Page 16 of Lies That Bind
Kohen scoffed at that. “Who would guard us? The Imperial Fleet? Your father ordered the Imbrian army disbanded when he took over. We have no protection but what you designate.”
My chest constricted at that. Yes, technically Imbria was now a part of Amersea, a state in a country if you will, but we didn’t treat it as such. We didn’t allocate an even percentage of our resources here like we did in Riverine. I felt so conflicted at that moment that I just wanted to leave. I was already so overwhelmed at becoming empress and my father’s death… I didn’t have the mental and emotional bandwidth to confront all of my father’s decisions of the last decade.
Just as I was going to suggest I leave, Kohen reached for my hand, stroking my palm with his thumb. “I want you to meet Tej and Arjun. It’s important.”
It’s like he knew I was thinking about leaving.
“Your brothers?” I asked. “Do you speak to them often?”
He nodded. “I send them any spare money I get from the Fleet, and in two years, my brother Tej will be old enough to enter the Lottery. Then Arjun will be two years behind him. Assuming they get their names picked.”
Tej. Arjun. Hearing their names made them real.
“Do you want them to get picked?” I asked as he led me around the side of the building.
He looked at me like I’d grown two heads. “Of course I do, Aisling. The only way left to make any decent money in Imbria is to join the Fleet.”
That made an ache form in my chest. I yanked his hand, forcing him to stop and look me in the eye. “If you want your brothers’ names to be called, I’ll make sure they’re called,” I promised. I’d rig the Lottery for him.
Oh man, I had it bad.
This dark-skinned, blue-eyed dream of a man had lured me to him like an animal in a trap. I still had yet to figure out if his trap would kill me or set me free.
He gave me a small smile and squeezed my hand before letting go. There was something about that smile that said heknew more on that. Like maybe he’d had a vision about it. Would I break my word and not get his brothers in the Lottery? I hated that he knew the future and I didn’t.
He walked over to the third window and rapped his finger against it in a certain rhythm. Three times fast and two times slow. A moment later, the light turned on, and the curtain was pulled back. Then, I was confronted with a handsome mini-Kohen.
My gut clenched at the sight of the maybe fifteen-year-old boy. He tore the window open, grinning ear to ear.
“Get up, idiot. Kohen’s here!” the young boy snapped at someone in the bed next to him. He leaped out the open window. Kohen tackle-hugged him and my heart pinched in my chest. Seeing the young boy with bronzed skin, wild dark hair, and piercing blue eyes shook me. But as I watched them, I noticed there was a stark difference between Kohen and Arjun. Arjun had a childlike joy, like maybe Kohen had shielded him from things when he was growing up. There wasn’t a brokenness to him like I saw when I looked into Kohen’s eyes.
When they pulled away, another boy about seventeen years old appeared in the open window with his hair flattened to one side. He gazed sleepily at us all.
“Holy shit, that’s the empress,” he said and seemed to perk up a little, appearing more awake.
This must be Tej. He had more of a hardened look in his eye, like Kohen.
“It is?” Arjun asked, eyeing me for the first time. “Should we bow?” The young teen looked at his eldest brother.
“No, that’s fine,” I said, but at the same time Kohen said, “Yes.”
Arjun made prayer-clasped hands and bowed deeply to me, obeying his elder brother. Tej did the same, but warily.
“Nice to meet you,” I said nervously.
Why was I here?
Tej leaped out the window and eyed me from feet to head. “I didn’t think you’d fly over Imbria, or we would have stayed up.”
There was a veiled diss in there. Like I didn’t think Imbria was good enough to fly over. I couldn’t fault him, though—I hadn’t intended to.
Before I could respond, Kohen cleared his throat. “Aisling isn’t here as empress. She’s my friend, and I wanted you to meet her.”
“Why?” Tej asked.
Awkward. I was wondering the same thing.
“Because it’s important to me,” was all Kohen said, and I shifted awkwardly on my feet.
