CHAPTER 20 CALLYN
CALLYN
It’s well after midnight, but I’m lying awake, troubled by too many thoughts to count.
Alek never returned this morning.
At first I assumed he was simply busy with House duties.
But when midday passed and he didn’t appear at court, I began to worry, especially when the queen asked when I intended to go on his rounds with him.
I admitted that there’d been no word, and I didn’t miss the sudden tight set to her eyes, as if she was worried.
So am I.
Outside the window, clouds block the moon, but the room is flooded with silvery light anyway. It’s been too hot and humid for a fire, so no embers linger in the hearth. It’s almost too hot to sleep.
In the bed beside mine, Nora isn’t having any problems. She’s been lightly snoring for hours, and I get the sense that she thinks we’ve resolved everything and she’s going to be right by my side the next time I go anywhere with Alek.
But if that’s the case, she’s got another think coming.
She’s only thirteen years old, and she’s not a soldier.
She’s not a spy. She’s hardly even a nanny.
But then I consider that I wasn’t much older than Nora when Mother died— and I wasn’t much older than that when Father died. I was left to run the bakery and care for a little sister without any help at all. Just a friend down the lane who was every bit as desperate as I was.
I have to shove these memories away. I did what I had to do— and Nora shouldn’t have to be a part of any of this. She can stay here in the palace, where she’s safe.
But is she safe? After that walk in the gardens, I can’t stop thinking about Verin— and the way she’s become my sister’s role model.
When I revealed my suspicions and worries, Nora seemed determined to prove Verin’s innocence.
Knowing my sister, she’ll walk right up to Verin and tell her I’ve made accusations of treason. It’s possible she already has.
I sigh. I’m never going to sleep at this rate.
Maybe that’s a good thing, because someone is coming through the door.
I freeze in my bed, going absolutely still. The door doesn’t make a sound, but I watch as it begins to ease forward in the shadows. My heart suddenly feels like it’s going to rocket out of my chest.
But then I realize I’m being foolish. It’s got to be Princess Sinna, awake and sneaking around. I have no idea how she slipped past the guards at the entrance to the royal suites, but I do know it wouldn’t be the first time.
I slip out from under my covers and put a stern expression on my face. In the other bed, Nora keeps snoring away. I creep over to the door and grab hold of the handle.
“You little sneaky sneak,” I whisper as I give it a yank, jerking the door wide. “Got you!”
But it’s not a four- year- old princess. It’s a man in the shadows.
I give a little yip of alarm, then try to slam the door on his hand. “Nora!” I cry. My heart is in my throat. “Nora, there’s a—”
A hand slaps over my mouth, and the man wrestles his way into the room. “Callyn!” he snarls in an aggravated whisper. “What is wrong with you? It’s me!”
Alek.
My thundering heartbeat won’t settle, and he shoves the door closed behind him.
He’s still in the clothes he wore yesterday, right down to the weapons and armor, though he looks a little rough- and- ready, which I’ve never seen.
A dusting of beard growth coats his chin, and his hair is a bit sweat- slicked along the temples.
Exhaustion clings to his eyes, too, like he’s lived all the days of the week in the last twenty- four hours.
“What are you doing here?” I demand in a hushed voice. “How did you get into the palace?”
“I’m the lord of the Fifth House,” he whispers back, his tone full of arrogance. “I’m allowed in the palace.”
“You’re not allowed in my chambers!”
Nora’s bedclothes rustle, and then she sits up, rubbing her eyes in the moonlight. “Is someone here?” she mumbles.
“No,” I snap, annoyed. “No one at all. Go back to sleep.” I move to shove him back out the door.
“Cally- cal,” Nora says sleepily. “What is he doing here?”
“I have no idea. But he’s being inappropriate, and he needs to come back tomorrow.” I wrench at the grip on my wrist, then nod toward the door. “Go.”
“You could be dead by tomorrow,” Alek says. His tone is low and full of urgency. “You need to leave.”
I go still, frozen in place. “What?”
Behind me, Nora says the same thing. “What?”
