Page 29 of Daughter Of The Ninth Line: The Complete Book One (Lines Of Ebrus #1)

chapter twenty-nine

Hayle

I didn’t know what I was doing. Braxus heaved an annoyed sigh and lay down at my feet, but I ignored him and his insinuation that I found Avalon Halhed to be a tempting rutting partner.

Alucius had snapped her teeth at him about it, but I didn’t understand that either.

Some of their conversations were just for them, not meant for human understanding.

Avalon walked over to me slowly, almost like she was worried I’d tear her throat out. Had I given her any reason to believe that was something I wanted?

I shuffled over on the flat rock, inviting her to sit beside me. She perched right on the edge, like she was ready to sprint at any moment. She should know better than to run from a hunter. It just invited us to chase.

A mouse peeked out from her collar, and I found myself smiling as I put out my hand and he launched himself off her shoulder, into my palm.

“Such a traitor,” Avalon mumbled, and the mouse’s whiskers twitched.

He bombarded me with images of everything that had happened since I’d last seen him, including the taste of magic while she’d been trying to eat earlier.

Vox was more than interested in her; that was becoming obvious.

In all the years I’d known him, he’d never shown softness toward anyone, except maybe his cousin, Shay.

I stroked the mouse’s head in thanks and fed him one of the nuts I kept in my pocket for Quarry.

“It’s not his fault. It’s nice to be seen, especially when you’re so small,” I told her softly.

Once the nut was clenched firmly between his teeth, I lifted him back up to Avalon’s shoulder, where he returned to his place under her collar.

“Besides, he likes you. I relieved him of his duties days ago, and he chooses to stay with you.”

She gave me a crooked grin. “I have a way with rodents, I guess.”

“Must be why Vox Vylan is so enamored with you then.”

She slid her eyes to me, but said nothing. I watched the waves again, the seabirds swirling, sending me images of a great school of fish just off the shore.

“I’ve been looking into you and your family,” I said casually, and I didn’t imagine the way her body froze. I wanted to know her secrets. “There’s a lot of literature about them in the library.”

“Oh?” she asked with forced lightness. “Must have been a pretty boring read. Besides, you don’t really strike me as the studious library type.”

I gave her a toothy grin. “Are you saying I look stupid?”

Her cheeks flushed pink, and she shook her head so vigorously, it was a wonder she didn’t knock off the mouse in her collar. “No? I mean, definitely not.”

Probing a little more, I tuned into her scent. She smelled… stressed. Interesting. Was she a spy? There was always a chance here, and I had no doubt that more than one of the Lines had installed people in Boellium just to see the way the winds of power were turning.

“As I was saying, there was a lot of literature about your family. They were once revered seers, did you know that?”

Now she was looking at me like I was stupid.

“Of course I knew that. I lived up north, not in a cave on the side of a mountain. I can even read,” she said with mock amazement.

I tried not to grin at her sarcasm. She was kind of cute when her heart wasn’t beating out of her chest like a scared bunny.

“As I was saying, people would come from all over Ebrus, putting aside decades of feuds, to talk to members of your family. To get their predictions.” I sucked on my back teeth thoughtfully. “Then somewhere around ten generations ago, the power started to dwindle.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Really? Do tell me more about my own family history.”

I smirked. “Don’t you wonder why?”

She shook her head. “No. Every Line’s power has been dwindling over the last few centuries, and I wonder how much of the original reports of our powers were just exaggerations for the history books anyway.”

I didn’t tell her that the Third Line’s powers hadn’t dwindled at all.

That perhaps my brothers and I were the strongest direct descendents of the Line in…

well, ever. I also didn’t mention that Vox’s abilities were just as impressive, and if my brothers were to be believed, Yaron Vylan’s powers were equally as strong.

No, it seemed only the powers of the Lower Lines were dwindling, and I was neither the researcher nor the historian needed to figure out the whys and hows of that. That was for minds more academic than my own.

Turning to face her, I stared into her eyes. “Why are you here, Avalon Halhed?”

She raised an eyebrow at me like I was stupid. With any other person, I would’ve flexed my powers until they cowered under my domination, but I found the bravado hiding under Avalon’s soft exterior kind of endearing.

“The same reason we’re all here, Hayle Taeme.” Was she mocking me right now? “Ebrus’s conscription laws mean each Line has to send at least one conscript every year.”

That was true, but what made a man send his youngest daughter to Boellium War College?

“But why you? If it was about training a fighter or garnering political influence, I know you have several older brothers. If it was just about sending a warm body to fulfil the conscript quota, I assume you have several dozen farm boys up in the wilds who’d like a chance to prove themselves in the Dawn Army.

So why you? Why the youngest daughter of the Baron? ”

Her jaw was tense, and I knew I’d struck a nerve. “What you don’t know—and can’t discover in the library’s history books—is that my father hates me. Sending me to Boellium was probably the happiest he’s been in decades.”

I hadn’t spent much time with Avalon, but even I knew that she was a kind person. She’d saved my damn mouse, after all. “I’m sure that’s not true. Maybe it feels like it right now because he sent you here, but I can’t imagine anyone hating you for no reason.”

