Authors: Kate Sparkes
Voices drifted toward us, and my blood froze as I recognized one of them as Ulric’s.
“You should go,” I said. “It won’t be good for either of us if he catches you with me.”
He frowned. “It won’t always be like this,” he said gently, and reached out to touch my cheek. I leaned into it, even as the doubt in his eyes made me want to pull back. “We’ll get away. I swear he won’t control us forever.”
“Sure we will,” I said, and made myself smile.
Aren darted out the other end of the alley. I didn’t move until his voice and Ulric’s reached me. I crept away in the other direction.
I returned to my tent alone, left to chase my thoughts through a rabbit-warren of possibilities, each less pleasant than the one before.
13
AREN
N
ox met me as the sunlight faded, and we walked together toward Ulric’s tent. He had begged off afternoon work and supper, saying he had things to do before we left for Luid, and I couldn’t say I’d missed his presence. His near-intrusion on my conversation with Rowan had been one more grain of salt in freshly re-opened wounds. I had no desire to speak to him, but we had no choice.
Though we’d all tried to help the community prepare to leave their dying village, Nox and I got a few guarded, nasty looks as we passed. In spite of their low food stores and dwindling water supply, the people obviously blamed us for the uprooting.
“I hope he had a lovely and restful afternoon,” Nox muttered.
“I hope so, too. Maybe he’ll be in a better mood than he was earlier.”
She stopped me. “What was he so angry about that he had a temper tantrum and tried to murder you?”
“If he’d wanted to kill me, I’d be dead. It was nothing important.” And nothing I cared to talk about. He was wrong about Rowan being a threat, I knew that. But she still carried her family in her heart. They were a distraction now that they might be in Tyrea, and could indeed be an obstacle later. And as for the marriage issue, and my father apparently wishing to shape me in his own image...
No, nothing important at all.
Nox frowned. “Why tell me, right?”
“It has nothing to do with Ulric’s situation.”
We passed Rowan’s tent and then mine, and came to a sheltered spot where Laelana had made space for Ulric in a private tent. He met us at the entrance.
“I heard you coming,” he said.
“It wasn’t a secret,” Nox answered, an edge to her voice.
“Is that how you speak to a king?”
She set her jaw and didn’t answer him.
He stepped aside to let us in. The interior of the tent was simple and far from luxurious, but better than what the rest of us had, and probably more comfortable than most of the homes in the community. His bed had a properly stuffed mattress resting on a simple wooden frame, a thick quilt, and a thin pillow. An oil lamp burned on a desk made from crates, and he had papers spread across it. Someone had found him ink and a quill.
He actually had been working.
“What is it?” he asked, and sat on a folding stool next to the desk. Nox and I remained standing, and he didn’t indicate that we should do otherwise.
Nox motioned for me to speak first.
“The same issue we spoke of earlier. We’re concerned about your health and your magic.”
He leaned forward so that his elbows rested on his knees, looking sharp as a hungry wolf. “Is that so? Well, I appreciate your concern, but I feel fine now.”
“You weren’t fine in the woods earlier. Sir. And with due respect, it would be to everyone’s benefit if we spoke openly and made our plans based on the reality of your situation rather than what you want everyone to believe.”
Ulric leaned back on his seat and crossed his left ankle over the other leg. “Is anyone nearby to listen?”
I reached out with my magic, and sensed no one. “No.”
He cleared his throat and looked to Nox. “Unusual things have been happening. Aren thinks you might have ideas on how to improve my condition.”
“If you tell me exactly what you’re experiencing, I may. I’ve come up with potions that sped healing before, and that bolstered physical strength. It might be possible for magic.” She didn’t make eye contact with him, but sounded confident enough.
He gave her a condescending look. “I know you have a gift for this. Your mother’s mother was a great Potioner. You’ve inherited that, and Aren has told me how helpful your skills were when you traveled to Darmid. But this is different. I’m not sure it’s something anyone has encountered before, and you lack the range of experience we’ll need.”
Now her gaze flicked up to meet his as her shoulders tensed with irritation that radiated from her in waves. “You’re broken. All I have to do is protect you from your magic if it’s hurting you. It’s a form of healing, and that’s what I do best.”
