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Kiva blurted out the words, partly in an effort to distract Rhess, but mostly because she couldn’t ignore the facts any longer. Three times in three days her magic had risen to the surface against her will. She had no idea what was causing it, but she couldn’t risk it happening again, not while she was living at the palace. If Jaren saw ... ifanyonesaw ...

Kiva needed to speak with her siblings. She couldn’t keep waiting for them to come to her — they could take days before making contact again. Weeks, even.

Judging by what was happening with her magic, Kiva might not have that long. She had to risk seeking out Torell and Zuleeka herself, praying they’d be able to help. Neither of them had exhibited magic as children, but that could have changed. Even if it hadn’t, their mother had once possessed healing magic, despite having chosen not to use it in order to keep them safe from discovery. Maybe Tilda had told them something that could explain what was happening to Kiva and how she could bring her magic back under control.

“Oakhollow?” Rhessinda repeated. “What’s in Oakhollow?”

Offering a truth not even Jaren knew, Kiva swallowed and said, “My family.” Swallowing again, she asked, “Do you know how I can get there?”

Rhess was looking at her closely, her gaze shifting from Kiva’s face to her hands and back again. She then shook her head as if deciding that whatever she’d seen must have been a trick of the light, and Kiva nearly fainted with relief.

“It’s fairly easy,” the healer said, pushing windswept hair behind her ear. “You just follow the River Road and turn off it to leave the city through the South Watch, then head straight through the farmlands until you reach the first crossroads. After that, you take a left, then a right, then ...”

Rhess continued giving instructions, which Kiva tried to memorize, but the healer soon paused at whatever she saw on Kiva’s face.

“You know what? I’m due to head to Oakhollow for some house calls this week,” she said. “Why don’t I move my trip up to tomorrow, and you can tag along with me? I’ll have to leave you alone for a few hours once we get there, but that’ll give you time with your family, and at least you won’t get lost.”

Kiva was so grateful that she could have hugged the healer. “You don’t mind?”

“I have to go at some point anyway. And you’re not terrible company.” Rhess’s quick grin told Kiva that maybe she wasn’t the only one to feel a growing friendship between them.

Because of that — and a myriad of other more desperate reasons — Kiva asked, “What time should I meet you?”

They quickly came up with a plan for their departure the next morning, with Kiva intending to leave the palace right after her training session with Caldon. If anyone asked, she would say she was spending the day with a Silverthorn healer — not a lie, even if it implied she’d be at the academy. It was the perfect cover, Kiva realized, somewhat bitterly. But she pushed away her guilty thoughts to focus on the positive.

Tomorrow she would see her brother and sister again. And while she had things to tell them — and more importantly, needed their help with her magical problem — she was also going to make the most of the opportunity.

She had questions, and it was about damn time they were answered.

CHAPTER TWELVE

As planned, Kiva started the next day with her early morning fitness training — another gruelling session, but on the plus side, she only vomited once.

The only hiccup came when Jaren called out just as she was leaving the training yard. For a moment, she feared he might have cleared his schedule to spend time with her, but he only apologized for not seeing her much the previous day, claiming to have been away from the city helping to rebuild a nearby village.

Before she could ask about it, he inquired about her visit to Silverthorn, and she launched into an account of her hours spent with Rhessinda. Jaren seemed delighted to hear about their budding friendship, making it easy for Kiva to share her false plans for the day, with him saying he was relieved because he had a full plate of meetings ahead anyway.

Hearing that, Kiva worried about missing an opportunity to eavesdrop, but when he mentioned the Merchants Guild, the Dockworkers Union, and the Minstrels Society — among others — she realized his appointments would be similar to the latter half of what the Royal Council meeting had covered, none of which would be relevant to her spying mission.

They parted ways when a message arrived from the minister of finance requesting Jaren’s immediate presence, causing him to look at Kiva with woeful eyes, begging for her to save him. She only grinned and teased, “Poor baby prince,” before telling him that the sooner he went to his meetings, the sooner he could be free.

Back in her room, Kiva bathed quickly and ate a light breakfast as she dressed for her outing, adding a hooded cloak to protect her from the coastal breeze she would encounter on her journey — and affording her discretion if needed.

Remembering to pinch a dose of muscle relaxant into her tea to help stave off the pain Caldon’s session would later prompt, Kiva gulped it down and hurried from her room. She paused only twice on her way out of the palace: once when she passed Tipp and Oriel chasing Flox through the halls, the middle-aged Tutor Edna running after them and mumbling a prayer for patience, and the second time when Naari called her name, right as she was stepping out of the entrance hall.

“I hear you’re heading to Silverthorn again,” the guard stated.

Kiva was surprised that Naari wasn’t shadowing Jaren’s footsteps, but then she realized that many of his conversations must be confidential, just like the Royal Council meeting.

“I’m spending time with one of the healers,” Kiva confirmed, keeping her expression open and honest.

Naari looked at her closely before sharing, “Jaren says it’s important that you don’t feel trapped here, that you’ve had ten years of being a prisoner and you deserve to remember what it means to be free.”

The last thing I want is to make her feel like she’s trapped in another kind of cage.

Jaren’s words from two days earlier returned to Kiva, his thoughtfulness cutting her deep all over again.

“But you should know he’s worried about your safety,” Naari continued, “especially after what happened the other night. He won’t take away your freedom — he’d never do that to you. So I’m asking you to have a care.” Her amber eyes held Kiva’s. “I’ve posted extra sentries along the River Road with orders to watch out for you, but there’s a lot of foot traffic between here and Silverthorn, and even the most attentive of guards can miss things. Jaren won’t say it at the risk of making you feel shackled, but I think you already know it would destroy him if something happened to you. So be smart.”