Page 28

CHAPTER 28

M oore was the only one to protest when Callum took his horse. It was the strongest one, the horse master told him. The one capable of carrying Callum with Laena in his arms. So Callum took it, weaving around the frozen figures of the soldiers and calling out final orders to keep them under guard and send word to Vunmore for backup. There was no way to know whether they were corpses, or if they were enemies yet to awaken.

He didn’t care. He needed to get Laena back to Inasvale.

He thought his men would physically hold Moore back, if they had to. But the general was a coward at heart, and he let them go, still muttering about the famed magic hunter rescuing a whore of a witch instead of letting her die in the dirt.

There was no time to reply, no time to argue with the fool. There was only time to ride, with Laena gathered in his arms. Her breaths were so shallow, so infrequent, that he found himself lowering his ear to her mouth so he could reassure himself she did still breathe, that she had not slipped away. She felt too warm, the blood from her nose soaking the patch of cloth he’d ripped from his shirt to stanch the blood .

Brin lay nestled beneath Laena’s chin, her pink scales shining in the light of the setting moon. The sight made Callum swallow, his throat too dry. “Can you help her?” he whispered.

The shimmerling made no reply.

Yesterday, they’d ridden a full day from Inasvale to reach the meadow where they’d camped. Callum could not hope to reach the city quickly. But that knowledge didn’t stop him from seeking the sight of it over every hill, around every bend, searching, searching for any glint of the sea against the moonlight. As if his panicked need could break through the hills and will the city to slide closer.

Yesterday, they’d traveled with a full company of soldiers. Yesterday, they’d taken their time. Callum should be able to get there in a matter of hours.

But he would not be able to do it if he pushed the horse too hard. The poor beast was bearing an extra load as it was. Yet he could not stop himself from urging the creature forward.

“Why Inasvale?” Edmun had asked as Callum mounted with Laena, bleeding and unconscious, in his arms. “Why not the nearest village? Why not a healer?”

Callum hadn’t been able to voice it. Hadn’t wanted to voice it. But Laena’s suspicions about Hawk… he’d watched the king as he dipped his hand into that magepool. He’d seen the look on his face, like he was reaching deep within himself and outward at the same time. And he’d known the truth then, even if he hadn’t been able to put words to it.

There could no longer be any doubt. Hawk had magic, too. And Thaddeus had given him something to help with it.

Thaddeus knew how to help.

The fact that Laena may well have suspected more than Hawk’s magic, that she had stopped short of suggesting he could be involved in all of it—the assassination attempts, the kidnapping—did not stop him. Hawk had not smelled of a heart-tithe, nor had Callum seen him hurt anyone to work his magic. He had to believe the king was like Laena. That his magic was benign.

At this point, he had no choice.

An hour he rode, and another, and yet another, and as he skirted around the hundredth hill—it felt like the thousandth—finally, finally Inasvale came into view. Distant still, its shape little more than an elevated smudge against the horizon, but in view. In reach.

Callum felt for Laena’s breath. It was as shallow as ever, her skin hot to the touch, but at least he did not think she was any worse. “Hold on,” he said. “You have to hold on.”

He refused to entertain the possibility of losing her.

Inasvale disappeared around the next bend in the road, and Callum rode harder, as though keeping the city in his sight would bring him to it faster.

When he rounded the next bend, the road was blocked.

A carriage, a dozen soldiers, a pair of horses. And a queen.

Laena’s sister stood in the road, her soldiers fanned out around her, more like a decoration than a shield. The regent hovered a few steps behind her, his expression cold.

She would have traveled a long way to get here, likely directly from a ship, no doubt from Etra itself. Yet her pink gown looked crisp and fresh, her golden curls smooth as they brushed against her shoulders. She’d taken the time to see to her toilet, clearly; the scent of her perfume reached him even from this distance.

They must have missed her arrival by mere hours.

