Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
N eve’s childhood home was a long walk uphill from the palace.
Under the cloak of darkness, she and Eleksi exited the tunnels and traveled via quiet back streets. Exhausted from using magic, the sorceress required several rest stops along the way.
Head in her hands, she sat on a wooden crate in an alleyway, willing her dizziness to abate.
“I can carry you,” said Eleksi for at least the fifth time.
“That’ll look suspicious. I’ll be alright in a moment.”
“We could find somewhere to lodge closer by.”
“Too risky. And I want to get to my mother as soon as possible. I’m afraid for her, because Meliohr’s men will surely go looking for me there. I need to move her elsewhere before they have that chance.”
He paced. “Do you want to bring her with us?”
“No.” Neve looked up, adamant. “She would be in too much danger with me. We have neighbors she can stay with. Friends. People she’s known for a long time.”
“Alright. That’s a good idea.”
“You were right,” murmured Neve, frowning slightly. “About our eyes.”
Eleksi crouched in front of her. “What do you mean?”
“My eyes resemble his. Leonid’s.”
“Ah.” His face softened. “I’m sorry that was how you came face to face with him.”
“It’s bizarre to know he’s been here in Klatos this whole time. In the palace.” She paused. “I can’t decide if it would be worse if he did or if he didn’t know about me. Either Leonid knew of my existence and chose not to meet me, or he had no idea and we both lost the chance to know one another.”
“Your mother can shed light on the answer, no doubt.” Eleksi stood. “I’ll get a drink for you. I can’t stand here and do nothing.”
He stalked silently from the alleyway and returned less than a minute later carrying a clay flagon. After uncorking the bottle, he handed it to her.
“Pomegranate juice,” he said as she gulped the rich, tart beverage. “The sugar will help.”
Eleksi returned to pacing while she finished the juice. He fiddled with his spider ring, frowning down at it periodically.
“Are you alright?” she asked. “You seem particularly agitated.”
He stopped pacing. “It . . . upset me. Seeing you dead.”
“Oh. I suppose Glamours can be very convincing. That’s the point of them, after all.”
He made a noncommittal noise in his throat and continued scanning the alleyway for threats.
Having finished the juice, Neve wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and stood. “But you see dead bodies all the time. I would’ve thought you’re the last person to be disturbed by it.”
“It’s different when it’s someone you—” He cleared his throat. “When it’s someone I?—”
His words trailed off.
“Know the name of? Feel responsible for?” She smirked. “Perhaps even, dare I say, like ? Is that really such a rare occasion for you?”
His eyes narrowed. “For me ? Why aren’t you close to anyone?”
“Because I’m afraid of killing anyone I touch, Eleksi. As you well know.” She indicated the street, not wishing to dwell on the woeful lack of intimacy in her life. “Let’s keep going.”
“Ready when you are, little witch.”
She fell into step beside him, her black cloak billowing in the crisp nighttime air. “I can’t believe you like me.”
Teasing him gave her a momentary yet much-needed distraction.
Eleksi sighed deeply. “I didn’t say that.”
“So you don’t like me?”
He gave her a sidelong look. “I didn’t say that, either.”
“Gods. Alright. And people call me mysterious.”
Harvest festival celebrations petered out closer to her old neighborhood. A pearly half moon hung low in the sky and she thought wistfully of stargazing from Starlight Gardens. The sky was woefully difficult to read in Klatos, obscured by vast tracts of darkness and wispy clouds.
“How long will it take for word to spread about what happened in the drawing room?” she asked Eleksi. “That Leonid has an illegitimate child who’s a sorceress?”
“With the number of guards present? Not long at all. From this point onward, we should assume that anyone we meet is aware you’re fleeing the queen’s wrath, and why.”
Neve’s stomach sank. “I wonder when my friends at Starlight Gardens will find out. Or the High Magus.”
“Will he look for you?”
“He might. I don’t believe he’d anger the queen by helping me, but he wouldn’t lead her to me, either. I hope.”
She slowed her pace when her street came into view. “We’re close.”
“Good. The sooner we get you off the street, the better. I won’t relax until we leave Klatos altogether, though.”
“We won’t need to be here long. I only want to check on my mother and ask her about Leonid. We can leave before sunrise.”
Clotheslines hung between the balconies of the residences in the cramped street. A rat foraging in a crate of garbage was the only movement. The shops were closed and the windows were dark.
Neve’s boots echoed on the cobblestones, while Eleksi was somehow as silent as ever, despite walking right next to her.
