Chapter 15 #2
“That’s an amazing thing during hatchling season,” Syris breathed. “Or any season. On Muron’s blood, Amaia, do you realize how rare, how powerful an ability like that is?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted quietly, sitting unmoving in my place across from them, my eyes darting back and forth between them. “I don’t know at all. Because in Dakkar, heartstone magic is never spoken of. It’s a dangerous thing to have. I’ve kept it a secret all my life.”
Syris blinked, her brow furrowing. Sobering. Tarkosh understood it a little better, I thought, because she inclined her head. Listening to me speak, saying little.
“So…lysi…I saw an Elthika fall into the forest the night of the feast. I tried to help it. But what’s ailing it is powerful. Alaryk found me. I’m determined to help the Elthika, but it’ll take time to heal. And it takes a lot of my own energy, which is why…”
I gestured to the state of me with a half smile. A nervous one.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been in the hatchery. Watching Kyr, helping with the nests—”
“Don’t worry about that,” Tarkosh said, interrupting me. “Do what you have to do for the Elthika. But watch over yourself, Amaia. You were in a terrible state when Alaryk brought you here. I don’t want to see you like that again.”
I swallowed, struck by the soft honesty in her voice. “I can’t promise that,” I said quietly. “But I’ll rest more between our sessions. It looks worse than it is. It really only hurts me in the moment.”
“Does it?” Tarkosh asked, her question pointed.
Then she surprised me most of all by reaching across the table to take my hand.
My lips parted.
“You’re wise to keep knowledge of your ability quiet,” she said. “I wouldn’t tell anyone here.”
My brow furrowed. “I thought…”
“You’re right in believing that Karag are more accepting of heartstone magic. But we also value strength. And if you knew how to protect yourself—like our Karath, for example—or if others feared you enough to never try to use you…you would be safe.”
Syris sucked in a deep breath.
“But you, Amaia…” she continued quietly, her voice making me lean forward.
“Your ability is highly valuable. To anyone, but especially to a Karag with a bonded Elthika. I would like to say that any of the territories would respect that you are protected under Grym…but I’ve lived long enough to know that greed makes people dangerous. ”
“You…you think I would be in danger here?” I asked softly.
I thought back to Alaryk’s annoyance that I’d left his dwelling.
I’d teased him that he thought I’d be in any danger in the Arsadia—other than perhaps from a passing wild Elthika, which I thought I could handle regardless—but now I wondered if there had been more behind his insistence at keeping me safe.
“If word got out about your ability,” Tarkosh said, glancing at the open door, “then yes.”
Syris sat, nibbling on her lip again. “Surely you don’t think another territory would try to steal her away. She’s still a Dakkari.”
“I have no doubt,” Tarkosh said, her words final. “The Karath is right to be worried.”
I wondered what he’d confided in her when I’d been passed out.
“I don’t mean to frighten you, Amaia,” she said.
“But you’re right to be cautious, even here.
” Tarkosh rose from the table. “And don’t misunderstand me—I find it exceedingly fortunate to have an apprentice in Grymia with an ability such as yours, considering we lose a few hatchlings every year to sickness.
Fair warning, I will likely do everything in my power to convince you to stay beyond the exchange agreements. ”
Surprise fluttered through me. But as flattering as it was, I couldn’t imagine leaving my family. Still, I understood what she was saying about the hatchlings. “I will help them, if I can,” I assured her. I added, “While I’m here.”
She nodded. Her gaze flicked to Syris when she said, “This doesn’t leave this table. Not even to Moak.”
“Of course, Tarkosh,” Syris whispered, as if aghast it needed to be said.
“Get some rest,” she told us both, walking toward the door. “We expect another hatching sometime in the night. I’ll wake you both when it begins.”
When she left, a heavy silence fell between me and Syris.
Then she said, “Eat some more. You need your strength.”
I captured her hand when she pushed the bowl closer. “You’ve been a good friend to me here, Syris,” I told her. “I just wanted you to know that. I didn’t mean to keep the truth from you. But I’m always so afraid of it.”
Understanding crossed her expression, compassion knitting her brows together.
“Maybe you should consider what Tarkosh said. I would be so very happy if you decided to stay. Not just because of…” She glanced at the door, dropping her voice in an almost comical way.
“What I know now. But because you really belong here. And I would miss you terribly.”
I smiled widely, even though it felt like my face would crack with it. My skin felt tight. “I would miss you too.”
But I can’t stay, I wanted to add. I decided to keep that to myself for now, even as an anxious dread settled into my belly. My sole purpose in being here was to observe…to spy. On people who were becoming dear friends.
It made my flesh feel like crawling. But with Ryak’s threat in my mind, I knew that I would always choose my family, if push came to shove.
All Kiron had ever wanted was to be a guardsman.
All his life, he’d watched them patrol Dothik in their uniforms and watched them train through the fences with wide eyes.
He’d spent years in training, had worked for it through his blood and sweat and broken bones.
I wouldn’t be the reason he lost what he loved. It would break him.
And we were all still a little broken from when he’d left.
“I’d never seen the Karath like this,” Syris whispered. I darted a look up at her from my stew, my spoon poised in midair. “When he brought you here a couple nights ago.”
“What was he like?” I asked, infinitely curious.
“Worried,” she said, finally settling on that word.
“He’s… I don’t know what other Karaths are like.
But they’ve always felt so untouchable, almost godlike, to me.
Like a beautiful statue you’re never allowed to go near.
Alaryk feels that way, only more so because…
well, there’s his ancestry. We always learned to fear the Hartans.
And maybe that’s wrong for me to think, to fear him like we were trained to. But it’s always there.”
She sighed, giving me a half smile.
“But that night, he looked…like anyone could touch him. He was worried for you, Amaia. I was in your room, washing away the blood that was pouring from your nose, but I heard him speaking with Tarkosh in the hall. I couldn’t really make out what they were saying, but I did hear him tell Tarkosh to make sure you’re protected.
Or else he would take you from here to do it himself. ”
I swallowed. “He did?”
I remembered the heat of his hand on my back. The warmth of his magic. I thought back to that dark forest and wanted to shudder as nausea rose.
There was a strange intimacy in the bond of heartstone magic. I hadn’t realized it until Alaryk had showed it to me. I’d never experienced it before. But I had felt him. And he had been like a pillar to me, just as he told me he’d be. Someone to run to.
“Anyone could’ve touched him that night,” Syris finished softly. She peered at me. “But I think it was you who had touched him most of all.” She made a face. “That sounds silly. But I don’t know how else to explain it. What happened between you two?”
It’s complicated, I wanted to tell her. But I didn’t want to reveal the bargain I’d made with Alaryk, because it would only lead to more questions.
“He wasn’t himself that night,” I informed her. Then added, “I mean, I don’t know him well enough to say that, but…he helped guide my ability with his own. I’m sure it took a toll on him too.”
Understanding went through Syris. But then she looked worried. “You bonded your magic?”
“Yes.”
“Just be careful,” she told me. “Bonds are strange things. Scholars in Elysom dedicate theirs lives trying to understand them and have failed. Sometimes they can latch and hold, even if it’s unintentional.”
“What?” I whispered, frowning. “What does that mean?”
“Just that bonds can be hard to break without consequence,” she said. She rubbed her arms. “But ask Alaryk. I’m sure he’d know more than I do.”