“I didn’tfollowyou. I went to your chambers, you weren’t there, I wondered if everything was all right with you, and decided to come here.”
She looks at me, eyes narrowed. “Hmmm. Perhaps it’s not about being close to the truth, but just being plausible.”
For some reason, I laugh. “You think I’m lying?”
“Maybe.”
“Then what’s your theory as to why I’m here?”
She looks away, at the stars. “You want to check if I’m betraying you.”
“No.” She looks too lost to be scheming, but I don’t want to say that and puncture even more her already deflated pride. “I don’t think that.”
She snorts. “Right. What can I do with no magic?”
“A lot, actually. Didn’t Renel find out how to kill the Witch King?”
“He used magic to find those books. I’m sure of that.”
“Perhaps.” Still, her mention of magic reminds me why I think she’s upset. “Listen, I know you want to go to Marlak’s house, and want to have your magic back. We’re going there tomorrow.”
“I’m not deaf. I heard it the first time. And the second, and third.” Her chest moves up and down slowly and she shuts her eyes.
There’s something bothering her, and I’m not sure exactly what it is, other than being stuck here. I try to say something to cheer her up. “You’re very lucky, you know? Your?—”
Her glare interrupts me. “Either you’re insane, or your definition of luck is quite different from mine.”
“I… didn’t mean that. What I meant to say is that Marlak really loves you. I saw his desperation to rescue you, how much he was willing to risk, how far he was willing to go. Few people have someone in their lives who cares for them like that. I have—had—cousins. They wouldn’t even check on me when I got sick.”
She shifts her position and runs a finger through her dark hair. “I suppose. And yet you were there too. Rescuing me. Even though you didn’t even know me.”
Her words make me feel odd, and heat rises to my cheeks. “Yes, well. You gotta do something useful.”
“You could go around calling yourself a hero, and yet you don’t.”
My chuckle is pure disbelief. “No, no. I was just trying not to look like a bum, you know? Otherwise I feared they’d dump me in my kingdom, and I’d have nowhere to go.”
“Is that why you came here? With Renel?”
“I suppose that’s part of it, yes.”
“I saw you. I don’t think they’d send you back.”
“Well, I’m not as confident. And how did you even see us?”
She pauses, then her eyes set on me. “I sawyou.”
I blink, flustered and confused.
She continues, “I thought it was my brother, at first, in the Jewel. Then I thought it was Renel. I saw you planning to come to the castle, but then I didn’t see Marlak, and only found him when it was too late.”
“Why did you intercept them? Lidiane was almost hurt.”
Mirella clicks her tongue and looks down. “I feared it was a trap. I was trying to help, but I couldn’t make it look like I was helping.”
“Is that what you did in the Jewel?”
“Didn’t I warn Marlak to leave? That bloodpuppets were after him?”
