“How many trades have you decided to learn and mastered to the point you could then demand a job?” I challenged.

Tavius didn’t answer.

Exactly. The only skill he’d mastered was how to be an expert ass.

“I believe what your stepbrother is attempting to say is the same as I have,” the King reasoned, placing his hands flat on the desk. “There are always choices. They chose wrong.”

“You make it sound as if they had no reason. They were already dying. Starving to death!”

“And they chose to take their lives and those of their children instead of doing everything possible to feed them!” The King rose from his chair in a rush of plum-adorned black silk. “What would you have had me do that could have possibly altered that outcome? I have no control over the Rot. I cannot heal the land. You know that.”

I couldn’t believe he would even ask that question. “You could’ve fed them. Made sure they had food until they could grow their crops again or find employment.”

“And is he supposed to do that for every family that can no longer work their land?” Tavius asked.

Hands balling into fists, I turned to where he sat. There wasn’t a speck of dirt on the leather boot propped on the hard surface of the ottoman. He tilted his head in my direction, not a single curl spilling over his forehead. The blackened eye I’d given him had faded far too quickly. His features were perfectly pieced together. Yet all those handsome attributes were somehow wrong on Tavius’s face. “Yes,” I answered. “And not just the farmers. You should know that as the heir to the throne.”

His lips, already thin, pressed tightly together.

 “It’s the harvesters who rely on the fields to feed their children. It’s the shop owners who struggle each week to buy food because the prices have increased.” I stared at him. “Do you even know why the prices have gone up?”

The tautness eased from his face. “I know why. You.” He smiled, popping a date into his mouth. I doubted that he did. “Tell me, sister. How do you think we could provide for every family?”

Disgust curdled my stomach. “We could ration. We could give them some of the food here, starting with the dates in that bowl.”

Tavius smirked and then bit down on another piece of fruit.

I turned back to the King. “There is more than enough food here, within these very walls, to feed a hundred families for a month.”

“And then what?” my stepfather asked, lifting his hands, palms up. “What do we do after a month, Sera?”

“It’s not like we’d run out of food. There are other farms—”

“That are already being pushed to their limits to make up for the lands that can no longer produce,” he cut in. “Where would we draw the line? Deciding who we feed and who we do not. As you said, it’s not only the farmers. It’s the harvesters and more. But there are others who either cannot or will not fend for themselves. Those who will come with their hands out and their mouths open. If we attempted to feed them, we’d all starve.”

I took a deep breath that did nothing to calm my temper. “I sincerely doubt anyone would choose not to fend for themselves and starve.”

The King huffed out a laugh as he sat. “You’d be surprised,” he said, picking up a ruby-encrusted chalice.

“There has to be something we can do,” I tried again.

“Well, I have an idea,” Tavius announced, and I didn’t even bother to look at him. “This rationing thing you speak of? We could start by taking the food spent on the most useless within these walls.”

“Oh, let me guess… You’re talking about me.” I looked over my shoulder at him. He arched a brow. “At least, I realize just how useless I am.” I smiled as his disappeared. “Unlike some in this room.”

The smug look vanished completely from his face, wiped away by the heat of anger. “How dare you speak to me like that?”

“There’s nothing daring about speaking the truth,” I retorted.

Tavius rose swiftly, and I faced him. “You know what the problem is with you?”

“You?” I offered, not even caring how childish it sounded.

His eyes thinned into slits. “Me? The irony would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic. The problem is you. It’s always been you.”

“Tavius,” his father warned.

My stepbrother took a step toward me. “You failed that family. They’re dead because of you. Not me.”

I stiffened as his words cut through me, but I didn’t let it show as I met his stare. “Then more are going to die because of my failure unless the Crown does something. What are you going to do once you take the throne? Continue letting your people die while you sit in the castle eating dates?”

“Oh.” His laugh was harsh and grating. “I cannot wait till I take the throne.”

I snorted. “Seriously? Taking the throne would actually require you to do something other than sit around all day and drink all night.”

His nostrils flared. “One of these days, Sera. I swear.”

Something dark and oily opened inside the center of my chest, much like where the warmth from my gift usually sprang to life. This feeling was slick and cold, snaking through me as I stared at my stepbrother. “What? Are you suggesting you’re going to do something? You? Have you forgotten that black eye?” I smiled as his eyes narrowed. “I can easily remind you, if so.”

 He took a step forward. “You little bi—”

“That’s enough, Tavius.” My stepfather’s voice boomed, startling me enough that I jumped. “Enough,” he growled when my stepbrother started speaking once more. “Leave us, Tavius. Now.”

Stunned that my stepfather wasn’t sending me from the room, I wasn’t paying attention when Tavius pivoted back to the table. “Here, my dear sister.” He picked up the bowl of dates. “You can ration this among the needy.” He flung the bowl at me.

Dates flew through the air. The hard ceramic cracked into the arm I lifted instead of my face. A flare of pain ran up the bone. I sucked in a sharp breath as the bowl fell to the floor, cracking upon the marble tiles.

Arm burning, I started toward him. “You son of—”

“That is enough! Both of you!” The King slammed his hands on the desk. And a moment later, the doors swung open. The two Royal Guards entered, hands on their swords. “Sera, you stay right where you are. Do not take one single step toward your stepbrother. That is an order. Disobey it, and you will spend the rest of the week in your chambers. I promise that.”

Rage flashed through me like wildfire, stinging my eyes. I forced myself to stand down, even though I wanted to pick up that shattered bowl and beat Tavius over the head with it. But the King would carry through on his threat. He’d lock me in my rooms, and I…I would lose myself if he did that.

“And you, my son,” my stepfather continued. Tavius stopped, eyes widening at the thunder in the King’s voice. “I do not want to see you for the remainder of the day. If I do, it will not be a bowl you suddenly find in your face. Do you understand me?”

Tavius nodded curtly and then turned without another word, brushing past the Royal Guards. The King motioned at them, and they crept out of the room, quietly closing the door behind them.

Silence enveloped us.

And then, “Are you okay?”

His softly spoken question left me a bit bewildered as I looked down. My throbbing arm was already a bright shade of red. It would bruise. “I’m fine.” I looked at the broken bowl. “I’d be better if you hadn’t stopped me.”

“I’m sure you would be, but if I hadn’t, you’d have likely seriously injured him.”

I turned around slowly.

The King picked up his chalice and downed the contents in one gulp. “You’d make short work of your stepbrother.”

What he said shouldn’t feel like a compliment, but his words wrapped around me like a warm blanket, nonetheless.

“He will never do that again,” he added, dragging his hand over his head, and clasping the back of his neck. “That type of behavior isn’t like him. He has a temper, yes. But he normally wouldn’t do that. He’s worried.”