Page 16 of A Warrior's Heart
His happiness was worth my heartache at missing him.
“Let us find the others.” Lorcan stood from the grass and offered me a hand. I accepted it, letting him pull me to my feet. “Alek was making pastries before I left. They should be done soon.”
“Pastries?” My stomach growled at the thought.
Lorcan chuckled. “He remembered your fondness for them. Theron loves them too.”
“Are you really not coming with us?” I asked as we walked toward the cottage.
He puffed out a breath. “I thought a lot about it last night. A part of me feels I should go. Avalontis might not be my home any longer, but it’s home to the people I love. But…” He stopped walking and turned to me. “I feel something bad is coming, Troy. Like a dark storm is on the horizon and not everyone will be able to weather it. I don’t know what it means… only that I want to be close to my family when it reaches us.”
Lorcan’s mother had been an oracle. She’d had visions and many of her predictions had come to pass. Over the years, Lorcan had started showing signs that he shared that same gift. If he felt danger was coming, he was probably right.
“Are we not your family too?” I asked.
“That’s not fair.”
“You’renot being fair, Lor.” Tears burned in my eyes. “Malik, Reif, Eva, all of us. We’re fighting for our home. And yet you sit here in your little paradise and pretend like Triton’s blood doesn’t course through your veins. You have always run from your responsibilities. Can you not fight for us, even once?”
“It’s not my fight.”
“You’re so selfish!” I shoved against his chest and took off walking.
“Troy,” he said, following behind me.
“Bugger off, your royal selfishness.”
“Do not speak to me that way.” Lorcan grabbed my hand and spun me around to him. “You’re my brother.”
“And yet you would stand by as our enemy closes in on us? As he threatens the home you grew up in?”
Lorcan released me and took a step back. “I’m sorry. But I can’t go with you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
When he said nothing, I continued to the cottage.
“Malik,” Lorcan said once we were inside. “I need to speak with you.”
As they went outside to talk, I did my best to toss aside my frustration. I didn’t understand how Lorcan could be so stubborn. So cold. He disliked his father, but I thought his love for his people would triumph over that.
The scent of something sweet reached my nose, and I followed the smell into the kitchen where Alek was placing golden, flaky pastries on a platter. Nothing like a sweet treat to lift my spirits.
“Blueberry?” I asked.
He smiled over at me, his dark blond hair falling across his brow. “You have a good nose.”
“It’s a gift.” I stared at a pastry. “Can I have one?”
“Aye. Help yourself.”
I grabbed one and bit into it, groaning at the flaky texture and burst of blueberry on my tongue. There was a tug at my pants leg, and I looked down at Theron. He stared at the blueberry pastry in my hand and bounced on his heels.
Alek tore one in half and knelt to his son. “Don’t tell your father I gave this to you before supper.”
Theron bit into the pastry and flashed such a happy little smile.
“I see your Da is spoiling you again,” Lorcan said, walking into the kitchen. Theron grinned up at him before running into the other room, leaving a trail of blueberry jam behind him. My friend looked at his mate. “He is too much like you.”