“You need to leave,” he says again. “I’ve brought my carriage. You can—”
“I didn’t leave the first time you told me to,” I snarl. “What makes you think I’m going to leave now ?”
“I’m not the one threatening you this time, Callyn.”
Nora climbs out of bed to stand beside me. “Then who’s threatening her?”
She sounds so fierce that I regret thinking she would’ve talked the scravers to death.
Alek glances at Nora, and he hesitates.
“Just tell her,” I say. “She knows everything.”
He sighs. “I’ve seen Lady Karyl,” he says. “She is working with the scraver Xovaar.” He moves closer to me. His eyes catch a glint of light from somewhere and glitter menacingly. “He’s sensed the magic in the palace. I don’t know how long you have, but he’s rather determined to seek it out.”
My breath catches. He’s talking about my magic.
Alek nods as the full weight of his words sinks in.
“He and Karyl had a meeting elsewhere tonight, so I had to bide my time in Bexcona until it was safe to come to you. I was worried they would follow me back to the Crystal City, and I couldn’t risk them seeing me sneak you out of the palace.
But this is the only time I know they are elsewhere.
The only time I know you can leave without them seeing. ”
Nora reaches out to wind her fingers through mine. When she was younger, she used to do this when she was afraid, but just now she gives my hand a firm squeeze of reassurance.
“I can’t just leave,” I say.
“You must.” He pauses, his tone grim. “They’re coming for your magic, Callyn. They’re too close. Your presence here endangers the queen.”
“No,” I say. “She endangers herself.” Maybe this isn’t my secret to tell, but all of this has gotten too big, and I can’t carry it by myself anymore. My voice hitches, but I square my shoulders. “If they’re coming for anyone with magic, she’s at risk, too.”
Alek goes absolutely still. Nora gasps and slaps a hand over her mouth.
“So,” I say grimly. “If anyone with magic needs to get out of the palace, we need to bring her with us.”
It’s the middle of the night, and I certainly don’t have unfettered access to the queen, so at first, I’m not sure how we’re going to convince her to leave.
Nora says, “What about Nolla Verin?”
I frown. “No.”
She scowls. “She is not the queen’s enemy! You don’t know—”
“No,” Alek says, and his tone is more final.
“You don’t know, Nora.” He hesitates, his eyes meeting mine.
“I don’t know who Karyl is working with, but I am unsure we can trust the queen’s sister.
At the very least, she has the strongest motive in the kingdom for usurping her.
Perhaps she means well, but too many seeds of doubt have been sown.
Of anyone in the palace, she could keep us trapped here most effectively. We’d be lost before we began.”
Nora huffs, then lets out that breath, defeated. But then she screws up her face and says, “Well, what about Sinna?”
I bite my lip and consider that. We do have access to the nursery. But Princess Sinna is four years old, and I’m not sure she’s up to sneaking into her mother’s bedroom and convincing her to leave.
Then again, she’s the only option we have. The guards aren’t going to let me in. And Alek may have access to the palace, but they’re not even going to let him in.
But they’ll let her daughter in.
When I creep into the nursery, I murmur to the guard that Sinna was having difficulty falling asleep earlier, and I want to check on her. Once I’m inside, I ease onto the little girl’s bed and rub her back.
She sits up at once, nearly clocking me in the face.
“Cally- cal!” she says brightly. “Is it time to play?” Without waiting for an answer, she squints at the window. “But it’s still so dark. You always tell me we can’t play until I can see the sun. Is this a game—”
“Yes!” I say desperately. “Yes, it’s a new game.”
She twists up her face. “How do we play in the dark?”
“You need to see if you can find your mama.”
“But that’s an easy game.”
I try to think quickly. “Oh, but you haven’t heard the best part. You have to convince her to come to my bedroom without the guards knowing. Do you think you can do that?”
Her face lights up. “Oh, yes. I can go through the fireplace.”
“The fireplace ! No, Sinna, you can’ t—”
“But I can! Mama told me she did it once, when she met Da. I’ve done it before! But Mama says only when the hearth is cold. Watch.”
