“No.” I move to brush past her, but her fingers tighten along my skin. My reaction is swift as I pull my arm back, sending her a warning glare. “What do you want, Haylee?”
“It’s not about whatIwant,” she says, earning a scoff from Bahira. Haylee ignores her as her eyes implore mine. “Nox, I know that the way the council has gone about things wasn’t right, but all that matters is that our people are safe. That they feel supported by the Crown. That theytrustthem. If you go to retrieve Rhea, you will return to a weakened system where the people are split on trusting you or condemning you. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Together, we can earn their trust again.” She moves in closer, reaching back out to touch me before my narrowing eyes freeze her hand mid-air. “You are powerful, Nox, but not even you can withstand losing the peoples’ faith.”
“There is only one person I need to have faith in me, Haylee. Together, she and I will deal with whatever happens next.”
Her head jerks back in indignation. “You’d leave something as precious—as powerful and important—as public approval to chance so that you can, what? Follow your heart? Love is for the weak, Nox. Any fool can fall in love, but only the rarest man can be king. This moment does not have to be another failure on your family’s name. You can fix this—wecan fix this!”
“You’re so fuckingpathetic,” Bahira snaps.
I trace my gaze over Haylee’s face and note the genuine concern there. It’s in the sheen covering her eyes and the lines denting her forehead. But it’s the hunger that lingers beneath that gives her away. Even if she were not someone who has been in my life for nearly as long as Bahira has been alive, I would recognize the thirst for power, because I had seen it so many times from King Dolian. Leaning in close, I don’t bother keeping my voice low.
“Whatever you think it is that you are owed by me or this kingdom is not rooted in anything remotely factual or concrete. You willneverwear a crown. You willnevershare my bed or my name or my duty to this kingdom. And if I find out that you were involved with Rhea’s abduction in any capacity, I will not hesitate to show you just howeasilymy power can be wielded without the support of the people.”
I leave Haylee with a stunned look of defeat on her face and climb the stairs to my rooms. Once there, I quickly undress and get in the shower, the warm water a welcome reprieve as I close my eyes and drag my hands down my face. I check in with my magic again, prodding at the source of my power to make sure that I can still feel it. That I can still wield it. It was that spelled shard of dragon stone that the council had Galen put in me that was holding my magic back, not my own body. It was the fake medicines—tinctures the old bastard fed me—that numbed me to what was happening, not my own mind. But the fear that I might lose myself again before I can get to Rhea remains present, and it makes my movements jittery and my thoughts chaotic.
How can I in one breath tell Rhea that Bella isalive.That despite how we’ve come to understand the laws of magic and the rules of the Spell, she was able to live with Rhea in the tower, and then she returned home to the Shifter Kingdom. That her name is Siyala, and that Bahira had met her. And then in the very nextbreath, tell her that Cass is gone. That me breaking the Mirror set off a chain of events that led directly to his death. Gods, how am I supposed to look into her perfect eyes and tell her that I killed for her. That Ihappilysacrificed my reputation and crown and title for her, but that I was too weak to rescue her sooner. That I had been tricked so fucking easily by men I thought I could trust and she had paid the price for it?
Pushing away from the wall, I quickly finish my shower and dress, heading back down to the foyer where Bahira waits, a second pack in her hands. “This is for you,” she says, handing it to me as we cut through the gathered guards and nobility still lingering. Their gazes are heavy on us as we pass, but we keep our steps quick as we exit, descending the white stone steps before heading into the forest, and to the forge.
“You’ll be alright?” Bahira asks when we are nearly there, breaking the silence that has been weighed down with my thoughts. “I can go with you—”
“No,” I interrupt, shaking my head. “Thank you, but no. You are needed here, both to support our parents and because I know you are eager to speak with Kai.”
Bahira makes a strange noise at the shifter king’s name, clearing her throat immediately as if that will disguise how we both heard it. But I give her mercy as the forge comes into view, a familiar figure pacing in front of it.
At the sound of our steps, his head snaps up, his dark blue eyes widening in both relief and slight annoyance. “Finally!” Daje groans, opening the door to the forge and running in, leaving it open behind him.
“Rude,” Bahira mumbles as she follows. I’m the last one to step in, the scent of the burning coals powering it overwhelming.
Elora’s expression falters when we enter, doing a double take as she looks at me. “Oh gods, you’re okay! We heard you had been attacked and—” Her mouth hangs open, brows drawing inas she takes a step towards me. “Your—your magic. I can feel it again.”
I nod, pushing my hand through my hair to draw back the damp strands that lay over my forehead. “It’s back.”
Her cheeks lift with a smile, eyes bright when she asks, “Does this mean that you’re back to beingyou? That you can go get Rhea now?”
“Yes. As soon as we try one last attempt at fixing the Mirror.”
Elora claps, turning her joy to Daje as he comes to stand next to her. “Let’s not waste any time, then.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Bahira agrees, taking her pack off and setting it on the ground, laying her spear next to it. “Now, this is nothing more than a hunch. I don’t know for sure that it will work, but I think with Nox’s magic fully returned, it’s worth a try.” Undoing the buckles, she reaches in and, to my surprise, pulls out one of the dragon stones that Rhea imbued, my magic immediately perking up at the sight of it.
“Why do you have this?” I ask her, Daje and Elora drawing nearer to look at the stone.
She pulls out stone after stone, piling them on the floor until it’s obvious she grabbed every single one that was littered throughout my rooms. “In order to explain why, you’re going to have to tell them the truth.”
I pause as I look at our friends, an emotion I can’t fully identify sitting heavy on my chest. It isn’t that I don’t trust them, or even that I think Rhea would mind if they knew. It’s that she isn’t here to tell them herself. That I hadn’t told Cass, and now he would never know that her flame turned blue or that she is the rightful mage queen. This is such an intimate part of who Rhea is, and with all of my missteps, I hate to add yetanotherto the list.
But if Bahira thinks it will work, then I have to push aside my own urge to keep everything regarding Rhea guarded as if it will do anything to help hernow. “Rhea is the queen of Void Magic.”
Daje’s brows climb high on his forehead, his mouth falling open then closing again before he asks, “How do you know?”
“Ofcourseshe is!” Elora says, her smile beaming.
“We did a Flame Ceremony before the ball. Her blood produced a cobalt blue flame.”
“No one else knows except for the people in this room,” Bahira adds, her serious tone relaying that it willstaythat way. “Well, and our parents.”
“We won’t say anything,” Elora says, her fingers resting over Daje’s wrist.
