“You’re doubting me?” My voice comes out as a roar.
The human prince steps back. “If I doubted you, why would I ask you to show us?”
“I don’t need to show anything. I’ll use my fire when I have to. It’s a dangerous element, and I have no need to parade it.”
Astra looks at me, worry in her eyes. Does she doubt me too? She then asks, “What if you went to the castle today? For the notes?”
I don’t know if I can wait that long. “Astra?—”
“Listen,” she says. “You might only getone chanceto defeat the Witch King. If it was just a matter of burning him using your fire, there would be no need for notes, no need for a special locked box. If there’s one little thing, one little secret in those journals that could guarantee your success, it’s worth getting them.”
I want to argue and yet the words don’t even come. Perhaps everything is stuck in my throat as the thought of using my fire chokes me.
Lidiane points at me. “I could sneak you in. I’ve infiltrated the castle before.”
Azur glares at her. “You barely took a step into the castle and I realized you didn’t belong there.”
She shakes her head. “This would be different. I can get Marlak there, and then he can get all those journals. It’s true that the right information could make a difference.”
I don’t like the idea of Lidiane going to the Crystal Castle and risking facing Zorwal, and there’s something else I don’t like. “If I try to get these notes today, I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to go to the Shadow Lands.”
Azur clicks his tongue. “Without my magic powering the Witch King, he won’t escape right away. In a few days, maybe. Today or tomorrow, unlikely. I agree that if there’s information that will help you, you should get it first.”
I sag in my seat. I’m frustrated for not rushing into the Shadow Lands right now, and at the same time relieved that I don’t have to use my fire yet, even if the possibility hangs over me like a threatening shadow.
My breath comes shallow and constricted as I consider the challenges ahead of me. No. There’s no challenge. I’ll use my fire if I have to. Just once. It won’t kill or hurt anyone other than the Witch King and his ghouls.
And then, what if I don’t even need to use fire? That would be helpful. “So I should go to the castle now.”
Ferer says, “I can transcend you close to there.”
“I need to go too,” my brother says.
“What for?” I snap.
He blinks, startled. “To show you the location of the box.”
“You canexplainit to me. I know the castle well.”
“It’s… a little complicated.”
That is probably an excuse, and I fear that if he goes to the castle, he might want to make a deal with Zorwal to get Tarlia back or try to pretend to be the king again.
But I don’t dare mention any of that. “Renel, you don’t have magic. You’ll be a liability.”
“Right.” He lets out a bitter chuckle. “I forgot I’m useless.”
I roll my eyes. “Having no magic and being useless are different things.”
“Are they?” My brother asks. “And there’s another reason I need to go. After you get your notes, books, journals or whatever and are far away from the castle, I’ll have to make a deal with Zorwal.”
Wow. He’s being honest.
I snort. “You don’t say.”
“He can heal Azur and free Tarlia. And if he wants me?—”
“He doesn’t want you,” I say. “He wantsme. He’ll make you give away my location, my secrets.”
