Page 181 of Shadow Queen
“You marked your skin?” Alexander asked, pained.
“By the gods,” Catherine breathed.
Norah blinked slowly as a murmur rippled through the people around them.
“I told you, I earned my entitlement,” Adrian said quickly.
“You’re Mercian.” Alexander’s voice was low but tinged with anger. “We don’t mark our skin.”
“Alexander,” Norah said quietly, trying to calm him.
“Did you know about this?” Catherine asked her.
Norah eyed her sharply. Her grandmother wasn’t helping. She turned back to Alexander. “We’ll discuss this privately.”
“How could you allow him?” he said angrily. He turned to Soren. “This was you. This was your influence,” he seethed.
“That marking is one of honor,” Soren cut back. “Men die trying to achieve it. And he’s not a boy; he can make his own choices.”
Alexander’s rage pushed him forward, but Norah stepped in front of him. “That’s enough,” she told him. “Walk with me. Alone.” She needed to get him away, right now.
Alexander’s eyes burned with anger, but she knew he would follow. Norah headed for the library. She felt Alexander’s wrath behind her, but she didn’t dare turn before they were away from prying ears, for fear of an argument. Once inside the library, she turned to face him.
“How could you allow this?” he seethed. “My own brother?”
Norah let out a long breath. “I wasn’t aware until after.”
“And you didn’t want him to tell me?”
This was exactly what she had feared. “I wanted him to wait for a more opportune time, a more private time. It wasn’t fair to you to find out that way.”
His voice came sharp. “You should have written me.”
She shook her head. “That’s not the kind of thing I’d write to you about.” She sighed. “Don’t be angry at him.”
Alexander’s eyes stared right through her. “He would have known it was against Mercian custom and how I would feel about it, and he still did it.”
“No,” she argued. She couldn’t let him think that. “He got carried away in the excitement. No other Northman, and very few Kharavian men, have accomplished what he has. It wasn’t until he saw my reaction afterward that he thought of what it would mean when he came home, what it would mean to you.” She let out a saddened breath. “The whole journey, he’s been consumed with the fear of your disappointment. I’m surprised he didn’t flay the skin from his arm to be rid of it.”
Alexander sank onto a bench along the hallway of stone and glass. She could see it pained him to hear that, and she sat down beside him. “All he wants is for you to be proud of him.” She could tell he was listening to her words, and she let him sit for a moment and soak them in. “He drew the lord commander’s ire, showing off what you had taught him.”
Alexander let out a faint snort.
“It made Soren hard on him. Perhaps too hard. There were days I feared for him. But he was strong, determined. Relentless.” She smiled, remembering. “And then he began to rise.” She paused. “Alexander, I wish you could have been there. I wish you could have seen him. There must have been a hundred soldiers beating their swords on their shields, calling for his entitlement. They were cheering him, they wereallcheering him. He’s respected by those who were once enemies. He’s finding his way in two opposite worlds where most struggle in one. You should be proud, incredibly proud.”
He was quiet for a long time. Then he said, “I am proud.”
She put her hand on his arm. “Then let him embrace all that Kharav offers him. Think of what he can accomplish between our two kingdoms.”
His blue eyes stared up at her, piercing. “When did you become so wise?” he asked.
She smiled.
He gave a small sigh. “I suppose you’re also going to tell me to leave him alone about his hair.”
“I think it looks good on him. You might want to consider it yourself.”
He snorted.
