Mirela narrows her eyes at me. “I think my dear stepbrother is delaying his part of the deal.”
There’s nothing to delay, since our deal never specified any timeframe. “No,” I say. “First, it’s a precaution. Second…” I check our surroundings to see if we’re being overheard.
“If I had my magic, I could isolate the air around us,” Mirella says. “So no sound would leak.”
“You can do that?” Ziven sounds curious.
“Yes.” She smiles. “Sound is a wave, you know, like ripples on a river. And I can stop them.” She sounds smug as always whentalking about her magic, and yet her smile reminds me of when she was young, before everything. Before she decided to spend her time tormenting me and all that was left in her face was a cruel smirk.
It’s strange to think that there was a time when I didn’t hate her. It was also a time when my family was alive, happy, when she was nothing more than an acquaintance; the daughter of the man my father served.
But no reminders of her long forgotten innocence will make me trust her, and I’m not going to let her have her magic back yet.
“We can whisper,” I say. “There’s nobody within earshot. The Misty Court has the oldest library in the continent, and it’s only some two hours walking. We’re going there.”
Mirella points at herself and Tarlia. “Why doweneed to go?”
“We need to ensure they can’t trace us, and the queen’s castle should be safe if we invoke the ancient cordiality ties. It makes sense.” In reality, I just want to postpone bringing Mirella to the island, but I don’t want to say that.
I pass the transcending note to Ziven. “Tell them we’re safe for now and where we’re going.”
Mirella narrows her eyes at the note.“This is fae magic. Why him?”
“His opus stone magic works. We tested it.”
Ziven takes the note and writes with his fingers, Mirella watching him carefully, I suppose to try to gleam what he’s saying.
“Wait,” Tarlia says. “I need to tell you what I heard.” She points to the note. “Who’ll read this?”
“Lidiane, Azur, Astra…”
Tarlia frowns as if puzzled for a second, then says, “All right. So it might be important. Otavio visited Zorwal.”
Mirella stares at her with a blank face, and Tarlia adds, “My human master. Or Tiurian master. Both he and Zorwal mentioned a king who, according to them, will rise and lead them, and it seems that they’re somehow linked, even if they should keep a physical distance for some reason. Their minds are connected and getting more and more connected. They also mentioned a heart that they think was found, because the bonds were cut.”
“Astra found it,” Ziven says. “And cut the bonds.”
Tarlia blinks. “It’s what I thought. Zorwal thinks Otavio found it, because he’s Tiurian, I suppose. He pressed Otavio to reveal who found the heart, but he didn’t say it. I don’t think he’ll let the matter rest, though. He could be tracing Otavio or following him.”
“Are they allies or not?” Ziven asks.
“I think they’re connected, but they’d rather not be. I don’t think Otavio supports this king either. He sort of suggested treason.” She looks at us. “You all know who this king is, don’t you?”
“The Witch King,” I say.
She grimaces. “Wasn’t he killed three hundred…” She snorts. “By beheading. Right. I see the issue.”
I whisper, “Marlak is going to kill the Witch King right now. I’ll tell you more later. But what I’m thinking is that both Otavio and Zorwal arethe anchors. He’ll need to kill them too.”
“Anchors?” Tarlia blinks. “It seems that if one of them is hurt, so is the other, and then maybe… Maybe if they’re hurt… I’m not sure.”
“I’ll write that,” Ziven says.
Mirella crosses her arms. “If we need to help my brother kill these two, how is a library going to help?”
For a moment I recall all those times when she mocked my love for books. Annoyed, I roll my eyes. “How? How can books ever help?”
“To figure out how to kill them.” Tarlia shrugs.
