Authors: Kate Sparkes
Aren stepped inside. “Nox? Might I speak to you?”
Mama Bunn continued to glare. “You again.” She turned to me. “Was this the brother, or the other one?”
“My brother. His name is Aren. King Ulric’s son?”
She waved a hand in his direction. “Go, then. I’ve learned not to stand in the way of a Sorcerer’s business, or the king’s. While you’re gone, find me a catalyst that will make oak bark react with gemflower root.”
“Oak doesn’t react with—”
“Go!”
I dipped my hands in the basin and wiped them clean on my apron, then went to Aren. “We should talk somewhere else.”
He appeared relieved. “Thank you, Mama Bunn,” he said. She nodded, and we stepped out onto the porch.
We headed to the shade behind a storage building. He looked around, listened, and seemed satisfied that we were alone. “How’s your new job going?”
“It’s fine.” I narrowed my eyes at him and leaned back against the wall. “But you didn’t come here to talk to me about that, did you?”
“No.” He hesitated. “It’s about Ulric.”
“I haven’t had any brilliant ideas on that. There’s nothing here to work with, and believe me when I say I’ve looked. I foraged for hours this morning, and nothing spoke to me. It’s not the right season for anything useful to be blooming.”
“I have more information.” From the look on his face, I took it that the news wasn’t good. “It turns out that his magic isn’t weak, as I’d thought. It’s strong as it’s ever been. He’s not using it because it hurts him to do so. Just a few minutes ago he was angry with me, lost his temper. He threw a blast of magic at me, and he started coughing up blood.”
I stood up straighter. “He did what to you?”
Aren waved the question off. “My point is, he’s suffering ill-effects from magic he’s been able to control most of his life. Physical and mental effects. And I’m quite concerned.”
I chewed my thumbnail as I thought it through. “You’ve said something about learning new magic, how it can hurt people. That’s why Rowan’s been so reluctant to test her abilities here, isn’t it?”
He looked away. “That may be a small part of it. I think whatever she’s dealing with is different, though.”
“Is he experiencing those effects, though?”
Aren frowned. “He could be, I suppose. I’ve never heard of it happening to someone as experienced as he is, or of it being entirely confined to a person’s body...” He seemed lost deep in his memories. I didn’t interrupt. “It happened to people who tried to break bindings placed on their magic. The mer elders said that when Rowan wanted to try to free herself.”
“But he’s not bound.”
“No. But he almost was.”
I nodded. “We need to know what the walls in that cell were made of, and what the guards in that city were using to suppress his magic.”
“Rowan said they were the same substance, or at least closely related.”
“I said what?” Rowan appeared from around the corner of a building, carrying a squirming baby of maybe ten months. She stepped into the shadows and glanced nervously over her shoulder.
I couldn’t read Aren’s expression when he saw her, but hers was clear enough when she turned back. Glad to see him, and at the same time afraid. She didn’t try to touch him, and stood at a distance. Aren motioned for us to follow him back into the woods behind Mama Bunn’s cabin. Rowan’s eyes didn’t leave him as we walked.
Gods, but she had to be lonely. I had Mama Bunn to keep my mind occupied during the day, and Kel and Cassia to talk and laugh with in the evening. Aren might not have enjoyed his time with our father, but at least he had an interesting problem to work on and people around. She had no one—ignored by the villagers, forced to be apart from Aren. I’d seen her talking to Cassia, but even she and Kel were busy with their assignment. She got to be with Griselda, but only while training.
An outcast in the middle of a teeming community.
I know that feeling,
I thought, and felt a little warmer toward her.
Maybe being pretty and powerful doesn’t get you everything.
She held the baby out to Aren. “You want this? He’s getting heavy.”
He stepped back and grimaced. “No, thanks. Who does that belong to?”
She moved the baby to her other arm and tucked a stray lock of bright red hair behind her ear. “I have no idea. It’s kind of a family free-for-all around here. Somebody asked me to watch him. I’m being helpful, as instructed.” She rolled her eyes, and Aren smiled. “What are you talking about?”
The baby grabbed at her hair. Rowan grimaced and leaned her head away.
“It’s nothing,” Aren told her, and shot me a quick glance, warning me not to say anything.
