CHAPTER 16 ALEK #2
A cold wind blows past me, kicking up droplets from the swiftly moving river. I don’t want to shiver again, but I can’t help it. The horse gives a slight tug at the reins, and I realize I’m a bit trapped here with my back to the water.
I need to stop thinking of this like an attack.
I step away from the banks anyway, moving forward so I’m on level ground as I face her. “I’m careful to protect the best interests of my country.”
A whispering voice finds my thought, but it’s not really something I can hear.
— He was not among those fighting on the fields.
I hate the way they can do this, because there’s something so unnatural to it. I want to put my hands over my ears anyway. Even without sound, the words feel like they’re coming from the right. I whip my head around, searching the trees for the scraver.
I spot him there, just near the upper branches of an oak tree.
Xovaar has deep reddish wings and hair, and he blends with the brown and green of the tree effortlessly.
He’s at a distance, so I can’t make out too much of his features, but the evening starlight glints on something. He’s probably wearing weapons.
Against my will, I think of the scraver that attacked me and Callyn. The way its claws tore into me. The sound of its screech in the sunlight. It was a hot day, just like this one.
My mouth goes dry.
Another blast of cold wind blows past me, and I realize ice is forming on the buckles of my armor.
I’m better with a sword than I am with a bow, but my hands suddenly itch for an arrow.
“I was called here as an ally,” I call to him, and I’m pleased that I can hold a note of disdain, even as my heart hammers in my chest.
Unfortunately, he can, too.
— I can smell your fear from here.
Lady Karyl smiles. “Are you afraid, Alek?”
“The scravers eviscerated more than fifty soldiers on the training fields,” I say. “Are you not ?”
“Xovaar and I have come to . . .” She hesitates and looks to the trees. “An agreement.”
“There was a time when you wouldn’t have negotiated with a scraver,” I say. “As I recall, you believed they were under the king’s control.”
“I have discovered that they were not under his control,” she says. “But now, aside from a few . . . shall we say, stragglers, these scravers share our goals. This one in particular shares my intent, and the others bend to his will.”
Stragglers. I wonder if she’s talking about Nakiis and Igaa. I cast another glance at the scraver in the trees, but he doesn’t move. “And what goal is that?”
“I just told you.” She laughs darkly. “To remove magic from Syhl Shallow, by whatever means possible.”
“Magic has already been driven out of Syhl Shallow. The king is gone.”
— The king is not the only one with magic, says the scraver. — I was on those fields. There were many magesmiths there that day. More than two, for certain.
His voice in my head makes my skin crawl, and the fact that Lady Karyl is working with him feels almost like a bigger threat to Syhl Shallow than Grey ever was. I spare a moment to thank fate that the queen sent word to the king, begging him to return.
“Lord Jacob has already gone back to Emberfall,” I say casually, as if they’re worried about nothing and I can’t understand the drama. “Lord Tycho is gone. So is the healer Noah. Who else could there be? We’ll drive them out, too.”
Lady Karyl frowns, her voice thickening with disgust. “His wife, perhaps? Why else do you think we’ve been targeting the queen?”
That nearly stops me in my tracks. “You think the queen shares his magic?”
“Why would she not?” Karyl says. “Why would the king share his power with others in his circle yet not his wife ?”
“The queen lost a child!” I say desperately. “If she had magic, why would she not prevent such a thing?”
That seems to throw Karyl, because she’s frozen in place, her brow furrowing.
But it’s only for a moment, and her expression smooths over.
“Again, we aren’t certain. Regardless of her abilities, the queen has a soft heart for magic— and it’s clear that other magesmiths were there that day.
Whoever they are, it’s likely she allowed it. She cannot remain on the throne.”
They plan to replace the queen? My thoughts are spinning. This was never— never— a part of my discussions with the Truthbringers. Our goal has always been to protect the queen.
“So what are you proposing?” I say, swiftly calculating in my head. It’s been several days since the queen sent word to King Grey in Emberfall. If he agreed to return— which is still a big if— it would be at least another few days before he would arrive.
“We have already taken steps to cut off her contact with the king. We failed to stop the King’s Courier last spring, but we’ve been more successful this time.”
I go still. More successful.
“Oh?” I say carefully.
A smile spreads across her face. “Do you know,” she says, “that in her missive, she was begging her husband to return? Our queen, so desperate for a man to stand at her side.” The smile disappears as quickly as it formed. “It’s no wonder she’s destined to fall.”
“You killed her courier,” I breathe.
“It wasn’t even a challenge. We cannot have the king returning to Syhl Shallow, of course, and when he fails to respond to her request, it will further encourage the division between them.”
My heart won’t stop pounding. If Karyl and the Truthbringers killed the courier, it means the king has no idea of what’s happening here. It means there’s no hope of assistance from across the border.
My eyes flick toward that tree, where the scraver is waiting, his taloned fingers wrapped around a branch. He bares his fangs at me, and my breath forms a thin cloud.
