Chapter Forty-One – Mira #3
‘He was in a different league to the rest of them,’ she settled on.
‘Without him, even with so many Artisans at his disposal, Roran won’t be able to account for every eventuality – and thankfully, we haven’t planned for a battle in Taiga.
If we don’t make too many specific plans, the Artisans won’t be able to warn Roran to expect them.
The battle will play out on more equal footing. ’
‘That’s your suggestion?’ I asked, extremely underwhelmed. ‘To march to Taiga without a plan and hope for the best?’
‘You’ve prepared the shifters and clan warriors as best you can. Perhaps it’s time to trust in their abilities. And your own.’
‘My magic, you mean,’ I said without inflection.
The awareness that had grown after killing Velanthe hadn’t stopped.
Even now, I could sense the heartbeats of not just Scarlett and my guards, but the priestesses in the Temple and even the warriors in the open field beyond.
There was something so tempting about that power, but the consequences of using it terrified me.
Scarlett was watching me knowingly. ‘I don’t mean blood magic. I mean your natural magic – like my illusions or my mother’s ability to control. I think I can help you master it.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Velanthe never wanted you to embrace your full potential, and she didn’t want anyone else to discover the Sorceress’s knowledge, so she hid her original grimoires. But not well enough.’
A headache throbbed at my temple. ‘I don’t have time to comb through stacks of books–’
‘You don’t have to. I already know the most important parts.
For instance, did you know that the Sorceress could connect with other people’s minds?
’ She leant in, bracing her forearms against the table.
‘That means it was one of her natural abilities – not one that comes from blood magic. If it’s safe for you to use, then it could make a big difference to the war.
Imagine if you could get close enough to influence Roran.
You could force him to surrender, and save thousands of lives in the process. ’
Accidentally, my mind brushed Scarlett’s. Excitement and hope rose up, along with a touch of longing.
There was nothing to suggest her offer was less than genuine.
‘If we use Aurelius,’ she continued, ‘we can draw Roran out. He might claim not to care, but bastard or not, Aurelius is still his son – his only son. That means something to him, or he wouldn’t have gone to the effort of keeping him close and hidden.
And I have another surprise in store for my brother – one that I will tell you about when it’s too late for him to change his strategy.
’ Scarlett’s smile widened, revelling in the knowledge that I now needed her .
‘Even you can’t turn the tide of an entire battle.’
‘No, but I can certainly help.’ Her smile turned impish – reminding me of how she used to smile at me, when she had magically disguised herself as Sabine. ‘Just imagine what we can achieve together.’
I frowned at Scarlett. Lillian believed I had avoided her out of fear, but that was only partly true. There was humanity within Scarlett, even if she didn’t care to admit it – and that humanity bothered me more than her death magic ever could.
‘You’re afraid of me.’ Scarlett sounded disappointed by this realisation.
‘You unnerve me,’ I corrected. ‘I don’t know how to react to you. After you betrayed me, it was easy to think of you as my enemy. But this –’ I waved a hand at the books and food spread out in front of me– ‘this attempt at civility is far more unsettling. Because I don’t know when it will end.’
Our eyes locked, and a strange affinity passed between us.
‘Has it ever occurred to you that I felt the same?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘When we met in the Ravalian Court,’ Scarlett clarified, drumming her steel-tipped nails against the table.
‘I wanted to believe that we could be allies, if not friends. But you have to understand . . . I don’t have the best track record with family.
In the end, I couldn’t trust you not to turn against me. ’
‘I wasn’t your enemy until you made me one.’
‘I know,’ Scarlett said softly. The candlelight glinted in her cold eyes, adding a deceptive warmth to them. ‘But once you made an alliance with my brother, you became a threat. And when your engagement was announced . . .’ She sighed. ‘I couldn’t allow you to marry my brother.’
‘So everything you said, your offers of working together–’
‘They were genuine. At first.’ A rueful smile. ‘But when you finally decided to trust me, it wasn’t to work together as I had intended. It was because you wanted my help to escape to Ravalia, where you would have become a rival queen, in the perfect position to attack my country.’
‘I wouldn’t have–’
‘No?’ Scarlett tilted her head. ‘You made no secret of your hatred for the Ravalian Court. Even now, your sights are set on Ravalia as much as Kalure. You don’t trust me any more than I trust you.’
‘Can you blame me? You framed me for Emperor Kalias’s murder.’
‘I made a choice out of fear. And once I did . . . I didn’t believe there was any going back. For either of us.’
There was something strange and searching about the way she looked at me.
My power brushed against her mind, and memories surfaced in a flash of colour.
The ballroom from the first Trial. Sabine’s smile as I descended the steps with Cassius’s crown on my head.
The two of us running from the party, arm in arm, filled with adrenaline and excitement–
‘You liked me once,’ Scarlett murmured. ‘When I was Sabine.’
She was right – I had liked Sabine. Had considered her a friend, at least until Scarlett had revealed it was all a lie. Except that wasn’t what she had told me. She’d told me it was real to her as well. That she cared about me, not just as her friend, but as her cousin .
And I had believed her. Had wanted to believe her – to believe that I could have a family again.
‘What happened to the real Sabine?’ It had never occurred to me before, but Scarlett couldn’t have been impersonating her from the very beginning.
I had seen Sabine during the Choosing Ceremony – talking to a group of Artisan candidates.
And Scarlett had been there too, looking on from her throne along with the other royal patrons.
‘I never wanted to hurt her,’ Scarlett said, watching me closely.
‘I kidnapped her before the first Trial, but when I returned, I found her dead. She’d accidentally sliced her wrists when she tried to undo the ropes.
My mother . . .’ Her throat bobbed as she swallowed.
‘My mother threw her off the balcony afterwards. She told me to leave her there after casting an illusion over her body, but I couldn’t. I stayed by her side for hours.’
Was she really trying to stir my sympathy by making me believe that Sabine’s death had hurt her? A death she was at least partially responsible for?
I almost left. But when I had brought Scarlett back, I had seen some of her memories.
I didn’t remember everything, but I remembered enough: Zandri’s cold presence overshadowing her childhood, the love and responsibility she still felt for Cassius, despite her pretence not to feel anything at all.
I even knew that she had come to care for Aric and Lillian.
Perhaps not in the same pure, uncomplicated way that I did, but the emotions were still there. Still genuine.
It had been difficult to hate her after discovering that. But it was equally difficult to forgive her.
Scarlett stood. She walked towards me slowly, cautiously, as if she was giving me the chance to back away.
She wants me to trust her , I realised. That was what this whole display was about: not an attempt at control, but an attempt at a reconciliation.
Scarlett paused less than a metre away. ‘I don’t want to be like Zandri, and I know you don’t want to be like Velanthe.’ She raised her chin defiantly. ‘So let’s choose to do things differently. Their way doesn’t have to be ours.’ And she extended her hand, palm up, like an offering.
I stared at her in shock. Scarlett knew I was aware of her death magic. She couldn’t expect me to–
But clearly, she did. Her eyes glittered down at me, filled with unexpected sincerity. ‘Choose trust, Mira. Not fear.’
I wanted to. And perhaps the first step to defeating Roran was trusting Scarlett. Banishing the animosity between us.
But if I was wrong . . .
I stood and faced her, my heart beating a thunderous rhythm against my ribcage.
And I took hold of her outstretched hand.