It wasn’t Vex. It was Milo.
4
VEX’S WORLD HADbeen nonstop chaos for weeks. Getting arrested in New Deza; escaping the castle with Lu and Teo; trekking across Grace Loray on the hunt for Milo Ibarra; sneaking onto the Argridian ship; fleeing that ship; retreating to Port Mesi-Teab; tracking places Ben might be; and finally sneaking into New Deza again to get Kari Andreu.
But now, the world was quiet. Vex hated it.
Nayeli and Edda whispered beside the pilothouse. Cansu’s raiders took shifts driving the boat northwest so they could find the Emerdian raider syndicate and break into the Port Camden prison. Vex sat at the bow, the evening sky brushed gray by clouds and the lake ahead of them as still as polished glass. This boat wasn’t theRapid Meander, docked halfway across the island in Port Mesi-Teab, but a similar lulling peace wiggled its way in.
Vex folded his arms under his chin and stared straight out from the bow, furious that Cansu’s raiders wouldn’t let him drive. It was their boat, after all; he’d never let them touch theMeander’s helm, were the situation reversed. But he was more furious that there was no other way to expel the energy in his chest. Except through the disease that made his arms shake.
But it wasn’t a disease, was it? Not according to Lu. Shaking Sickness was a result of too much of Grace Loray’s botanical magic entering a person’s body—solved by ingesting the specific plants that counteracted the ones that had been taken in excess. But it had been years since Church priests had given Vex magic, so Lu had devised a way to cook down the counter plants, increase their potency, and maybe cure him.
She’d worked through one of the plants he’d remembered, before...
Vex closed his eye. Healing his Shaking Sickness wasn’t the only reason he missed Lu, and he hated that he had to tell himself that not to feel selfish. As if he needed more reasons to be mad at his body.
It isn’t fair, he’d wanted to scream so many times. The rational part of him knew it wasn’t his body’s fault, but the rest of him hated this vessel he was trapped in.
This scarred, shaky, dying vessel.
“Have you eaten?”
Vex lurched around. Kari held a sack of jerky he’d seenCansu’s raiders dipping into. Behind her, Edda and Nayeli had stopped talking to watch them. To watchhim, in case he did anything stupid, like start yelling again.
He shifted forward. “Yep.”
Silence. Maybe he’d get lucky and she’d leave—
A crate beside him moaned. She arranged her now-dry skirts, and Vex could practically hear the creaking of her spine as she sat down rod straight.
The water shushed around the bow and the night breeze cooed in his ears.
“Your crewmate—Edda,” Kari said. “In the castle, she called you Paxben.”
Vex sat up, fingers curving around the railing.
“Paxben Artur Gallego,” she whispered. “The son of Elazar’s brother, Rodrigu. The son of the man who started Argrid’s resistance.”
Of course she’d recognize the name. Vex eyed the Tuncian raiders, who were out of earshot.
“Argrid’sfailedresistance, you mean,” he grumbled.
A long moment passed. “Your father was incredibly brave.”
Vex bit down on his tongue. That used to be the first word that flared into his mind when Rodrigu came into a room.Brave. Followed bystrongandlovingandjoyfuland—
He’d thought, if his father was brave and strong, that he had to be those things too. God, he’d idolized his father. Everyone had—when the collaborators in Rodrigu’sresistance had filled his office, their faces glowed with hope. They had wanted to overthrow Elazar and put eleven-year-old Ben on the throne with Rodrigu serving as regent until he came of age. With Rodrigu in power, Argrid would pull away from the Church, legalize Grace Loray’s botanical magic, and stop the burnings, torture, and fear.
Paxben had squished into a chair in the back of the room during the secret meetings, overflowing with pride thathis fatherwas someone who could inspire such awe.
That pride blossomed, though weak from years beaten down. Vex could rename himself, turn his back on what his father had made him—but he couldn’t get rid of this pain, no matter how hard he tried.
“As are you,” Kari continued, “for all you must have faced. I cannot imagine what you have endured to be alive today.”
“I’ve done what I had to do to get by in this world. The worldyouhelped make.”
Kari sighed. “My daughter told you about my role in the revolution.”
