Page 94 of Brutal Birthright

Not that she was concerned about him as such… more just a curiosity she needed to satisfy.

Or, at the very least, more ugly gossip she could take steps to quash.

There was enough of that still clinging to the halls in whispers about Ri and her sister, the queen, that she couldn’t bear to have anything similar start to spread about the Nocturnes.

“You said something the last time we met.” Ri mused out loud. Drumming her fingers on the bow. “About the Nocturne witches.”

The girl flicked her gaze down to meet her own, looking almost bashful at the reminder. Interesting.

Maybe it was just gossip in the heat of the moment, after all?

“Look, I really shouldn’t have said anything…” She toed a piece of bark on the ground.

“But you did.” Ri pressed.

“It’s just… your sister being the queen and is fated to one of the Nocturnes… and then the other brother is here suddenly as one of the academic staff without warning.” Twisting her fingers together, the girl was clearly uncomfortable bringing it up again.

Which made Ri even more curious to know where this was going.

“And?” This witch wasn’t going to get off lightly for spreading undue gossip if Ri had anything to do with it.

“No one ever questions how they became so prominent, you know? I spend all day with my nose in historical texts and ancient manuscripts, and there’s never any mention of how they came into their power or how they achieved the status they hold across so many of the realms.”

Ri was about to speak but then paused. The girl was certainly right. When Ri had tried to look for information herself, there had been nothing to be found. For a family of such powerful witches, there were scant records of anything relating to them or their ancestors.

Maybe it was the all-round eeriness of the morning, or maybe it was something else, but for some reason, that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

“And their sister—Brigid of Nocturne—she’s reportedly one of the most powerful Seers ever to exist.” She certainly lived up to that name. Ri had met Brigid briefly, prior to enrolling at Astracadia. Times when she’d accompanied her sister on visits with her group of girlfriends and at Ruby’s coronation.

In fact, now that she considered it, Brigid had swooped in and rescued her from complete humiliation at the hands of Rowan that day.

All of it–the coronation and every scathing word he’d unleashed on her–seemed like a distant memory. How viscerally she’d loathed Rowan back then compared to her feelings for him now.

But something held her back from telling this girl that she’d met the infamous Brigid of Nocturne.

“Look, all I’m saying is that we get told who to trust, and are we just expected to believe that at face value? For so long, everyone has said that the Nocturne witches are who can be relied upon. But do they not have just as much blood on their hands as any dark sorcerers?” She chewed the inside of her mouth, clearly deciding whether to carry on or not.

“You think there’s more to their story?” Ri’s fingers flexed around the bow. Her stomach felt more and more unsettled as their conversation wore on.

Suddenly, she just wanted to gaze into Rowan’s sapphire eyes and hear his rumbling voice tell her that everything was going to be ok. That he was her safe place to land.

The warlord who had spent three centuries covered in blood.

Who knew how to end a life before he could walk.

Ri’s stomach twisted into knots.

“Did you know they had another sister?” The witch almost whispered so quietly she didn’t hear her hushed tone. As if she worried the very trees themselves could hear her speak.

“What?”

“The eldest of the Nocturnes, Lachlan, had a twin.”

That slapped Ri across the face. No one had ever mentioned another sister in their family. Not even Ruby in all the time they’d both spent around Niall.

Certainly not Rowan.

“Oriana, are you down there?” Finn’s voice carried from up at the training arena. Cutting through the moment as the two stood together in pensive silence.

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