She throws off the bedclothes and scurries to the stone hearth, which is cold at this time of year. At first, I have no idea what she means, but then she crawls right past the grating and into the embers scattered along the stone.
“Sinna!” I hiss— just before she disappears.
I dart after her, but I can’t see how she even did that— or where she went. I put my hands on the stone and lean in, but it’s too dark.
“Sinna,” I call again, but I’m met with absolute silence. “Sinna.”
Nothing.
I ease onto the ledge of the hearth, feeling the grit of ash and soot under my knees.
And then, to my absolute shock, the shadows of the hearth shift, and then it’s not Sinna in front of me, it’s the queen.
My breath catches in my throat, and I stumble back, nearly falling over my own feet. The queen’s sleeping shift is flecked with black stains from the hearth, but she steps through, followed by her daughter.
“How—” I begin. “What—”
“I told you!” Sinna chirps.
“Quietly,” the queen whispers. “You said Callyn told you we need to play a game.” She looks at me pointedly. “Is this similar to the game I once had to play in your barn?”
I swallow thickly, remembering the day I first met the queen. She’d been kidnapped by the Truthbringers, brutalized and locked in my barn with little Sinna. She pretended it was a game then, too.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I say softly.
She nods. “Tell me.”
I glance at Sinna. “Lord Alek has learned that the scravers have sensed magic in the palace.” I pause. “And they may be coming to eradicate it.”
She stares at me. I stare back at her.
For months, I’ve known the queen has magic. She’s known that I know. But she’s refused to acknowledge it, so I’ve done my best to accommodate her wishes.
But I think of that moment when I finally told my sister the truth. I think of that moment when I finally revealed the queen’s secret. Instead of leaving me weak and vulnerable, admitting the truth finally allowed me to help figure out a way to move forward.
“Does he know?” she whispers.
I hesitate, then nod. “He was coming to rescue me. But once I knew the reason, I had to tell you.”
She puts a hand over her mouth, and for a moment, her fingers tremble. Then she says, “Alek despises magic. Does he intend to drive me out like my husband? Or is this another trick like—”
“What? No!” I step closer to her and drop my voice. “Alek is loyal.” I pause. “And so am I.”
Her eyes search mine. “Why did you tell Sinna to evade the guards?”
Sinna pipes up beside us. “It was part of our game, Mama!”
“That’s right!” I whisper brightly. But then I bite my lip and look back at the queen.
“I considered it. But . . . the guards have been implicated. They didn’t stop your—” I break off, glancing at little Sinna, who’s watching us both with wide eyes.
“They didn’t stop the game last time.” I hesitate, thinking of our moments during the scravers’ attack on the palace, when her advisers and guards were urging her to send the king out into the melee.
“Neither did your sister,” I add softly. “I wasn’t sure who could be trusted.”
For the longest time, the queen is completely silent, regarding me.
I wish I could read her thoughts, because I have no idea what she could be thinking.
Her breathing has a slight tremor, and I realize she’s wary of me.
I suddenly consider how all of this must look: sneaking into her room, using Sinna as a ploy, revealing her magic to Alek.
She could easily call for guards right this second and have us all hauled off to the stone prison for conspiring against her.
But the queen eventually scoops up her daughter, situating the little girl on her hip. “Alek warned me about the Truthbringers days ago,” she says. There’s no tremor in her breath now. “I sent word to the king.”
“You did?”
“Yes. But it’s too soon for him to return. Where is Alek now?”
“In my chambers,” I say. “With Nora— if she hasn’t killed him yet.” I grimace. “But I’m not sure how to sneak you past the guards—”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” she says. She heads for the hearth on the opposite side of the nursery. “I never should’ve shown Sinna, because I’ve regretted this little trick since that day she escaped from the palace. But I’ll show you.”
“We’re going through the fireplace?” I squeak.
“I told you!” says little Sinna.
“Yes,” says the queen. “Verin and I used to sneak past Mother when we were little.” She draws up the skirts of her sleeping shift and crawls into darkness with her daughter.
For a breath of time, I stare after them. Then, hoping I’m not leading us all into danger, I hitch up my sleeping gown and do the same thing.