He approaches the counter and grabs an apple. “Sounds like an awful morning.”
“Is it not? Tarlia’s gone. And nobody cares.”
“Not true. I care.”
I scoff. “Care? You haven’t lifted a finger for her!”
He raises an eyebrow and stares at me with a punch-me face. “Have you?”
“After she made a deal with Zorwal? No. I waited. I was patient. I listened to my brother. For what? Enough of this. I’m going to the castle.”
“You might have a point.”
“About what?” Astra steps in the kitchen.
“Tarlia,” I say. “I’m going to rescue her.”
She sighs. “Once the Witch King is dead, Zorwal will be weaker.”
“I thought about it,” I say, making an effort to sound mildly reasonable and not desperate and furious. “You don’t know that. Nobody knows what will happen. And regardless, if Marlak wants to face Zorwal next, the best thing we can do is get Tarlia out of there, so he won’t hide behind her.”
Astra frowns while Ziven bites his apple.
Azur’s voice then comes from the hallway. “How exactly are you planning on defeating Zorwal, Renel? With yourmagic?” His words sound sharp like a blade, but it no longer cuts me.
“I know that castle better than anyone. And Zorwal wantsme,for some reason. I can trade places with Tarlia. It’s more than fair.”
Azur scoffs. “Zorwal doesn’t wantyou. He wants Marlak, and if you go there, he’ll force all the information from you, including this island, including all our plans. Are you dim?”
“If there’s one thing I know are magical laws, Azur. It’s why I had to wait for you to get up. We’ll make a binding deal. If I give any information about Marlak, you, or this island to Zorwal, I die. If he tries to pry it from my mind, he’ll kill me. As a bonus, you all get rid of me.”
Azur shakes his head and huffs, as if hearing something absurd. “Why do you assume we care whether you live or die?”
“I care,” Astra says. “I don’t want you to die.”
Her words surprise me, but don’t mean much. “It doesn’t change anything,” I say. “I knew you wouldn’t want me to go to the castle, and it’s why I wanted to make a deal.”
Azur narrows his eyes. “You do realize that you have to touch a fae to make a deal, right?” He pulls off one glove, revealingfingers and part of his palm taken by that dreadful white. “Are you sure you want to shake hands with me?”
“If it’s what it takes? Yes. Yes!”
“Renel.” It’s bizarre to hear Marlak’s wife addressing me as if she was my friend. “I also want to free Tarlia. I love her like a sister?—”
I don’t want to keep hearing that nonsense. “You clearly have no siblings, or you would know your words are meaningless.”
She sighs. “She’s my friend. But let’s wait for Marlak. If you go now, alone, you might get caught, killed, who knows? She wouldn’t want to see you hurt, and neither would Marlak.”
I raise a finger. “I doubt Marlak cares. And I’m hurting now. The pain is worse than being eviscerated, and I know what it’s like to be stabbed in the gut. This is worse. My chest is heavy. The pain is unbearable. Poke my eye out and it will hurt less.”
They all stare at me as if I had lost my mind, and Astra says,“You still want to plan this right.”
Her calm tone is like a punch to my already painful chest. “Wait, wait,” I mimic them. “You want to leave her there, suffering. What kind offriendare you?”
Astra stares at me, perhaps realizing she is not Tarlia’s friend after all, and at least she has the dignity to spare me any more of her drivel and remains quiet.
I turn to Azur. “Let’s seal this deal.”
He rolls his eyes. “And once you’re enslaved by the Witch King himself, do you think our deal will even hold?”
