Chapter 11
The crowd grew more tumultuous as I approached the exit, shoving and pulling in all directions as some people pushed forward in curiosity while others tried to flee.
I was jostled and buffeted on every side, but I didn’t stop.
Ignoring the protests at my passage, I squirmed through any gap I could find, moving toward the place where the body apparently lay.
I couldn’t bear to see it, and yet I was desperate to reach it at the same time. Until I saw the victim with my own eyes, I could still cling to the hope that it wasn’t Zak. Foolish Zak who went out of his way to come to the Shrouded Mage’s notice.
“What a terrible tragedy,” a woman said to another as they moved in the opposite direction. “That poor young man.”
“And so handsome and nicely dressed,” the other responded, and my heart seized.
The words in my head reduced to a mindless stream. Nononononononono.
It was easy to see which side street to turn down, and I burst through a final wall of people, emerging into a small circle of open space. Someone—perhaps a resident of one of the neighboring houses—was kneeling beside the young man with a solemn expression, pulling a sheet over the body.
I leaned forward to get a glimpse of the face before it was covered, but I was too late. Something twisted and writhed in my chest, trying to crawl up my throat. I had to know.
I took a step forward despite the ring of watching eyes, when a voice called my name.
“Aria!”
Spinning, I gasped as my eyes fell on Zak’s tall figure. He stood against the wall of a building, as if pushed back as far as possible by the jostling crowd, and his eyes were fixed on me.
I ran toward him, the people between us giving way with unhappy mutters. Concern overlayed the sorrow and anger in Zak’s eyes, perhaps in response to my obvious agitation.
Without hesitation, I flung myself into his arms, the overwhelming relief robbing my knees of strength.
“You’re alive!” I sobbed out, my words verging on hysterical. “I thought…When I heard they’d found a body, I thought…And I wasn’t with you today. You could have come down into the city on your own and…”
His strong arms circled me, holding me tight against him, steady despite my failing legs.
“I’m fine, Aria.” His reassuring murmur washed over me. “I wasn’t here when it happened. You’d mentioned coming to this market today, so I was heading in this direction when the shouting started. I followed the crowd the rest of the way.”
“You’re really unharmed?” I sniffed against his chest, and he tightened his hold.
“As you can see.”
I tried to draw back so I could get a proper look at him, but he didn’t loosen his hold. My gaze jumped to his face, catching there at the expression in his eyes.
“Zak.” My voice came out shaky, not yet recovered from the intensity of my panic.
“Aria,” he breathed back, his eyes dropping to my lips.
He swayed toward me, and I could think of nothing beyond my all-consuming relief that he was alive and well.
I had told myself pretty words about friendship, but what I felt for Zak was much stronger than that, no matter what self-deceptions I employed.
Despite all my attempts at caution, I had fallen headlong into love with him.
And the Shrouded Mage hadn’t found him. He was alive.
Strength returned to my legs, and I lifted my heels off the ground, closing the distance between us and pressing my lips against his. Fire raced through me as I forgot all about the crowded street or his mage status.
Zak was alive, and he was holding me in his arms.
“Aria!” A furious cry gave me half a second’s warning before someone grabbed my arm and ripped me violently away from Zak.
I cried out, stumbling and nearly falling as I was pulled sideways away from his warm grasp. Zak growled, stepping toward us and reaching for me, but I got a look at my attacker.
“Anson!” I gasped, the blood draining from my face. “What are you doing here?”
“Half of Corrin is here.” His narrowed eyes didn’t leave Zak’s face, not even glancing toward the covered body.
“Please, Anson,” I pleaded. “You don’t understand.”
Zak, who had looked ready to wrench me from Anson’s grasp, hesitated at the obvious familiarity between us. He threw me a questioning look, and I mouthed the words, my brother.
Zak’s expression changed, an almost guilty look creeping into his eyes. He cleared his throat and stepped back, giving us space.
“You promised, Aria.” Anson’s voice was implacable. “I was clearly a fool to trust you.”
He dragged me down the street, pausing only briefly as we passed Zak. “Mage or not,” he said in a threatening undertone, “don’t play with my sister.”
“I wasn’t—” Zak’s attempted response was lost in the noise of the crowd as Anson pulled me inexorably on.
