“Imaginary, potential love is easy, beautiful. Real love is complicated. I don’t know if you want that.”
He stares at his hand again and puts the glove back on. “I want to survive, but if I have to go, I don’t want to leave any scars, don’t want any tears. Most of all, I don’t want to become the Witch King’s tool.”
“If everything goes well, we won’t let it happen.”
“I hope so.” He stares at me more carefully. “Is there any way you can avoid going to the castle?”
“They’ll need my magic.”
He watches me for a moment, then says, “Let Astra taste your blood.Shecould protect her husband.”
“Astra’s staying on this island. Do you want the Witch King to find her? And Tiurian magic can be traced.”
Azur looks away and inhales a sharp breath. “It’s agonizing. Seeing you risking your life like that.”
“Don’t be dramatic. You’re acting as if getting into that castle is going to be some epic expedition. It’s not. You know my magic.And stop with the self commiseration. We’ll…” I meant to sayfix this, but the words won’t come. “Do our best.”
He nods, the gesture oddly sweet. “I know. Don’t think for a second I don’t believe in your magic. Your power is nothing short of wondrous. Also, I’m sorry. I’m trying to keep you from getting hurt, and somehow it only makes things worse.”
“Just don’t throw your life away, that’s all. I don’t want any bold sacrifice. I want you to survive this, and we’ll fight until the very last second, if it comes to that, to get rid of this poisoning. So don’t give up, it’s all I’m asking. Be grumpy all you want.”
He narrows his eyes, and I’m not sure if his tone is playful. “You think I’m grumpy?”
Had the situation been just a little lighter, I’d laugh. “How else would you describe your personality?”
“Enigmatic and intense?” His chuckle is sad and wrong. “I’ve been bound for so long that I don’t even know. All I’ve known was to hide myself, and now I fear it might have been hidden too deep, and yet when I look at you, I think I can find it.”
When he talks to me like that, I feel as if I’ve known him since forever. Perhaps I have, even if he’s still almost a stranger.
I want to stroke his hair, touch his face, hold his hand, but all of that would be too risky.
“I’ll see you soon,” I say, my words hard and emotionless.
He nods, then runs his hand through his glamour hat and gives me a genuine smile. “Thanks for this.”
“It’s just a glamour.”
He shakes his head quickly, his long hair flapping with the movement. “No. It means you see me.”
“Impossible not to see you, Azur.”
His smile broadens before he gets serious again. “Be careful and come back, Lidiane.”
“Again, don’t be dramatic. We’re just going to the Crystal Castle.”
We’re just going to pick up some journals. We’ll be in and out. What could happen?
RENEL
I’m sitting on the bed in the room I slept in, alone with my brother. He’s listening carefully as I explain to him how to access and open the hidden door where I put the box. Surprisingly, he hasn’t interrupted or dismissed me, and even more surprisingly, he’s taking me seriously.
I don’t recall the last time he heard anything I said, too busy practicing his freakishly powerful magic with his stepsister or licking our murderous stepfather’s boots. Too important to care for his magicless brother or even to bother about the memory of our father.
I survived, even if I don’t know how long anything will last, and can’t even try to guess what kind of future awaits me—if there’s any future.
But I don’t want my brother to face the Witch King unprepared, and I’m sure those notes must be important, if King Krisiul took so much care to preserve them and to make them accessible only to his successor.
“Is it clear?” I ask when I finish the explanation. “Remember that the door to that compartment is hidden, so you’ll have to softly push the wood paneling on the wall on the right of my bed, until it clicks.”