The baby let out a crowing sound, and Rowan winced. “That takes me back. You sound like my niece. Gods help your poor mother.”
I caught Rowan’s eye. “Do you know what they were giving you at the prison to control your magic?” Aren clearly didn’t want her to know about Ulric’s condition, but we needed this information.
She frowned slightly. “Only that whatever they stuck us with inhibited our magic temporarily. If we weren’t in the cell, or if we didn’t have those shackles on, our magic overcame it. And they said they were working on something that would take care of the magic completely. Kind of like a binding, but I think it removed magic rather than suppressing it.”
“Thank you,” I said, and her pinched expression softened.
She shifted the baby to the other side. “Aren, didn’t those Dragonfreed fellows give you something to put a temporary damper on your magic? Might have been similar, if Nox is interested in that sort of thing.”
A guarded look came over him, and left just as quickly. “They did. I don’t know what was in that, either. Phelun mentioned dragon egg, but that was in the one he used to shield himself from me, not the one that kept my magic quiet. What?”
He’d caught the widening of my eyes. “You didn’t think of mentioning that to me when we talked about blocking you?” I asked.
His shoulders tensed. “You have a ready supply of dragon egg?”
“Still might have been useful information.”
“You’re right,” he said, and relaxed. “The truth is, I don’t care to think about what happened there, and offering that information didn’t cross my mind. Does it help you?”
I sucked air through my teeth. “Not without a dragon egg.”
Aren threw his hands up in a
why do I bother
gesture, and Rowan looked at me and smiled. I couldn’t help thinking this was what family should feel like.
The idea made sense. Dragon eggs were notoriously hard to find in the wild, in part because it was impossible to use magic to locate them. They protected themselves. Perhaps they could protect a person’s mind.
The baby squealed, and the most horrible odor filled the air.
Rowan grimaced. “I think it’s time to figure out who this belongs to. Lovely to see you both. We’ll have to do this again some time.” She held the baby out at arm’s length as she hurried away, though it had to weigh twenty pounds. I smiled at her awkwardness. At least we had one thing in common. Babies were fine, but I’d never had any desire to bring a child into the world—especially not when my world had been confined to a cruel husband and a cold, unforgiving landscape.
Aren watched them go, looking like he wanted nothing more than to chase after her. He sighed and turned away.
“What was that about?” I asked.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “The less she knows, the safer she is at this point,” he said. “I hate to keep secrets, but if Ulric knew that she knew he was weak…” He shook his head. “I don’t know what to do about any of this, but I know she’s the last person he wants involved, and for now I’ll respect that.” Something strange came into his voice then, something regretful and cold.
“I wish I could do more to help.”
“You’re going to have to talk to him,” he said as we walked back toward the village. “You’ll be the one to figure out what’s wrong and what to do about it, not me.”
“I can’t talk to him. I can barely say three words to the man without losing my temper.” Besides that, I had no desire to. Never had. I’d only joined in on Aren’s mission because it seemed the fastest way to get Severn off the throne.
“Someone has to,” he said. “He’s angry with me. I think I’ve thrown away any chance of him telling me everything.”
“Maybe Mama Bunn will help. If she’s there to back me up, give another opinion, maybe he won’t look down on me like—”
He held up a hand to stop me. “Nox, no. No one can know about this except us. No one can doubt his power, or his ability to see this through. Not even the old woman. Not Griselda Beaumage, who I’d have thought he might listen to under other circumstances. It’s all over if anyone finds out. Severn wins.”
Hatred pushed up in me at the mention of his name, and I shoved it back down. Ulric had sent me and my mother away, condemned us to a life of hardship, but it had been Severn who forced him to do it. He’d been making life miserable for people in my province and elsewhere since he took the throne, and had sent soldiers to abduct me so he could use my gifts.
This is my role,
I realized.
I fix the king, he takes the throne back, I find something other than revenge to live for.
Not an unappealing thought at all, especially if Kel decided to stick around. Less glorious than what I’d imagined, but I could do it.
“Fine,” I said. “Tell him I want to speak to him in his tent tonight. I need you there, though.”
“Of course. Thank you.”
