Page 54 of Black Crown

“Niemoj,” he said, raising his brows.

I shifted on the grass, blinked, and took another bite of my corn. I wasn’t really sure how to make small talk right now. What I wanted to do was crawl in a corner and hide. If I couldn’t protect my mind from Draedyn, I wasn’t an asset to our army. I was a liability. If I could turn against my mate, I could easily turn on the others fighting for us. Tyrrik was strong enough to withstand an attack. I couldn’t hurt him, really. But what if I’d attacked one of the guards last night? Dyter? The king or prince? I might’ve killed someone.

Maybe I shouldn’t be heading into this battle. Maybe I should listen to my fear and hide.

The silence extended way past the awkward stage.

Niemoj said, “My name meansnot mine. My brother”—he pointed at his twin—“is Nielub. It meansunloved.”

I blinked at them in disbelief. “You’re kidding. That’s . . .”Awful.No, wait. Manners. I scratched my eyebrow and said, “That’s . . . unique.”

Niemoj laughed, throwing his head back, and even Nielub the non-smiler grinned.

“My mother’s family was from the Slav range on the northern border of Azule. Their tradition was to give their babies a substitute name for the first decade of life. If children lived past ten, then they received a different name.”

I realized my mouth was open and closed it, but I couldn’t help staring at him, completely dumbfounded. All I knew of Azule was that they were the fishing community and the kingdom closest to the empire.

I asked the only question that made sense. “They lost a lot of babies to illness?”

He pursed his lips, eyes squinting as he considered my question. “Perhaps. Probably not any more than most areas though.”

“Then why . . .” I didn’t even know how to ask. The practice seemed cruel.

“Because the community was on the border of Azule and Gemond,” Niemoj said as if that were explanation enough. When I raised my eyebrows, he added, “Emperor Draedyn has a different relationship with those of Azule, or at least he did in the stories my mother told us.”

Really, I needed to know more about the other two kingdoms. If I’d asked more questions before we went toKanahele o keola,I would’ve been more prepared for the insanity we encountered. And if I’d asked more about Gemond, I might not have made assumptions about Zakai being evil. Though I’d been a bit anti-all-rulers there for a while. Right now, my ignorance about the ins and outs of my powers and the familial bond with Draedyn was threatening to overwhelm me. There wasn’t space for anything else.

Yet there had to be.

I nodded to let Niemoj know I was listening.

“There was some belief that you could trick the evil ones, that those who stole children in the middle of the night only wanted the best children. If parents loved their child, then those were the children to take.”

That was some twisted logic. That was like saying your pancakes tasted bad just so no one else would want any. “So if you were unloved, the emperor and his Druman wouldn’t steal you?”

Niemoj looked at his brother.

In a softer tone, Nielub said, “Our father, Andrik, meaning brave, died before we were born. He was taken to war by the emperor. My mother’s father, Jedrik, meaning strong, was taken just before her brother, Milos, was born.”

“Let me guess, Milos means loved?”

Nielub shook his head and stripped the husk off another ear of corn. “It means most favored.”

“And he went to serve in the war?” I asked. These people had some seriously sad family history.

“Maybe. He was taken when he was ten. The Druman swept through Wojslav and took a dozen boys and a dozen girls. Our mother was spared because one of the neighbors said she was worthless.”

“So your mother named you after what she believed would save you?” I felt like I was barely grasping the edges of their stories. Not that I didn’t understand the words, but the paradigm of their childhood sounded more like . . . like the whispered stories I’d heard as a kid and always thought were just tales from the emperor meant to scare us into submission.

Niemoj chuckled. “When you love someone, don’t you do everything in your power to save them?”

Well, of course. It was why my mother fled, why she’d kept the Phaetyn power a secret for so long. It was because of motherly love that Luna Nuloa gave me her ancestral powers . . . I possessed the strongest traits of both of these women. My mother’s Drae powers, and Luna’s—

Whoa.I blinked with the epiphany. I hadtwopowers. Which I knew—being a Phaetyn-Drae, but . . . I’d missed something huge.

I’m only using one to protect myself from Draedyn.I groaned, earning a curious look from the twins.

Tyrrik?I sighed.

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