Chapter 49 #2
“Does your brother know?” Fear strings those words together. If Ravin knows, Kaelis will never be safe.
“I can only assume he does.” Kaelis’s attention returns to the golden cards on the table. “That must be why they put this fake card here. They know I’ve every reason to summon the World.”
Rather than comment on the forgery, I say, “But if that’s true, why did they put you in charge of the academy?
Why put you here, where the font of the World is?
” The more I think about it in the context of all I’ve known, the less sense it makes.
“Why even let you walk in here—back to the castle that was your mother’s and where you were likely to find proof of her that wasn’t expunged when the world was remade?
” Even if Ravin doesn’t know everything about Kaelis’s history, his father certainly does.
“Why let you get close to the Majors if they knew you had every reason to want to rebuild the world?”
“My father is far more stupid than he lets on,” Kaelis says dryly.
My scoff fills the room. I stand up with a posture that communicates my disbelief. He shrugs with a small smile that I know is nothing more than a shield. I give him an incredulous look that he’d dare try it on me, shake my head, and wander toward the fireplace.
“Your father isn’t stupid, Kaelis.” I speak as I approach.
He continues staring into the flames. “He has made his share of mistakes.”
“I’m sure he has, but none of them were enough to stop him from rebuilding the whole world to be just how he wants it.
” I come to a stop next to him. Our bodies are so close that they nearly touch.
I ache to hold him. Yet I refrain. Something about this conversation needs to be had without the distraction of shivers coursing under our skin.
“He thinks I’m loyal.”
“ ‘Discourage my son from his bold ambitions,’ ” I say softly and without moving.
“What?”
“ ‘I know what my son is.’ ” I repeat Naethor’s words.
“He said I was the only one who could be with you—that I could ‘discourage’ you from your ambitions.” I drag my eyes back to him.
Kaelis’s expression is unreadable. The voids of his eyes have never seemed more absolute; somehow not even the firelight flickers in them.
“That was what your father told me when we danced during the Feast of Cups ball. And he said something else like it at Fate Hearth.”
Anger radiates off him in waves. His fists are balled and nearly quivering. The muscles in his jaw twitch from clenching it so hard. This rage is only comparable to his reaction to mentions of Clan Hermit.
“Those aren’t the words of an ignorant or dumb man, Kaelis.
He knows exactly who his son is.” Honestly, it’s a wonder he’s kept you alive.
But that’s a question for another occasion.
I can work through only one mystery at a time.
I search his hardened, closed-off expression.
He’s trying so hard to hide something that it’s only making it more obvious.
“Why did he put you in charge of the academy? Why you?”
“He couldn’t put it in Ravin’s hands, he’s too busy as the heir. And our younger brother isn’t an Arcanist.” The detached way Kaelis says it tells me that even he knows it’s a ridiculous claim.
“He has his pick of loyal and powerful clan Arcanists across the whole of Oricalis. Older and more experienced leaders. He doesn’t need his son to be running this academy.” I take a step closer. “Why isn’t he afraid of you being here and having access to the World?”
“It’ll be his undoing,” Kaelis snarls.
“I’m certain it will be.” The sarcasm in my tone draws Kaelis’s attention back to me. He’s so offended by it that he plays right into my hands, head jerking back in my direction. “But why?”
“Probably because he hates me.”
“Everyone would love to have a father who ‘hates’ them so much that he would give them control of an entire academy.”
Kaelis takes a step closer now. The space between us is condensing to nothing, the air becoming more charged.
This is a sensitive nerve for him—one that’s very easy to touch.
But I’m not backing down. This is important.
The more I learn about this family, about these ancient powers—about him—the bigger the piece in the center of this puzzle becomes. I can’t ignore it any longer.
“You don’t understand.” Kaelis looms over me, trying to draw on the height advantage he possesses.
“You won’t let me understand. Why does he allow you to even get near the power to change the world?
” I take another half step. Our chests are nearly touching.
Breaths mingling. I’m so close I can see the faint flush that is rising on his cheeks from anger and…
perhaps shame? “Why you, Kaelis? Why give you access to this power?”
Kaelis tries to avoid my stare. But it’s nearly impossible with how close we are.
“Tell me, Kaelis.”
“Clara—”
“Tell me, please!”
“Because he knows I can’t!” His eyes meet mine, shadowed by his furrowed brow. His breaths come thin and fast.
“You can’t…”
“I can’t change the world—I can’t cast the card.” The admission is a hairline fracture turning into a break. The dam is threatening to give.
“Why? Because you’re of Revisan blood?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Then is it because you’re a coward?”
The flash of hurt in Kaelis’s eyes tells me I’ve gone too far with that jab. But the anger that follows is swift and mighty. “I am no coward. Everything I have done has been to defy fate itself.”
“Stop talking in riddles. Just tell me the truth.”
Kaelis goes to turn away. I catch his biceps and yank him to me. My hand on his arm digs wells around the pads of my fingers as I clutch him. But my right hand cups his face with all the tenderness I possess. His eyes meet mine, and the world narrows further: It’s just him and me.
“Why can’t you cast the card?” I whisper, as though our voices hadn’t just been at the point of breaking into a yell. For the first time since I’ve known him, it feels like the broken pieces of us might just fit together.
“It’s not possible because…” His words falter. I search his expression, waiting, expectant. “The future my father fears most cannot come to pass, and he knows it.”
My brows knit together. I continue to hold him in place, though he doesn’t resist. Now I’m holding him for the truth. To explain what it is that should be obvious, yet I’m somehow not seeing.
Then, all at once, it hits me.
There’s only one explanation that could give the king that much assurance.
A moment in his history that Kaelis mentioned only once, but it was the first time I admitted that maybe he also knew pain.
Because he was forced to do the same as every initiate who has passed through these doors since: He was the first to stand before the Chalice.
Welcome to Arcana Academy…where your future is your tuition.