“Yes,” Tegan was honest. “Mother didn’t want Salem to know – she knew it would bring him grief and she didn’t want that. I have been loved and cared for in my home all my life, very much like your sister, I have wanted for nothing,” Tegan stood to stand closer to the fire. “This life of training, I wanted. This is who I am meant to be, an Elite Sentinel protecting my people and humans from Drakhyn and other rogues.” Pulling her braid over her shoulder she continued, “The ways of Court and even the Heir, I am not interested in.”
“So, you don’t want to be Heir?” Sloane asked with a quick look to Michael.
“If I am Heir, I will be Heir. But if I am not, then I will serve as I have been trained.”
“It’s kind of an important thing to be Heir, Tegan,” Michael was fixated on his hands as he spoke to her. “I know as I have been training for it all my life.”
“Are you so very desperate to govern the Territory and rule?” she enquired as she watched him.
“It’s what I am trained to do,” Michael raised his eyes to meet hers.
“I’ve been training to kill,” she replied.
“There’s more to life than killing Drakhyn,” Sloane scoffed.
“There is no life with Drakhyn in it. There is no peace. They prey on the weak, the humans, the lesser supernaturals. We must cleanse them of this world.”
“You sound like a fanatic,” Sloane sneered. “You’re eighteen years old, don’t you want to live a little first?”
“Iamliving!” Tegan snapped. “The Ancients blessed me with my speed, agility, skills and these blessings are for hunting. Protection. Making this world a safer place for those living in it.” She took a deep breath. “Have you ever seen what a Drakhyn can do to its victims? Have you ever seen a woman after a Drakhyn has forced themselves on her, impregnated her? They are mindless, catatonic shells, they die in childbirth as the Drakhyn spawn rips itself free of the womb. Even Supernaturals, Lycans, Castors, beings who are stronger than humans, die – there is no survival for the host.” Tegan took a shaky breath. “How can I live in a world where I know this happening and do nothing? How can anyone?”
Slone was looking at her with a frown, clearly not in agreement with her, but Michael’s head was bent, his hands gripped together fiercely. Michael slowly raised his head to look at Tegan as the silence stretched. “We aren’t ignoring them, Tegan. We aren’t sitting here pretending that they aren’t out there.Wehunt, relentlessly. Father is one of the most proactive Headquarters making sure they’re hunted, their numbers low. We protect this territory fiercely. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t do other things, that we don’t live and take time to actually experience life.” Michael’s stare was hard as he spoke to her. “How do you know what you’re fighting so hard for if you haven’t experienced it yourself?”
“Yeah cuz, you’ve been holed up with Leonid. Have you ever just sat down, relaxed and had a conversation with anyone the same age as you?” Sloane asked.
“This isn’t about me! Why are you always trying to make it sound like I have been a prisoner?” Tegan demanded.
“Answer the question; have you ever sat down, in a non-hunting party and spoken to Sentinels of the same age as you?” Michael demanded.
“Not exactly,” Tegan stared hard into the fire.
Michael and Sloane exchanged a look. “Are we the first Sentinels of the same age as you that you have spoken too?” Sloane asked softly.
“Maybe,” Tegan shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“How could he keep you so isolated?” Michael demanded. “You say you weren’t a prisoner, but you weren’t free to come and go as you please were you?”
“I hunted when I chose to,” Tegan defended herself and her father.
“Hunted. Solitary.” Michael was pacing back and forth and it was making Tegan dizzy. “He claims you could be Heir but how can you be? You have no idea how to interact with anyone. You don’t know the ways of Court and Marcus says you know nothing of humans, except how to keep them from being killed.”
“I’d say the latter is pretty important,” Tegan muttered. “You say you are not thinking about being Heir, but you seem obsessed with it. Does it mean that much to you?”
“It means everything,” Michael admitted. “But because I believe I am the best one for the role. Now you are here, and we are equal in birth, but I don’t think you are best for the role. You are ignorant in terms of etiquette and negotiation.”
“I am equal in birth, but I am the better fighter, the better strategist, the better defender of this Territory. No, I may not be as skilled in being sociable, but I am, as you said, eighteen. I have plenty of time to learn.” Tegan regarded them both coldly. “Every Trial I have undertaken has been completed with time to spare. I have been fighting Elite Sentinels since I was four years old. When did you take your first Trial,brother?”
“Five,” Michael bit out.
“Against who?” Tegan asked, but she already knew the answer. “Oh wait, it was Sloane was it not?”
“If you knew, why ask?” Sloane demanded.
“To prove a point,” Marcus who had just come into the library, walked over to them and took a seat on one of the couches. “Leonid did not say you were arrogant, Tegan. But then, living with him, maybe you don’t recognise it for what it is?”
“It is not arrogance,” Tegan scowled. “I am the better fighter.”
“But that doesn’t make you the better Sentinel,” Marcus pointed out.