8

Twenty-four years ago

He was fighting again.

Ilona could only watch it through the window, biting her lip hard every time someone managed to land a punch on him. One small, six-year-old boy against seven older boys was hardly a fair fight, but of course no one interfered. No one ever did. Devlin’s position at the court was too precarious for anyone to interfere. He might be the king’s “nephew,” but most of the court strongly suspected that he wasn’t really Princess Lina’s son. It wasn’t hard to guess when the princess herself barely acknowledged the boy and kept him in a separate wing of the palace. Only a select few knew the truth: that Devlin was the king’s bastard, the bastard the king didn’t recognize as his son. And to make things worse, the poor boy’s designation only made him a larger target. Being a Xeus was difficult for adults too, but children could be so very cruel, and privileged chi