I couldn’t form my thoughts in a proper order. All I could think about were the times I’d felt Morgan was holding something back from me, was keeping his secrets held close to his heart. Wizarding is always about secrets, but hadn’t some part of me known that Morgan knew more than he had always said? I’d written it off as just him being Morgan. I’d trusted him when he said he’d tell me the things I needed to know when I needed to know them.
“What about him?” I snapped, jerking my head toward Ryan. “Did you know it was him too, then?”
Everyone looked confused. “Sam,” Morgan said slowly. “Ryan wasn’t in the alley that day. How could I have known him?”
I laughed bitterly. “Of course he was there. He was—” And I stopped myself because holy fuck was I an asshole. I closed my eyes. “Shit.”
Because Ryan Foxheart wasn’t always Ryan Foxheart.
Once upon a time, Ryan Foxheart had been a teenage douchebag named Nox with a penchant for kicking my ass whenever he could. There were only a handful of people in this world who knew Ryan had come from the slums, and I had effectively just outed him. It wasn’t as if he was ashamed of it, it was just that in the histor
y of the Veranian Knights, no one had ever risen to the position of Knight Commander after having come from the slums.
So imagine my surprise when, instead of being rightly furious with me, he squeezed my hand gently and said, “Sam.”
I opened my eyes, shame burning on my face. He didn’t look angry, just concerned. “I didn’t mean—” I managed to choke out.
But he was already shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, and he meant it. “We’re in this together, yeah?”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
“Then that’s how we’ll do it,” he said. He leaned forward and kissed my cheek, a lingering thing, warm and dry. When he pulled back, I could see the resolve in his eyes and knew immediately where this was going to go. “Together.”
“You don’t have to—” I tried.
“I was there,” he told Morgan. “The day in the alley. I was one of those turned to stone. I’m from the slums. Like Sam. Ryan Foxheart is a name I adopted for myself. My real name is Nox.”
“Well fuck me silly,” Gary said. “Did anybody else’s nipples just get hard?”
“Mine did,” Kevin said. “Wait. Do I even have nipples?”
“Nox?” Tiggy said. “Mean guy who hurt Sam?”
“Easy there, big guy,” I said. “It was a long time ago.”
Tiggy didn’t look very appeased at that. And so maybe Ryan took a step closer to me, like I would protect him if Tiggy decided he needed to be smashed.
“Nox?” Dad said. “That little shithead whose ass I was going to kick but Rose said I couldn’t because a grown man beating a child is never all right, even if said child is an asshole?”
“I think I did say most of that,” Mom said, sounding equally shocked. “But for the life of me, I can’t say why I would have stopped him now. Good thing he’s not a child anymore.”
Morgan sighed. “The two of you….” He shook his head. “The gods must really have a sense of humor.”
“It’s like a godsdamned romance novel,” Justin said. “Because of course that’s how Sam’s life works out.”
“I’ll lay down my sword,” Ryan said to the King. “I haven’t acted as a Knight of Verania should. I lied to get to where I am. And for that, I am not worthy of the title Knight Commander. Or even a knight at all. I will accept any punishment you see fit to bestow upon me.”
The King rolled his eyes. “You’ve got that martyr thing down, haven’t you? Do you really think I would’ve promoted you to the Castle Guard if I hadn’t known everything I could about you?”
Ryan looked shocked. “You knew?”
“I didn’t tell him a damn thing,” Justin said. “If that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Of course I did,” the King said. “I am pretty good at what I do, in case you haven’t noticed. Request to resign denied. You will stay in the position you’re in and you will like it until I say otherwise.”
Ryan bowed again. “Yes, my King.”
“Just don’t be a douchebag to Sam anymore.”