Thane retrieved his dagger, wiping off the blade on the back of Dinah’s shirt. “Apologies, brother. I rather despise ungrateful men making demands of me.”
“I suppose some things never change.”
A serpentine smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth, one that had Fynn’s gut twisting inside him. “Careful, Fynn, or perhaps you’ll be joining that crew of yours far sooner than I planned.”
Words like blades meant to break him, meant to make him scream and cry his fury to the Gods. His crew was dead, Dinah having assured him that they’d burned to ash with the Refuge. Fynn’s will had burnt along with them, and he had raged for days in the aftermath of waking in his cell, his clothes still smelling of smoke.
Riel and Amael, Luca and Gracia, Arden, Milo, and Jax, they were gone. Sol Rosebone of Sonamire… Fynn could still hear her screaming. Could still imagine her burning amongst the flames she’d once told him she feared.
He blocked out the sound of her cries, pushed them all to the back of his mind and blinked into the face of his brother. “My family is dead,” he said. “Kill me, if that’s what you want.”
Thane touched the tip of his knife to Fynn’s cheek. “I’m your family,” he reminded him. “And I don’t recall you dying for me.”
Fynn did not so much as wince as Thane dug the blade into his skin. Blood bubbled to the surface. “You are no family of mine.”
The Crown Prince of Dyn sneered. “What was it like to see them burn?” he asked. “I told Dinah to let you say your goodbyes, to make you watch as he set your ship on fire. Could you hear them screaming?”
His nostrils flared, and a small spark of Fynn’s extinguished power flickered to life inside of him. “You gave the order to kill them?”
“I gave the order to make you watch. Killing them was father’s idea.”
Wind whipped between the pillars, tousling Fynn’s knotted hair and skewing the crown atop Thane’s head. He breathed, gritting his teeth as he prepared to rip the air from Thane’s lungs, as he prepared to seek vengeance for his crew. But his Magic quickly sputtered out, exhaustion grabbing hold of him and settling deep into his bones. He did not have the strength left to fight, to conjure even the slightest breeze.
Thane grinned. “Such disappointment,” he mused. “I’ve heard so many things while you’ve been away. Tell me, little brother, have your winds finally died out?”
Fynn panted as he clenched his fingers. “You’ll pay,” he snarled. “You will pay for what you did to them.”
“And you will pay for what you’ve done to me,” Thane retaliated. “For turning our family name into a laughing stock the day you ran scared from the battlefield.”
“Maybe I ran,” Fynn said. “But you were too scared to fight at all.”
Thane struck him with the back of his hand, his knuckles cracking against Fynn’s cheekbone. He spiraled to the floor, his vision darkening at the edges as pain bloomed down his face. “Never speak such words again,” Thane spat at him. Fynn blinked dazedly from the ground. “You pompous, arrogant bastard. If I didn’t need you alive—”
“Let me guess,” Fynn quipped. “You’d kill me?”
Thane bent low over Fynn, close enough that their noses nearly touched. His breath smelled of stale wine. “You are alive for one reason, and one reason only,” Thane told him, grabbing Fynn by the collar of his ripped tunic. “I suggest you be sensible and not push me.”
“And what reason is that?” Fynn inquired. “Surely it’s not because you love me.”
A smile spread across his mouth, one that revealed the harsh lines of his face. “No,” Thane agreed. “It’s certainly not because of that.”
The Prince rose to his feet, then motioned for Fynn’s guards to haul him up onto his own. Fynn staggered in their embrace, was likely only standing thanks to the tight grip at either elbow. “What’s your reason?” he asked again, swaying on his feet.
Thane returned his knife to its sheath, Fynn’s blood drying on the blade. “I hear you’ve encountered the Dragon’s Heart,” he said. Fynn’s heart stopped beating in his chest. “I hear you know where it is, and you’re going to tell me where to find it.”
“Gone,” Fynn told him. In his cabin when it had burned. “I took it to the middle of the Emerald and tossed it overboard.”
Thane’s laugh chilled Fynn to his core. “No,” he said. “You didn’t.”