Chapter 34 #2
“I had a cousin,” Damion said. “On my father’s side. A Prince. Caden. He was killed in an accident when he was fourteen.” Damion glanced over at Magda. “He liked to climb.”
Magda’s heart twisted. The image of Caden, body contorted and bloodied sprawled at the bottom of the cliff, rose up from the trenches of her memory. One more loss amongst many. Even though Caden had been six years older, he’d been one of the few people she’d ever considered a friend.
“But what if he didn’t?” Magda said to Damion. “What if . . . he’s been in hiding?”
Damion bounced the stick on his shoulder. “Why? How?”
“Everyone always knew my mother wanted me to claim Caden eventually, right? But the age difference made things difficult. He was going to come of age long before I would. So my mother decided that he needed to be hidden in the human world, but she never told anyone, except . . . Flor.”
Damion puttered. “I don’t know, Magda.”
“We have to convince her.”
“But he’s not Caden,” Damion said. “It would be cruel.”
“We won’t lie to her about that. But she’s the key. If she says it’s him, everyone else will believe.”
“Why would she do that? She’s been in mourning for thirteen years.”
“Flor was one of my mother’s closest confidantes. And she is your father’s sister. She’ll help us.”
“She and my father never got on very well,” he grumbled.
“It doesn’t matter how well they got on, they’re family.”
“So is Lavana,” Damion muttered.
She scowled. “It could work,” she pressed.
“So you want me to take the identity of a boy who died?” Kaelan asked.
She nodded. “But until then, you should still change your appearance. We can’t risk anyone recognizing you.”
“And what are we going to do about the money?” Damion asked.
“Do you still have the ichor-gold glove?” Magda asked Kaelan.
“I gave it to my mother,” he said. “We could go back.”
“Yes, and we could take her back too,” Damion said, gesturing to Honey.
The nymph sat up. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’ll only slow us down,” Damion said.
She stood, shaking the sand from her gown. “I can help you. I have helped you. I don’t want to go back to the forest.”
The unnatural fog haunting Honey’s eyes sent a chill through Magda.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Magda asked.
Honey frowned, touching her scratched arm, wincing. “The ghouls . . . those ghosts. They were all so sad. They didn’t mean to hurt me. They wanted help. I can still hear them.” Tears trembled in her eyes. “It’s like they’re a part of me now.”
“Well, that’s definitely something we need,” Damion said. “First, her soul gets eaten, and now, she’s filled with ghosts.”
“Shut up,” Magda snapped.
Magda waited for Kaelan to comfort Honey, or at least to voice his opinion about whether or not the nymph should continue with them.
But he stared off over the grasses, away from them, seemingly lost in thought.
None of his emotions reached her, not that she tried to sense them.
Since he appeared to be oblivious, Magda went to Honey’s side, resting a gentle hand on the nymph’s slight shoulder.
“I’m sorry for all that’s happened to you,” she said, “which is why it might be better if you went home.”
Honey’s quivering chin firmed. “I don’t know if I could go back now. My sisters might not want me . . . I’ve changed so much . . .” Her brow knitted as if she were only beginning to grasp what had happened to her. Perhaps she was.
“You have been a tremendous help to us,” Magda said, squeezing her shoulder. “You and Anqa both. I’m only sorry that you’ve suffered so much.”
“I’m not suffering,” Honey said, looking up at Magda with eyes that had shifted from bright and deep, to glassy and flat, and now, churning and murky. “I’m only . . . struggling.”
Magda wrapped her arm around Honey’s shoulders, though she had never been a hugger.
“We could still use your help,” Magda said, “if you’re willing. You know the risks.”
Honey nodded. “I would like that.”
Magda stepped away from Honey.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” she said. “Kaelan, change yourself”—she pointed at Damion—“into him.”
Kaelan and Damion looked at each other.
“Excuse me?” Damion said.
“Damion, you and Honey are going to find Flor. Tell her what’s going on, explain to her as best as you can, try to convince her.
Kaelan and I are going to take care of the money problem.
Then we’ll meet you at Flor’s cottage. Assuming that we can enlist her assistance, we’ll travel to the Spire from there. ”
“Wait. Where are you going exactly?” Damion asked.
“None of your business,” she said. “Honey, call Anqa. Where’s Gur?”
At the mention of his name, the semargl rose from where he’d been hidden among the grasses, slashing his tail across the tops of them, sending dust and pollen into the air.
“You want me to look like Damion?” Kaelan asked uncertainly.
“If we’re spotted, he’s the most logical person for me to be seen with,” she said.
“I don’t think logic applies to anything that’s happening here,” Damion said.
Magda folded her arms. “Kaelan?”
He sighed, studying Damion for a moment, and then closed his eyes.
A warping lens fell over him. He shortened, but grew broader across the chest. His hair turned long and dark, plaited back from his face, which paled. The white crisscross of scars slashed his broad cheeks, around his full lips, along his strong flat nose. Finally, the distortion dissolved.
A second Damion stood beside the first.
Damion’s brow dropped. His chest seemed to expand. The sticks in his hands sliced down through the air, poised on guard at his sides.
Kaelan, as Damion, edged away, like he feared those sticks might be aimed at him.
“There I am,” Damion said darkly.
Magda inspected Kaelan and then Damion, except for the clothes, the two were identical. Yet the hostility in Damion’s look suggested he felt otherwise.
Honey drifted closer to Damion, inspecting Kaelan. “No. He does not bear himself like a warrior. That makes all the difference.”
Damion’s shoulders fell, the hardness of his face, softening. “Yes, well, he is still more an imp than a Prince, and not a warrior.”
“Clearly,” Honey said. “Any knowledgeable person would see him as an impostor right away.”
Damion’s sticks dropped into the sand and he nodded.
Magda felt an inexplicable urge to hug Honey again. Kaelan, on the other hand, was scowling.
“With any luck, he won’t need to fool anyone,” Magda said, charging over and snagging Kaelan’s arm, dragging him away. “We’ll meet you at the meadow, sunset tomorrow.”
“And if not?” Damion asked.
“We will,” she said.
Hero raced out of the grasses, bounded up her leg and back, and then settled onto her shoulder.
Gur strutted closer. Magda gave Kaelan a bit of a shove towards the semargl.
“Oh, your coat,” Honey said, hurrying forward, grabbing up Endreas’s coat, and holding it out to Kaelan.
He frowned at it and her.
Magda took it. “Thank you, Honey. We’ll see you soon.”