“Tell me really, how do you manage such stealth?” she whispered to him in wonder.
“I learned it at home, from an early age. Making myself invisible was integral to my survival.”
The sorceress frowned, deciphering his words. “Do you mean?—”
“My father. He would come home drunk, and angry.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
Neve’s heart ached as she imagined a young Eleksi cowering from his father. At what point had he decided to turn himself into a weapon instead?
“Do you sense anyone lurking?” he asked as they approached her mother’s building. “I don’t.”
“No.” Her brow furrowed as she absorbed the energy of the street. “But something is . . . amiss. There’s been some kind of disturbance.”
Suddenly desperate to lay her eyes on her mother, Neve creaked open the door to the building and slipped inside. Eleksi was right behind her as she climbed the stairs two at a time.
The door to her mother’s residence was ajar. As she went to run inside, Eleksi stepped in her way, holding her shoulders. He put his mouth to her ear.
“I’ll go first,” he breathed.
Before she could protest, he disappeared inside, where the only sound was a loudly ticking clock. Neve followed him, trying to mimic his stealth.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
The small living room had been destroyed. The furniture was upended, and parchment and books lay torn apart on the floor. Her mother’s ceramic figurines were shattered on the wooden floorboards, making patterns like snowflakes. She rushed to the bedroom and found similar disarray.
“There’s no one here.” Neve chewed her lip. “What if she’s . . .”
He beckoned to her. “If it’s empty, let’s not linger here. It’s not safe.”
“There’s no blood,” said Eleksi when they’d returned to the street, his voice grave. “That might mean she’s a prisoner. Guards might’ve even come here before we met with the queen.” He swore. “I should’ve known. Meliohr is very thorough.”
“Then we have to return to the palace to free her.” The idea that her mother might’ve been in the dungeons while Neve was in the cellar with Danior was nightmarish. “How on earth will we manage that? We just escaped from there.”
“We will find a?—”
He became motionless, his shoulders tense. Neve cocked her head. Had he heard something?
Eleksi darted into the alleyway to their left and grabbed a small figure out of the darkness. It was a child of roughly ten years, whose feet kicked in midair. Eleksi held him by the collar.
“Put him down!” said Neve, rushing to the assassin’s side. “That’s Saxon. He lives nearby.”
The child was wild-eyed with fear. When Eleksi set him down, Neve could tell he was fighting the impulse to run. She put out her hand, hoping to calm him.
“Sorry, kid,” said Eleksi gruffly, stepping back.
“Neve?” asked Saxon, his eyes wary. “Your mother sent me to keep a lookout. She’s at our place.”
A whoosh of breath left her lungs. “Is she alright?”
Saxon nodded. “She’s very worried about you, though.”
“Please, take us to her.”
At Saxon’s house two streets away, he slid a copper key into the lock and turned before ushering them inside. The home pulsed with life, unlike Brigit’s destroyed residence. A log burned bright orange in the hearth, savory scents from dinner persisted, and a plump tabby cat lifted its head from a cushion in front of the fire.
A silhouette appeared in the kitchen doorway.
“Neve!” Her mother crossed the room and drew her into a tight hug. “I feared they were looking for you. And so it seems, they were.” She stood back, her blue eyes moving to Eleksi and back again. “Thankfully I was visiting Marigold when the royal guards arrived. The whole neighborhood heard the commotion. As soon as they left, I came here to Jamy’s house. I thought I should stay put, for now. Saxon was kind enough to keep lookout for you.”
“Don’t return to our place at all, if you can help it,” replied Neve, thinking grimly of the disarray. “At least until we’re sure guards won’t come back. You’re not hurt?”
“No, darling. I’m only concerned for you.”
Brigit’s face was pinched with worry and her black hair was in a tight braid.
Jamy, Saxon’s mother, shuffled from her bedroom, her blonde hair messy from sleep. She smiled kindly at Neve and squeezed her son’s shoulder with affection.
“I’ll boil some water for tea,” said Jamy, moving into the tiny kitchen.
Neve pulled her mother aside. “I’m very relieved you’re alright, but we aren’t out of the woods. I need answers. Answers that I believe only you can give me.” She licked her lips, which had started trembling. “Queen Meliohr sent an assassin to kill me.”
Brigit’s snowy skin, so like Neve’s, blanched under the warm glow of the firelight. “Oh, no. I have been afraid of this. So afraid.”
“I need the truth.” Neve lowered her voice further, unsure if Jamy and Saxon ought to hear their conversation. “Mama, I need you to tell me everything about how King Leonid came to be my father.”