He left me then. I turned toward Mama Bunn’s cabin, but remembered my assignment. It was probably impossible, something to teach me humility. Or it was a basic skill that I’d never had reason to learn.
Oak’s not reactive, or magical, so...
I caught sight of Cassia hurrying across the village, and followed. I would have left her alone, if not for the fact that she was carrying her pack and bedroll. “Cass!” I called. “Wait!”
She stopped and smiled, though it looked forced. “Nox, I was looking for you.”
“What’s going on?”
“I wanted to say goodbye.”
My heart skipped. “What? Why? Where are you going?”
“I can’t take it anymore,” she said, keeping her voice low. “I’m glad to have been with you for this long, to have met you and helped everyone, but I need to go home. It’s so damned dry here. I may go insane if I have to stay in this body much longer.” She scratched at her arm and glared at the rough cloth of her shirtsleeve. “I need to swim, to feel water on my skin. And we haven’t had contact with our people in far too long. I’m going to tell them what’s happening, ask for help. I spoke to Ulric about it yesterday, and he wouldn’t say no to help if I can convince the elders it’s in our best interest to keep an eye on things near Luid.”
My mouth went dry. “Is...” I cleared my throat. “Does Kel feel the same way about being here?”
She smiled sadly. “He does, and he doesn’t. He’s not coming with me.”
“Oh.” My relief at having Kel stay was severely tempered by my concern when I imagined my friend crossing the wilds of Tyrea alone. “You’ll be all right?”
“Yes. With the route I have planned, I’ll be home soon enough if I go by way of the caves. I can take care of myself. No need to worry.”
“I’ll miss you.” My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat. “A lot.”
Don’t be a sentimental idiot.
Cassia held my gaze and lowered her chin. “I know it’s not easy for you to say that.”
“Well, I thought you should know. We didn’t get off to the best start, but I don’t think I’d have been able to go on this long without strangling Aren if not for you.”
She’d hated me at first, and I hadn’t been too keen on her, either. She either lacked Kel’s perception of some scrap of goodness in me, or hadn’t placed much value on it. In fact, I considered her early opinion of me far more accurate than Kel’s, much as I was grateful for his belief in me. But over time I’d discovered that I admired Cassia, and she’d decided I was worth being friends with.
When did that become a possibility?
It hadn’t been so long ago that I’d been criticizing Aren for being as changeable as the weather.
And now look at me.
“It’s been interesting,” she agreed. “You still have Kel here if you need to talk about your brother, though.”
“Does he know you’re leaving?”
“Kel? Of course. He helped me pack.” She smiled gently. “Tried to talk me out of it, of course.”
“No,” I said quietly. “Aren.”
She looked away. “I can’t say goodbye to him. Never could.” She shifted the weight of her pack on her shoulders. “It’s complicated.”
I stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. She put her arms around me and squeezed back, and it seemed neither of us wanted to be the first to let go.
“Thanks,” she whispered. “I’ll miss you, too. Take good care of my foolish brother. He’s important to me.”
“I will.”
“And yourself, too.” She pulled back and winked. “I want you to be around to see the mess you’re going to cause when Kel tells Mariana and Arnav how he feels about you.”
“I’ll do my best.” Something she’d said before came back to me. “Cassia, back when we first got to this camp, when you mentioned heading home and talking to the elders, you said something about me and Kel. Something like, ‘if this is going where I think it is.’ What did that mean?”
“Aah. That.” She set her pack down and rolled her shoulders. “Kel hasn’t mentioned soul-bonds to you, has he?”
“In passing.” I tried to remember what he’d told me. “Your elders have that, right? When two merfolk are so much in love that it’s like they become one soul, but without losing themselves?”
“You’ve been paying attention.”
I wrinkled my nose. “He mentioned it right after telling me about your thoughts on magic, and death, and other lovely things. I was ready to hear something nice—Oh!” She nodded, and I realized what she was saying. “That can happen with a human?”
“No. But Kel has become incredibly attached to you, and I can see it being something similar. We don’t love as easily as you do, but when we do, it’s deeper. It’s irrevocable, lasts until death and even beyond. It’s not fickle like human love. I want you to know what you’re getting into before things go too far.”