CHAPTER 7 CALLYN #2
“I believe you already do endanger her,” he says.
“From what I understand, the scravers target magesmiths. It is believed that they came to the palace to attack the king.” He pauses, glancing at me.
“But they attacked the Crystal Palace right after you used your magic. What if they didn’t come after the king? What if they came after you?”
“They didn’t.” But the words sound hollow, because I’ve worried about the exact same thing. I look at him. “The last time I saw you, you threatened to tell the queen about my abilities. What changed?”
He shrugs, ambivalent. “I still might. But you haven’t caused her any harm, and I’ve decided that if you had any real talent, you’d have used it against me by now.”
I seethe again, because I simply don’t understand how he manages to defend me and insult me within the same sentence.
He glances over. “Like now. If you truly meant me harm, I’d know it.” “I’m going to knock you out of the carriage.”
He flicks the reins. “If you can’t ride, I rather doubt you know how to drive.”
“I’ll take my chances.” I move to shove him.
I don’t really mean it— because he’s right, I have no idea how to drive— but Alek flinches. For a bare flash of time, I see shame flicker across his expression.
Then it’s gone, smoothed out. Like I imagined it.
But I didn’t. I know I didn’t.
“I scared you,” I say softly. It’s almost impossible to believe, because he just faced me with a sword, and he wasn’t intimidated at all.
He even offered his hand to help me into the carriage.
He doesn’t quite seem intimidated, but there’s still the ghost of an emotion hanging between us. “Didn’t I?”
He clears his throat. “No.” But he gives the tiniest little shudder, like a horse shaking off a fly.
I stare at him.
Eventually, he sighs and glances over again. “Magic killed my mother, Callyn. Magic killed my sister.” His eyes return to the road. “I’m not afraid of you, but I . . .”
His voice trails off, his expression troubled.
I keep forgetting about his own losses. His manner is always so apathetic, as if death and treason were irksome and commonplace, not true tragedies.
But I realize right now I’m seeing the truth behind his mask.
Alek feels betrayed. Deeply, agonizingly betrayed.
The worst part is that I really can’t blame him. I would’ve felt the same. I did feel the same, back when Tycho healed Jax. Magic has caused so much harm. It killed my mother, and even though the king was protecting his family, his magic killed my father, too.
I look back at the road. We’re traveling at a good clip now, the horse trotting more swiftly than if it had the full weight of a carriage behind it. The city is behind us, the dark shadows of the woods ahead. “What’s the real reason you didn’t tell the queen about me?”
“I intended to, believe me. But it’s become clear to me that the queen needs you here.”
“She needs me ?”
Alek nods. “If there are still people working against her, she shouldn’t trust anyone.” He glances over. “She needs someone who cares for her . . . not for her crown.”
I inhale, intending to protest, because Queen Lia Mara is close with many in the palace. So many people demand her attention: advisers, courtiers, citizens.
But as I consider that, my protests feel hollow— and possibly untrue.
Maybe there are plenty of people who imagine themselves to be close to her, but I’ve never seen the queen fall on them.
In fact, the few times I’ve seen the queen be vulnerable have only been in front of me and Nora.
When she cried over her husband, she didn’t cry on her sister’s shoulder . . . she cried on mine.
My heart gives a tug. She’s so incredibly sad. My mouth pulls into a frown.
“Exactly,” says Alek, reading my expression.
“Do you still suspect Verin?”
“Possibly,” he says. “But I can’t accuse the queen’s sister without risking treason, and I’m not willing to do that.” He pauses, and the shadows of the forest fall over us as we ride into the trees. “Yet.”
Silence falls between us again. He still hasn’t said where he’s taking me, and it seems rather clear he’s not going to.
I settle back in my seat and sigh. Another cool breeze winds through the trees, ruffling the leaves overhead, a relief after the pressing heat in the city.
After our bickering, I wait for tension to build between us, but . . . it doesn’t.
As usual, Alek is right beside me, and somehow I can’t summon the same hatred that I inevitably feel when he’s not.
He flinched. He flinched.
I peer at my hands. I have a tiny scar at the tip of one finger, the remnants of an injury I acquired while repairing the barn door back at my bakery in Briarlock. When it happened, Lord Tycho offered to use magic to fix it.
I flinched, too.
I swallow. Maybe this was a betrayal. I made myself vulnerable to Alek, but I suppose he made himself vulnerable to me, too.
“Maybe I should have told you,” I say quietly.
He nods in agreement. “Yes.”
I hold my breath, weighing my next words carefully. “Do you understand why I couldn’t?”
He draws a quick breath, as if he’s going to be as flippant with that as he is with everything. But then he stops. His mouth forms a line. Storm clouds roll through his eyes again.
Eventually, he frowns, then turns away from the road to look at me. I hold his gaze, again startled by the turmoil I find in their depths.
But I have no idea what he was planning to say, because the horse spooks, lurching sideways.
The trap rocks hard, then overturns. Wood cracks and splinters.
I crash into the rocky path before I’m even aware of what’s happening.
Alek is shouting to the horse, pulling at my arm.
Too late, I realize that the horse is scrambling in its panic, and the flipped vehicle is nearly dragged right over us.
Alek shoves me out of the way at the last moment.
The harness leather snaps, and the horse bolts off into the trees.
“What happened?” I say. “What spooked the horse?”
Ice- cold wind whistles down the road, making me shiver. Ice forms on the rocks around us, and I stop breathing.
A scraver drops straight out of the trees to land on the path in front of us. Wings outstretched, claws bared, black eyes glittering in the shadows.
Alek’s grip is tight on my wrist. “That,” he says.