Chapter 32 Kasira
KASIRA
THERE WAS NO PLACE FOR GUILT IN A CON.
Kasira had taken from people with lifetimes more than her, people like Morvir, who would happily cut her down and leave her to the worms. People like Thane and Dessen. She had done what she’d had to in order to survive, and she had never apologized for it.
Watching Allaster standing at the top of the stairs overlooking the battered courtyard drew more than an apology to her lips.
It drew questions like, Why do you look as if you’re drowning in regret?
and Why does this hurt me as much as it hurts you?
Questions that had no place in this job, in her future.
But as she watched medics tend to the wounded they had helped relocate, and townspeople emerge from their homes to share food and company, the guilt only grew.
This had never been her intention, but Vera had taken Kasira’s threat and turned it into a full-blown massacre.
Thane might have warped her plan, but Kasira was the one who had given Vera the idea, the one who had told the Ambassador that no matter what Allaster said about impartiality, he desperately missed his home.
Kasira was responsible for the look of abject pain in Allaster’s eyes, and if she could do it over again, if she could take her plan back, she would.
Truth, she thought and braced herself against it. Because there was no room for thoughts like that if she was to survive.
They stayed long enough to ensure the town had the medical supplies and resources it needed before returning through the door in the manor.
Kasira didn’t ask, but she had deduced the building was Allaster’s childhood home, the study with the portal door his old bedroom—there had been a glass figurine of a leopard in the window.
She wondered what life had been like for him in those precious few years before his parents had whisked him away to the Arcadamium.
It must have been strange returning each summer from studying to find his brother another year older and his friends another year closer.
If he’d even had any friends. She could not imagine him as anything but the prickly Librarian he was now, even as a child.
They found Ambric fast asleep in the infirmary, where Kasira was surprised to find May presiding over him, Warrin having apparently needed a moment to himself.
She reported that Ambric’s injuries were serious, but not fatal, and that he would be fine to return home in the morning.
Apparently former mages healed well, a side effect of the magic that once ran through their veins.
“He’s remarkably resilient,” May pointed out when Allaster only stared wordlessly at his brother’s wan face.
“He’s a tough old bastard. Always has been.” A faint smile tugged at Allaster’s lips. “When we were kids, he pulled me out of a riptide. Dislocated his shoulder doing it. But I was so scared, he carried me all the way home. He couldn’t use his arm for months.”
May hesitated a moment before saying, “Did you see the Kalish door was alight when you returned? It’s the castle.”
“How do you know?” Kasira hadn’t noticed the door, but she’d never detected any difference in the lights besides the color that indicated beast class.
“The Library knows,” May replied. “You need only touch the symbol to learn which soulice is hailing us.”
Kasira glanced at Allaster. This time, she couldn’t blame a trick of the light on the strange color of his eyes.
Impossible as it seemed, the blue had leached from them entirely, leaving behind a ghostly steel reminiscent of Iylis.
Combined with his grim expression and the blood flecking his olive skin, he looked downright terrifying.
She followed him into the adjacent room, bracing for what was to come.
Vera entered the portal room like a queen gracing her court, her sharp eyes taking in their disheveled states. She reminded Kasira of a vulture, both with her long neck and the way she circled them, scavenging for morsels she could tear into.
“Oh dear,” she observed mockingly. “Did your last mission go awry?”
“Do not play games with me, Ambassador,” Allaster snarled, and his anger echoed in Kasira. Vera had twisted her plan into a slaughter, made her culpable in the deaths of innocents. “You hired the Ryveren to attack my home.”
Vera pursed her lips. “That claim is entirely false, as is, I’m sure, the one regarding your supposed defense of a Miravi town using Library resources. What happened to maintaining neutrality, Librarian?”
“It is within the Library’s purview to defend one nation against an attack from another in the interest of peace.”
“Perhaps.” Vera folded her arms behind her back. “But it is not within your purview to defend them against unaffiliated bandits. It suggests extreme favoritism from someone meant to be impartial. What will the other nations think?”
Vera knew exactly what they would think. They would question the Librarian’s ability to remain neutral, question whose side he was really on. He would lose their trust—exactly as Kasira had intended.
She hadn’t been entirely sure if Allaster would take the bait.
