I said nothing.
“The RuneTree is just a series of holes, now. Drilled wells and bubbling power. Our power.” He blinked slowly, satisfied and smug. “I was there when she was hewn. I was the one who commanded the ax.”
He sat back, enjoying my distress.
“We shall not be returning the prince to the Coward King of High Temple. I will keep him alive until the Impirius decides how he shall die.”
Oh suns, not Dev, too.
“If I help you,” I began, praying he didn’t see the trembling of my hands. “Will you spare them?”
“Them?”
“The prince, theTouchstone…” I swallowed the catch in my throat. “The captain? My crew?”
I didn’t care if he saw the tears that threatened. I’d lost all pretense of pride.
“If I chase for you, will you spare them?”
He met my eyes. His were breezy and glittering and bright. They studied me as if I were a puzzle or a plaything.
“Absolutely not.”
Sails robbed of wind.
“Then why should I help you?”
He smiled. “So you do not join them at the bottom of the sea.”
Cold swept from my ears down to my boots. But with it, the calm.
Kel’yion.
I’d made my choice.
“I’ll join them.”
He looked over my shoulder to theRhi’Ahrstanding at the door.
“Take her back to her cell.”
“Wait. You made an accord,” I said. “Answermyquestion now.”
“I did,” he said. “Ask.”
“How do your ships cross the Dreadwall?” I asked. “You have no chasers of your own to find the gaps.”
He smirked at me, then reached into a desk drawer and carefully placed an object on the polished surface.
I released a breath. It was a compass made of RuneTree wood.
“So simple,” he said. “Your captain gave us the idea. Poor boy. He really thought we would help him.”
My eyes stung as I remembered Kier’s words, the breaking of his heart, and the guilt that he carried. I understood why he hated this man. At this moment, I hated him, too.
I looked again at the caged swifts, and he noticed.
“You like my birds?” he asked.