She frowned at me, pain in her eyes. “Is murdering my mother a good enough reason?” she snapped, and with that, she slid from the rock beside me and marched back toward the college while I stared after her, dumbfounded.

She’d murdered her mother?

There had to be more to it than that, because unless she had an evil twin, there was a better chance of me being one of Baron Vylan’s illegitimate children than her being a murderer.

Standing, I brushed the sand from my trousers.

Something was not right with the Ninth Line, and I was going to figure out what it was.

The last thing I wanted to do tonight was go up to the First Line dorm for an Upper Lines party, but I was basically duty-bound to attend. If I didn’t go, the delicate balance of power in Boellium could shift.

Right now, Vox and I stood almost at an equilibrium.

We both had enough people on our sides that we could go about our days without any kind of power struggle.

But an entire party, this early in the year, with no Third Line representation?

Well, Vox Vylan could whisper all sorts of lies in the ears of the new Upper Six conscripts, and the hierarchy could be redrawn overnight.

It was an exhausting, petty juggling act that I loathed with my entire being.

Lucio was already dressed like he was planning to get laid and was waiting by the door when I emerged from my own room, proof of how long I’d been dragging my feet getting ready. Lucio tended to take forever to get his hair perfect in the mirror.

“Brother, we’re going to a party, not your execution.

Cheer up,” he teased, slapping me on the back.

I rolled my eyes and whistled for Braxus.

While it was generally accepted that we wouldn’t bring our creature familiars to parties, no one was stopping me from bringing at least one of my hounds.

They were as much a part of me as my own hand.

Braxus groaned, and I caught a smug emotion from Alucius, who was still curled up in front of the fireplace. “Sorry, Brax. If they weren’t such fucks, you could stay home and snuggle in front of the fire too. Unfortunately, I need you to watch my back.”

He sighed heavily, plodding toward the dorm door before me. However, as soon as he crossed the threshold, he was immediately on alert. Forever my bodyguard.

We walked up the stairs to the top floor, past the permanently locked and barred Second Line dorm.

Even from the landing, I could tell the party was already in full swing.

While the First Line dorm didn’t have the same level of soundproofing as ours, the pounding music was still muffled pretty well.

It was the first party of the new conscript year, so the First Line appeared to have gone all out. There was alcohol flowing freely, and Lines mingling, and already, there were people fucking in the corners of the room.

The party had only been going for an hour.

The conscripts of Boellium worked hard, but they also played hard. For some, it was the first time they’d ever been outside their Line’s territory. I guess there was something to be said for extensive “networking,” especially the naked kind.

Lucio sniffed the drink he was handed by someone in the Fourth Line before handing it to me. I sniffed it too, our heightened senses able to pick up any note that wasn’t meant to be in the burning liquor.

“I’m going to see if I can convince Shay to dance with me.” Lucio wandered toward the enigmatic second-in-command for the First Line. He liked trying his luck with her, because for each other, they were both safe.

The Third Line had enough spies to know that Shay had absolutely no interest in Lucio romantically.

He did not possess the right parts. But no one said it out loud, and Lucio didn’t want to get caught in the sticky tendrils of some scheming Upper Line female who wanted to marry their way into clout.

So he made it known that he was only interested in Shay, and she played along, for whatever her reasons were.

I sipped my drink, enjoying the burn, with Braxus sitting in front of my legs giving enough of a fuck-off vibe that I didn’t have to worry about dealing with pandering or political manuevering.

At least, I didn’t, until Vylan appeared in my personal bubble. “Taeme.”

“Vylan.”

“I would like to talk.” He always sounded like he had a stick up his ass. Like he hadn’t felt a single moment of passion in his short, obnoxious life.

“Perhaps you should try one of the healers. They’ll give a shit about your problems.”

Rolling his eyes at me, he didn’t leave, nor rise to the bait. He must be serious. “It’s about the girl.”

I stiffened. There was only one girl who’d piqued our collective interest, and I had no urge to share what I knew with this pompous douchebag. “Which girl?” I said lazily, sipping my drink like we weren’t seconds from throwing down.

He gave me his normal bored, impassive expression, but I saw the subtle tightening of his jaw. “Avalon Halhed, the one from the Ninth Line.”

I shrugged. “What about her?”

Vox stepped into my space, making Braxus bare his teeth. I sent him a reassurance through our bond that I had this, and to stand down, but he didn’t like it.

“Stay away from her. If you have an interest in her, I suggest you forget it. She’s mine.”

Well, fuck me. I hadn’t seen that coming. Was Avalon thawing the ice prince? I’d believe it when I saw it. It was more likely that he just didn’t want me playing with his toys.

“Says who? I think that’s for Avalon to decide, don’t you?” I buried my fingers in Braxus’s fur. “A little healthy competition might be just what the healer ordered. May the best man win, Vylan.” I laughed at the sour expression on his face. “And no one would ever consider you the best man.”

He straightened, his eyes turning frigid. “At least I’m a man and not a beast. Stay away from her, Taeme. I won’t warn you again.”

He may as well have put a giant X on her head, because now she was a treasure at the end of a hunt, and I was going to have her for myself.