Page 39

CHAPTER 38

“ ODDS SEEMED IN MY favor of you not returning from your quest,” Lux said. Mamá squirmed, and Lux held her tighter.

I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat. All the years I spent daydreaming about marrying him, and here he was before me. We’d been inseparable last summer. Mamá had been like a second mother to him. He had said so himself. Had I been blinded by my affections?

“I didn’t go searching for a Himzo alliance,” Lux said, voice calm and assured. “The king of Aldrin came to us with the idea, and since I am betrothed to Alexa, I felt obliged to listen.” He whipped his head toward a scuffling of feet.

The young soldier came down the stairs, eyes widening. One of Lux’s Pedrozian soldiers flung a dagger, and it landed with a thud. The only sound after that was a gurgling from the dying man’s throat. I slapped a hand to my mouth and gasped. The soldier never had a chance.

Lux continued in the same placid tone. “All their reasoning struck me as true. Giddel thrives while Aldrin suffers want. Even my very own Pedroz would do well trading with the northern kingdoms. What stops us from trading with them?”

Heat vined up my face, and I fanned myself. “What if I can arrange a way for us to open up trade?” I knew Zichri could help me in that regard. Imagine us in constant contact. Focus, Beatriz .

“The only problem with that is they don’t want anything to do with Giddel. I met with them right here at your ball.” He heaved a sigh. “Himzos hate you more than you hate them. Everything about you is vile.” The twisted expression on Lux’s face transformed him into a stranger.

I wanted to slap him. “Lies. All lies. Is that why one of them danced with me?” I paused to observe his jaw slide from side to side. “There’s something you’re not saying.”

He fixed a dead stare on me. “You know me too well.”

“We’re friends, aren’t we?” I stepped closer in the hope of connecting with him. It may still be possible to reach him, even with his overinflated ego . Aldrin’s king must have spoken sweet words of how he should lead the alliance rather than Papá. Power had always been Pedroz’s undoing.

My crush made me blind to Lux. He and his father had always been two different sorts of creatures to me. But I was wrong.

Lux jerked Mamá back, and she yelped. A drop of blood dripped along her neck. If it weren’t for him still having her in his arms, I’d batter him myself, even though I didn’t know how to fight. Mamá lifted her brows in a way that got my attention. She closed her eyes, lips smashed together.

Lux yelped, and the dagger clattered on the floor. The two soldiers fell to the ground, writhing.

I inhaled sharply. What in all Giddel? She darted toward me, her blue dress billowing around her, and grabbed my wrist. One cock of her head sent us running up the bell tower steps. We slammed the thick wooden door shut, and I bolted it. She plunged a reinforcement plank in the brackets, locking Lux out and us in. Mamá and I panted.

Thoughts poured into my mind faster than I could speak. “What did you do? Did you cause my headache? I thought,” I caught my breath, “you were a healer. Look, I’m shaking.” I lifted my hands to show her.

She dragged me away from the door. “The two soldiers won’t recover, but Lux can’t be reached unless we have skin-to-skin contact. Yes, I am a healer, but there are some things I need you to know.” Mamá’s fingers dug into my sleeves.

“I can handle whatever you have to tell me.” I put on a brave face. At least, I’d like to think I kept my expression neutral.

“Your papá’s betrothed passed, and he had to choose another to be his queen.”

“I know that story.” What does this have to do with her gift? I rubbed my palms against my pants.

“Your papá did not meet me in court. I wasn’t eligible to be in court, but I had taken a different route because I had no control of my gifting.” Her dark eyes pierced with their intensity. “He found me sneaking around the palace. I knew who he was, so I used all my female arts to try to get myself out of trouble. He was amused and begged me to come to court so we could formally meet under no pretenses.”

I considered her story for a moment. “Why would you sneak around the palace? He should have jailed you instead of marrying you.”

She pressed her lips in a firm line, inspiring further questions. Good-standing noblemen and women have no need to sneak about unless she had less than reputable reasons for being within these walls.

She tossed her head back, unwilling to meet my gaze any longer. “Could we talk about the why later?” She let out a sigh. “I wanted to see what it was like to be accepted. Even after marrying your papá, I worked ceaselessly to garner the people’s good favor, to make them forget he married a weakling.”

My mouth fell open. Lux betrayed me, and Mamá wasn’t accepted? My chest tightened. “You have such good standing now, and you heal wounds.”

Something slammed the door. Lux shouted, “All will know that you slaughtered my guards. Our attack will be valid. No other kingdom will support you unless you come with me, Beatriz.”

“And what about you holding a knife to Mamá’s throat?” I hugged my midsection.

“That’s hard to prove, and she started the violence,” he said.

Mamá stepped toward the window with hunched shoulders. She never hunched. All those years putting up a strong front. “I did try to subdue Lux, but I lack control. Even now, I have more strength in harming people than in healing. Am I a beast?”

Should I try and use my gift to soothe her? I released my invisible tentacles, and Mamá’s pain washed under my skin, making me feel how she felt. Shame swirled within her. I could give her a happy thought. The memory of me jumping off the boulder and into the river outside Valle de los Fantasmas came to mind. Joyfulness tingled out my skin. She darted a glance at me, clearly aware of my intrusion, but said nothing about it.

I reached for Lux, forcing the invisible tentacle through the door. Nothing.

“Nice try, Bea. You have a distinct way of pushing in. I’m curious, Bea. Did the Himzo prince and his band of miscreants chase you down?”

My ears perked up. Nothing good could come from admitting the truth.

“Yes, they must have,” Lux said, playfulness touching his voice. “How else would you have known one of them danced with you? If you believe you can form a truce, that means you got cozy with them too.” The way Lux said “cozy” insinuated something less than savory.

I balled my fists tight. My nails dug into my skin. Mamá put a hand on my shoulder, and I released my fingers. When I thought about it, she may have opened my fists for me.

“I assume your silence means it’s true. I’ll let you in on a little secret. The day after your ball, I thought to terminate the plan since you didn’t seem all that convinced to leave. You still mean more to me than you know.”

He had to be lying. Yet his words started stitching together a gaping wound inside me. I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I wanted it to be true. Still, we could not trust him again.

“Say something, Bea. I could never have broken a betrothal with Alexa, but you seemed set on staying. I had suspicions that you desired more than friendship for years now. You leaving confirmed it … Do me this one favor?”

One of my legs bounced even when I tried to keep it still. Mamá’s grip on my shoulder tightened. The worse part of all this was that a small part of me wanted to say yes to his favor, even still.

“Promise me you’ll leave Giddel. It is under my authority to release prisoners of war. Let me see you, and you’ll know I’m sincere.”

I shrugged Mamá’s hand off and stepped toward the door.

“Don’t you dare,” she said.

“Trust me.” I reached for the rope dangling in the middle of the room, pulling as hard as possible.

The room quaked with the gong of the bell, and the doorknob shook. Lux shouted, but his words sounded muffled. Mamá covered her ears. I slapped my hands over my ears also. Time seemed to stretch into a thin piece of thread as we waited. Waited for Lux to break in? Waited for help? I couldn’t say.

A hum of bugles sounded in the distance. I flew to the window, and Mamá pressed behind me. The Himzo soldiers had made it to the city gates.

I shouted, “Does your gift work like Papá’s?”

Mamá shook her head.

If Papá were here, he could immobilize an entire army of soldiers with a wave of his hand. Even with my gift, I was helpless to stop the incoming attack.