“My sister may not be queen, but she still cannot be arrested by a foreign kingdom,” Katrina said as his horse approached her. “Even for the working of magic.”

Callum stopped, his heart thrumming in his chest. “How do you know she?—”

“I have spies among your people. As your king does among mine, I assume. ”

He could not deny it. Hawk had recently spoken of his spies and their certainty that Silerith was keeping to itself, as it always did. If he had ears in Silerith, he certainly had them in Etra, too.

There was no way Callum could make it past all these men without unseating himself. Not while protecting Laena. And he had to protect Laena. It was the only thought he could muster.

“Your Highness,” he said, his voice rough. “I do not mean to arrest your sister. Only to bring her to safety. Please. I’m sure you must have questions. But you must allow me to pass.”

Katrina looked to Declan. But if the regent had an opinion on this interaction, he didn’t offer it. Callum wanted to shake the man, to demand that he speak so Callum could be on his way. Katrina turned back to him, concern in her eyes. “Leave her here and ride ahead. It will be faster.”

Callum hesitated. He had no wish to leave Laena. He didn’t believe Katrina would keep her safe.

But Laena did, he realized. Laena trusted her sister enough to accept her fool’s errand of a mission. Enough to leave the life she’d built for herself and reenter the lion’s den.

Katrina raised an eyebrow. “Do you not trust me to care for her until your return?”

Callum cleared his throat. He did not. But Laena would. Laena would . “I do not think anyone can care for her, Your Highness. Save perhaps for my brother.”

Katrina gave a pointed look at her sister. “Then I think you had best hurry.”

Callum shoved the door to Thaddeus’s room so hard that it crashed into a table, knocking several books to the floor. Hawk was seated in a chair by the window, a book open on the table before him and another in his lap. For once, his hair was as disheveled as his brother’s, and his blinking surprise channeled Thaddeus so strongly that, in another context, Callum might have laughed. The poisonkeeper was on the floor with three volumes spread before him.

And in another context, the sight of the brothers working together might have squeezed something in Callum’s chest. With affection, with loneliness. He’d been included in their number once.

Today, in this moment, only Laena mattered.

Hawk rose, snapping his book shut. He was arranging his face into an expression of official rage, the angry king replacing the relaxed brother. “Callum. What?—”

“You,” Callum said. “You have magic.”

And there it was: fear . Now that Callum knew to look for it, he wondered that he’d never seen it in the frozen expression before: the tightening around the eyes, the way the color bleached from Hawk’s face, his lips parting just slightly to allow a shaky breath to enter. As if he thought Callum would produce cuffs and haul him away to the dungeons.

Hawk was the king. And he feared Callum? Callum was no one. He led at the king’s favor only. He’d been demoted. Disgraced.

And yet. And yet, Callum had been able to steal the Etran delegation by his word alone. Edmun had known from the beginning that Callum had no authority to lead the mission, and he’d come along anyway. How many more of them would have done the same?

Hawk thought Callum might stage a coup. Worse, he thought it might actually work. All this time, maybe even since Magnus’s death, the king had been playing a game, when all Callum had wanted was to prove himself.

He didn’t have time for this.

“Did you kill King Magnus?” Callum asked. “Did you kill your father? ”

He knew the answer. He had to hear it, anyway.

Hawk set the book down, the fear on his face stark now. His eyes were flashing with it. But he faced Callum anyway. “No.”

“Hawk wanted you at the pool,” Thaddeus said, ignoring Hawk’s warning glare. “He wanted you to see the tru?—”

“You have to help her.” Callum rounded on the younger prince. Thaddeus was still sitting on the floor, robes pooled around him like a black puddle of fabric. Thaddeus could play peacekeeper later and fabricate as many stories of Hawk’s wish to reconcile as he pleased. Now, there was no time.

Thaddeus blinked up at him over the rims of his spectacles. “Help who?”

“Laena.” Callum practically choked out her name. Was she still breathing? Was Katrina keeping her alive? Could her voice call her sister back from the depths, or was it too late?