It means we’ll be facing this scraver and his allies alone.
It means we’ll be facing the Truthbringers alone.
“Are you insane?” I demand. “The queen will know, and our operations will be uncovered. She’ll receive word—”
“Not for weeks,” Karyl says, waving a hand. “And even then, I have friends in the palace, securing things from within.” Her eyes narrow. “Such little faith. I thought I could count you among those friends.”
Friends. Plural. A bolt of ice slides right through my heart. Could Nolla Verin be working with Karyl? When Lia Mara was kidnapped, Verin was left at the Crystal Palace, completely unharmed.
Even this afternoon, Verin wasn’t in the nursery with us, but she definitely would’ve been told that I returned to the palace with Callyn— and she probably would have heard that I met with the queen privately afterward.
It’s entirely possible that Queen Lia Mara would have told Verin everything I reported about the scravers, right down to summoning Tycho from Emberfall.
And now Karyl is working with a scraver. Did I leave the queen in a more precarious position than she started in? At least there’s no way Nolla Verin could have informed Lady Karyl of that by now.
I clear my throat, trying to figure out how to play this, but there is absolutely no clear path.
“Of course I am your friend,” I say. I look between her and the scraver again.
“But this . . . this is unexpected. How can you trust him, Karyl? How? What if you remove the king and queen from power and he takes it for himself?”
Her eyes flash. “He cannot.”
The scraver’s claws flex on the branch, and I frown. “He cannot?”
“No.” She smiles again. “As I said, gathering their steel worked in our favor. I figured out how to harness their magic— and how to master control.”
She says it so callously, and for all my arrogance, something in me recoils. I think of all the reasons Nakiis claimed to be afraid of Tycho— and then of Callyn. I remember what Igaa said, how the magesmiths once used their steel to access the scravers’ magic.
Sharing turned to stealing.
I swallow thickly and glance between them again. I have no idea how she did it, but Karyl must have figured out the same thing.
Magic by itself is terrifying. Magic in the hands of the Truthbringers is somehow worse.
“What do you need from me?” I say, and my voice is almost a rasp. I’m afraid, and I can’t even hide it.
“You’ve always had the queen’s ear,” says Lady Karyl. “You’re right— she did lose a child. So find out who else in the palace has access to the king’s magic.” She waves a hand. “Once we know who they are, we can eradicate them.”
My heart stumbles, and I swallow to hide it. “And what will you be doing?”
“The same thing I’ve been doing for weeks. Gathering allies on both sides of the border. In fact, I have somewhere to be tomorrow night.” She stoops to pick up a dried leaf from the ground, then holds it up. “I have plans to put in motion.”
The skin on my forehead gathers into a frown. “Plans, my lady?”
As I watch, ice forms on the leaf, and my frown deepens, because it’s no different from the scraver magic that I’ve already seen. “There are more scravers here?” I say, searching the trees again.
“No, Alek.” She smiles furtively. “You see, the king isn’t the only one who can share his power. The magesmiths and the scravers were once great allies. Weren’t they, Xovaar?”
For the first time, the scraver doesn’t answer. His black eyes stare down at me, and I can’t read anything in them.
Karyl doesn’t seem to need an answer. “There are ways to drive a magesmith out of hiding,” she says. “Sometimes it takes a full- scale attack— but sometimes it just takes a little spark.”
The leaf in her hand bursts into flame.
Even though she just warned me, I’m not ready. I gasp and stumble back. “Karyl. Do the others— do the others know—”
“They know,” she says. The firelight flickers off her cheeks, painting shadows in the hollows under her eyes. “And they know this is a means to an end. I have secured a scraver’s power.”
I think of how many Truthbringers have shared a distaste for magic with me. “And the others are in agreement with this?” I say.
“Yes. They are ready to reclaim Syhl Shallow. The scravers are ready to reclaim their magic. Together, we can find and eliminate every last one of them, and then I will give the power back.”
“Together,” I echo, though I’m barely listening. My heart won’t stop pounding, and my thoughts are racing. I’m planning how to get to Callyn without them knowing. I’m planning for how I’m going to get her out of the Crystal Palace.
I just don’t know where to take her. Or when.
What did Karyl just say? She has to be somewhere tomorrow night? Would Xovaar go with her? Is that an opportunity? Or just an opportunity for everything to go wrong?
My pulse jumps. There are too many variables. Karyl has magic, and the king is gone. I have no defense against any of this.
I look back at the scraver, sitting on that branch, his razor- sharp talons gripping tight.
— Yes, says Xovaar, but somehow the word is hollow. — Together. And then she will return our magic to us.
Well, if all I have is wit and arrogance, it’s going to have to do.
My sword is still in my hand, but I wipe the gathered frost against my boot, then thrust it into the sheath. “Fine,” I say, but this time, my voice is level. “I’ll find your magesmiths.”
“Good,” says Lady Karyl. “It’s time for you to prove which side you’re on.”