The tent was silent while he thought it through. It seemed odd to me that he should resist this when there could be no harm in trying.
“All right,” he said at last. “How do we begin?”
She relaxed slightly. “I have questions. You’ll have to be honest with me, even if you don’t want to.”
He nodded. “Aren, a little privacy.”
I slipped out of the tent without any objection to the order. He would hold back if he thought I was listening. I’d step in if I had to, but time alone would be good for them. If I had to deal with the old man on my own, so did she.
Kel stepped out of the shadows. “Nox in there?”
“She is securing the future of the Tyrean monarchy as we speak,” I said dryly, hoping it was true.
“Hmm. I thought you were that future.”
I shot him a dark glare. “Don’t talk about it, please.”
He just grinned, white teeth flashing in the gloom. “Might as well face facts, my friend. Maybe there was a time when you thought you’d got out from under all that, but not now. You’re back in, and it’s your own fault.”
I stepped farther away from the tent so our conversation wouldn’t disturb Nox’s work. “I know. Though I still don’t know what else I could have done, save for abandoning the country to Severn.”
“That’s why you’re going to be a good king,” he said, more serious now. “You don’t want this because it’s your right, or because you crave power. This is actually a selfless act on your part. Mostly.”
“Who’d have thought we’d see the day?”
Kel frowned at my facetious tone. “Admittedly, you went through a bad time there. You didn’t help Severn because it was the best thing for Tyrea. You did it to cover your own ass, to make a good place for yourself, to... whatever. You didn’t care who you hurt, as long as you were safe.”
I winced. “True, and a lovely summary of my character. Thank you.”
“But now.” He paused. “Actually, you’re still seven measures of asshole in a five-measure pot, but you’re getting there. And at least you’re doing things for better reasons now.”
I sighed. “Thanks. But I still don’t want this. Or rather, what comes after our victory.” I tried to sound certain of that part, at least.
“Why?”
I walked in a small circle as I tried to sort my thoughts out. “I like my freedom. Not that it’s ever perfect or complete, but I’ve had a taste of it now. And there are other issues.” I motioned for him to come closer. “Problems concerning a king’s duties. Lineage. Marriage. And that not involving Sorceresses.”
Kel raised his eyebrows. “Right. I’d forgotten about that.”
“Any brilliant suggestions?”
“Sorry. I don’t know anything about this mess. I’m just figuring out the whole love part, never mind the complications you people add on to it.”
The mumblings from the tent grew louder, both voices fighting to be heard. “Sit down!” Nox demanded. Silence followed.
Kel sighed. “I do like that woman.”
“I’d noticed. Speaking of futures...”
His brow furrowed as he sat on a rickety wooden bench, abandoned in the rush to get things packed. “We’ll figure it out. All I know right now is that I have to be with her. It’s not rational. We make no sense. We’re from different worlds. I’m miserable here, away from water and my people. Nox is the only thing that’s keeping me going, but she can’t join me at home.”
I sat beside him. “There’s the Grotto.”
“She’d be lonely there. I know she acts standoffish, but she really enjoys helping people once she lets herself feel something for them. She needs human contact as much as anyone, and I can’t be everything for her. And I can’t say the elders would approve of our relationship.” He leaned his shoulder against mine, as though I might carry some of the weight for him. “Why did I want this, again?”
I snorted. “Damned if I can tell you that. You’re a fool.”
“If I am, you are too.”
A lone cricket chirped in the bushes, and from inside the tent came the continued mumblings of muted conversation. One by one the stars appeared in the darkening sky. In the morning there would be chaos as everyone finished packing and moved out. It wouldn’t be an easy journey, but I’d flown out and scouted a route earlier that day that would get the group to roads leading east. They’d be close to Luid in just a few weeks, if they kept moving at a steady pace.
Peaceful as the night looked, hopeful as the outcome of all of this seemed, it was an illusion. Nothing was certain, least of all victory.
“Where’s Cass?” I asked.
Kel sat up straight. “She didn’t...? No. Of course she didn’t.”
