy’s a royal too,” Teren added. “And he’s more invested than Zander ever pretended to be.”

“Yeah,” I said, exhaling slowly as I choked on the word pretended. “But… he’s lowborn, right?”

Teren smiled, but this one didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“You know his background.”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t.”

Teren and I slowed as we reached the edge of the training grounds, the others still lost in their own conversations or tending to their dragons. But Teren didn’t let go of my shoulders, not yet. His voice dropped again, barely more than a whisper beneath the rustle of wind and dragon wings.

“You know where Remy came from, right?” he asked.

I nodded faintly. “I know he’s lowborn.”

Teren gave a dry laugh. “That’s the least interesting thing about him.”

I turned to look at him, and he lifted one brow, as if weighing whether he should say more. Then he did.

“He killed a man when he was ten. Didn’t even flinch, from what I heard. Slit his throat with a broken bottle during a trade negotiation turned ambush. Guy had five soldiers backing him. Remy took two more down before the guards finally dragged him off.”

My stomach tightened. I’d heard pieces of that story, but never the whole thing.

Teren continued, quiet and steady. “The man he killed was part of a rebel cell. The kind that trafficked slaves and children. Remy was one of those kids before he got loose.”

My chest ached.