He and Ambric clearly disagreed on a lot, but there had been something about the way they argued that reminded her of her and Loraya bickering.
The brothers loved each other, even if they were at odds, and Allaster protected the things he cared about.
“I will simply tell the truth,” Allaster ground out.
His answer seemed to delight Vera. “I have a hundred witnesses putting you at that battle. What do you have?”
“Zardoc.”
She paused in the arc she had been tracing before the Kalthos door, lifting a brow.
“A mercenary’s word against mine? Besides, I think you’ll find him rather mum on the subject.
” Her insinuation hung heavy between them.
They had left Zardoc under Miravi supervision; the Library didn’t take political prisoners.
“He is safe in Spenshire’s jail and under guard.” But even as Allaster spoke, Kasira could see his resolve weakening. Vera wouldn’t say such a thing if she couldn’t make good on it.
The Ambassador only smiled.
Allaster grit his teeth like a man holding back a breaking dam. “I have Kasira’s word.”
Vera’s laugh was short. “The word of a thief. You’ve been outmaneuvered, Librarian.” Her gaze sharpened. “Unless, of course, you’d like to bring this matter to the Conclave?”
The last of Allaster’s determination wore away, leaving only bitter acceptance. “What do you want?”
“What I have always wanted,” Vera replied haughtily. “Equality. You have a Kalish mage in your midst whom you have yet to grant magic to, and as the only representative here of his country, he should be assigned to the council.”
“Absolutely not.” Allaster’s voice brooked no argument.
“Allaster—” Kasira began, but he silenced her with a look.
Her protest was only an act, the sort of response he would expect, but it still chafed at her to watch him play into Vera’s hands.
He had to know that he was doing it, had to feel the steel trap closing around his throat, and yet he didn’t waver.
He would rather the Conclave come for him than grant Thane power to harm the Library.
Vera’s eyes narrowed, her hands tucked placidly behind her back. “Very well, Librarian. Assistant.” Then she was gone, the Kalish door shutting in her wake.
Allaster collapsed into his chair. Kasira dismissed the relic blade, then summoned them both a drink. Allaster accepted his with wary resignation, then downed the whole thing. Kasira winced and gave him hers too.
“Do you think she’ll call the Conclave?” she asked.
He pressed the cool glass against his temple. “I don’t know. She has enough evidence to warrant it.”
“How had she already heard of the attack?” May emerged from the infirmary.
“Thane,” Kasira said without hesitation, playing her next move. “I bet he knows who the spy is and is using them to communicate with her. Do you have any suspects besides Elyae?”
May grimaced. “Elyae is not a spy.”
Allaster ran a frantic hand through his hair. “I can’t ignore the evidence, May.”
“It is extremely circumstantial.”
“Which is why I haven’t actually accused her of anything.”
Kasira held up her hands to calm them. “I have an idea on how to confirm their identity.”
Allaster tipped his head back against the wall. “A con?”
“Actually, yes.” Ignoring his startled look, she continued, “It makes sense the spy would be someone close to you, and with how little you interact with the other mages, that suggests it’s probably someone on the council.
Vera is clearly gathering information against you for the Conclave.
If we tell everyone at the next council meeting that you intend to do something she can use against you, they’ll want to take that information to Vera, and the only way to do that is through the portal room door. If we watch the door, we’ll have them.”
May and Allaster were both staring at her by the time she finished.
“Is this what goes on in your head?” Allaster asked at the same time May said, “No wonder we had no idea.”
There were times during a con when your body simply refused to cooperate. This was one of them. Kasira felt her cheeks go hot with embarrassment, an emotion she hadn’t thought herself capable of anymore. To be embarrassed required you to care what someone else thought of you.
“Is that a yes or a no?” she demanded.
Allaster downed her drink. “Yes.” He set the glass on the floor and stood. “I’m going to check on my brother.”
As he and May returned to the infirmary, Kasira collapsed against the portal room wall, the last of her adrenaline fading.
Without it, she felt vacant, a fragile shell imitating life.
She let that feeling subsume her, too afraid to look at what lay beneath, and closed her eyes for one moment of perfect, uninterrupted peace.
Then she felt him.
Not through magic, or by sound, but from the way her skin prickled in familiar warning.