“What?”
“She’s gone. She went home.”
“What?” I repeated. A sense of betrayal stabbed at me. “Why didn’t she tell me? Are things so bad here?”
“She needed to get home, back to the water. She doesn’t have a Nox to keep her happy here, you know? Not that she wants one. She’s mer through and through.” The corners of his lips twisted downward. “She’s been going through a dry spell in more ways than one. She’ll be better off at home. And she’s going to ask for help, so that’s something.”
“But still.” I hoped it was too dark to see the wounded expression I surely wore.
“I know. She should’ve said goodbye to you. It was hard for her to go, though.”
Cassia and I had been friends for years, more than friends for a summer, absent from each other’s lives for seven years following that, and had picked up our friendship again just a few months before, when she and Kel helped me and Rowan escape from our enemies. Such a small portion of my life, and yet the loss pained me.
Kel watched me as well as he could in the darkness. “It’s hard, right? Attachment?”
“I’d forgotten what it’s like to have friends.” I shot him a good-natured scowl. “You’re more trouble than you’re worth.”
“Aren’t we, though? But she’ll be fine. You’ll see her again.”
There didn’t seem to be anything else to say about that, and we returned to silently watching the stars come out. Under their ageless and impassive eyes time seemed to collapse, bringing the past into sharp focus.
“Kel?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. If I haven’t said it before, or even if I have, thank you. For everything.” I allowed long-buried memories to wash over me, and with them an understanding of how the merfolk had changed my life. “Remember when we met?”
“How could I forget? It’s not every day you come across a human child lost in the caves, about to be devoured by an earthwyrm.”
“Gods, that thing could have swallowed either of us whole. I never asked why you saved me. You didn’t know me. Shouldn’t have cared.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Some of us can’t help being heroes, I guess.”
I snorted. “That’s you all over, isn’t it? Thank you for that, and for not renouncing our friendship when you found out about my magic. For introducing me to your people. For helping me and Rowan when you had no reason to so much as speak to me. For joining me to help find my father. I couldn’t have done that without you and Cass.”
“And Nox,” he added.
“Her, too. But she never would have stayed with me if not for you.”
“True. And you’re welcome.”
“I wish I could repay you somehow.”
He chuckled quietly. “You seem to think you’re the only one who’s benefited from this friendship. You taught me about humans. I blame you, in part, for my stupid desire to find out about the kind of love you people experience, even if you never wanted it. I’ve seen more of the world than I would have without knowing you.”
“I suppose.”
“You don’t see everything there is to mer culture. It’s good, and in many ways we have a lot of freedom, but it can be closed-off and restrictive. You got me out of that, at least a little, and I appreciate it. Even if you are still twenty pounds of asshole—”
I smiled in spite of myself. “Yeah, I get it.”
The tent flap opened, flooding the ground with lamplight as Nox peered out into the night.
“Aren? Oh, Kel.” She smiled. “I was looking for you earlier.”
Kel ducked as a night fairy buzzed over his head. “I was making nice with the people, but now my time is yours, fair lady.”
She grinned slyly. “Just your time?”
He tried not to smile, but couldn’t help it. Kel was never good at hiding his feelings. “Anything you desire.”
She smiled mysteriously and disappeared back into the tent. I followed, and found Ulric seated on his bed, scowling.
“She wouldn’t tell me anything until you came back in,” he said.
“Didn’t make much sense to say it twice,” she retorted.
At least they’d warmed to each other in my absence.
“Aren, I think you were right,” she said. “Being in that cell for so long, being exposed to whatever potions they were using or testing on him, has somehow changed his magic. It’s not broken exactly, but they weakened him. From what he’s told me, I agree that his defenses against the harm magic naturally causes are damaged.”
Ulric said nothing, but nodded.
“We should ask Griselda Beaumage,” I said.
The king shook his head. “No one outside of this small circle can know.”
“She’s been studying magic her entire life, traveled all over the world to do it. If anyone would know, it would be her.”
“Absolutely not. We can’t trust her not to report back to Albion. That flying cat she has with her is trained to carry messages between her and the island.”