The crowd parted before Anson’s angry expression, watching us go with curiosity, although no one attempted to intervene once they got a look at my resigned face.
I could have pulled free—they knew it and I knew it.
But I was already going to be in big trouble at home, and I didn’t want to make it worse.
I’m sorry, I mouthed at Zak over my shoulder, but I wasn’t sure if he’d seen me.
As soon as we’d made it through the crowd and were no longer at risk of being separated by the throng, I pulled my arm loose, nearly jogging to keep up with Anson’s fast pace.
“It wasn’t Zak’s fault.” My shoulders slumped. “He didn’t do anything.”
“It looked like he was doing plenty to me,” my brother growled.
“It was me.” I forced the words out, despite the humiliation sweeping over me. “When I heard there had been another murder, I was terrified it might have been him. When I saw him alive and well, I was so relieved that I…I got carried away.” I finished awkwardly.
At the time I had been convinced Zak was leaning toward me—that I was only finishing what he had begun. But walking beside Anson, it was all too easy to believe I had been mistaken. Caught up in overwhelming emotion, I had practically attacked Zak!
“Regardless of who started it, he wasn’t exactly pushing you away, was he?” Anson asked caustically, although I thought I detected a hint of softening.
For a moment, his words gave me hope that I hadn’t acted alone after all, but a moment’s reflection dashed it. “He’s far too much of a gentleman to push me away at a moment like that,” I said sadly. “I was practically hysterical with fear.”
Anson’s brow rose. “What happened to only being friends?”
I didn’t attempt to reply. What reply could I possibly make?
The scene when we reached home was painful beyond words. News of the latest killing had reached the house ahead of us, so we were initially pounced on for fresh news, everyone exclaiming at once.
But Anson responded brusquely, telling them it had been a Robart—something I hadn’t known—before announcing there was something more pressing we needed to discuss.
I had been hoping to avoid a full family council, but everyone was home except Harvey, and he arrived two minutes after us, bringing the news of the killing in case we hadn’t heard.
All six of them filed into the sitting room, their faces ranging from curious to concerned. But when Anson gave them a brief and unflattering account of my summer with my mage tutor, they responded with a united front.
By the time I finally escaped to my bed after the evening meal, nothing could have been clearer. Mages did not have serious romantic intentions toward commonborns. It was impossible. And I was a fool to throw myself at him. I had only set myself up for heartbreak.
“It could be worse than youthful heartbreak, too,” Harvey had said in his measured way.
“You say he’s a decent enough sort, and I hope you’re right.
But if he is, he may well feel some measure of shame when his interest moves on.
If that happens, he might find it uncomfortable to see you, even in passing, and he might exert influence to make sure you don’t cross paths in the future.
This could end up limiting your career opportunities. ”
“He’s a minor mage,” I said weakly, knowing it would be useless to protest that Zak would never do that. “How much influence can he have if he’s spending his time tutoring in the lower city?”
“Even so, he’s a mage,” my father said. “And he’s just spent four years at the Academy with every mage his age in the kingdom. He moves in circles we don’t even understand.”
They all thought I had been inexcusably foolish, but even so, they directed their anger toward Zak, their attitude toward me one of concern.
It was that loving concern that eventually wore me down until I capitulated to my mother’s demands and promised I would stop studying with Zak.
I had made enough progress that I could continue my reading practice without him, so I had no excuse to give.
Anson had added that I wasn’t to go wandering around the markets with him either. I put up no protest to that final restriction, already having accepted that my summer with Zak was over. Even the weather had turned, and there were only two weeks left until University classes started.
Not that my family could keep me away from him forever. They had to know that I would see him again once we both started at the University.
But they seemed to hope that a period of separation would bring me to my right mind, and that when we were at the University, we would find ourselves in different spheres entirely. Likely they were right.
In the hopes of alleviating my mother’s teary self-recriminations for not inspecting Zak for herself before agreeing to our tutoring exchange, I told them about my reconciliation with Gina.
That news was greeted with joy, and my mother had soon convinced herself that at the University I would be too busy with Gina and her friends to even notice the mage students.
Lying in my bed, I allowed myself a small, bitter laugh. If my family thought that two weeks was enough to forget Zak, they were utterly mistaken.