It would do no good to panic. He took a breath, painful as it was. “She has… she used magic. Not a heart-tithe. Something else.”

Part of him expected Hawk to deny any knowledge of such a thing. Instead, the king straightened.

“How much did she use?” His voice was sharp now.

Callum shook his head. “Everything. All she had, I think. She froze an entire army into statues.”

Hawk looked to Thaddeus, who shook his head. “It took us weeks to learn the little we do know. It would take months to research the effects of fully depleting one’s magic. If the information survives at all.”

That explained the stacks of books, the obsession they both had with studying.

It might even explain why Thaddeus had joined the poisonkeepers in the first place. He’d wanted to access their archives, their knowledge. And Hawk hadn’t wanted to let him make the sacrifice. Puzzle pieces drifted together, the pieces clicking into place .

And none of it mattered. Not compared with the sorrow in Thaddeus’s expression. “I can’t help her. I’m sorry.”

Callum refused to accept it. He wouldn’t accept it. He pointed at Hawk, though his attention was still focused on Thaddeus. “You gave him something. At the pool.”

Thaddeus rose, finally, and stepped over the books on the floor to come nearer. “I gave him herbs, for grounding. It’s like a tether. The theory is that the magic brings your mind and body partially to another realm—not the Miragelands, this is Vales magic, so?—”

“I don’t need the full history of the herb.” Callum could practically feel Laena’s life leeching away while they talked. “I need the cure .”

Thaddeus rolled his eyes. “I gave you the same herbs for your hangover. But they won’t help her if she’s never had them. The books say?—”

“It was her hangover,” Callum interrupted. “Get them.”

Thaddeus and Hawk shared a look. “Callum,” Thaddeus said, “it’s not as if we don’t know your weakness. They could cause her more harm than good. You need to believe me.”

As if he’d ever felt the need to hide his vices. Callum wanted to shake them until their teeth rattled. “By the mages, it was . Your general called her a whore, and she drank an entire city’s worth of wine. Now are you going to help me, or am I going to have to make you?”

Alarm bells rang out as if in answer to his question. The bright noise cut through the silence of the monastery and vibrated the very walls around them. Mages, but they were loud. Callum supposed they would have to be, but still.

He repressed the urge to demand the herbs from Thaddeus and run. There was no time for interruptions. Laena had no time.

“The watchtowers,” Thaddeus said.

Hawk was already at the door. Together, they ran, Hawk’s guards falling into step behind them as they rushed through the corridors, Callum still following in the hopes of procuring the herbs and running back to Laena. There could be an entire army waiting outside those gates, and Callum would fight his way through it. There was no time .

When they reached the courtyard, the watchman was just opening the gate to admit the newcomer. Not a threat, or so Callum hoped. Thaddeus should really let him come and train the poisonkeepers in proper security protocols.

The man who staggered into the courtyard was tall, with auburn hair and an unruly beard that looked as if it was usually kept neat. He braced himself upon the wall, his chest heaving with the effort of making his way up the hill.

“Regent Riennad,” Hawk said, stepping forward to meet him as Thaddeus called for a cup of water. “What happened?”

Regent ? No, it wasn’t possible. An imposter, at best. Callum eased himself between the king and the newcomer, motioning the guards a step closer. “I left this man an hour’s ride behind me,” he said. “On the road.”

The man was shaking his head, water dripping from his chin as he tried to catch his breath. He did look like Declan Riennad. The man was dirty, disheveled, and exhausted. But it was him.

“What happened?” Callum asked. “Where’s Laena?”

“Laena,” Declan repeated, shaking his head. “She’s why I’m here. I have not seen her since she left Riles.”

Callum wanted to lift the man off his feet until his feet dangled in the air. “You were just with the queen. I left her with you.”

“No.” Declan wiped the water away. He looked as if he was about to collapse. “A shadow only. A heart-tithe. I came here to warn you. The queen intends to kill her sister.”