She crossed her arms. “Magic isn’t. Trying to pull it out ofme,when it requires the blessing of the gods...that most certainly is.”
“And why would you think that?” he asked.
“Because the gods have turned a blind eye to me,” Ezer said. “I told you before, and I’m more than happy to tell you again.”
He glanced over his shoulder, holding back a smile as he looked at the black door. Gods, if only she knew how connected he felt to her, yet again, by that very statement.
He couldn’t tell her about his illness.
He wouldn’t, not yet.
But...he could offer her a bit of his own struggles. So she felt less alone.
“You think the gods will answer with words or wielding. Whatever it is, to show theiryes.But that is not always the case. Sometimes...they sayno.”
He looked down at his useless leg.
Then he set his gaze back upon her.
“And sometimes their answer might be a raphon.”
He needed to stand up, to look tall and strong. He grunted as he stood, hating the sound as it left his lips.
“My mother is traveling to the Citadel as we speak,” Kinlear told her. That little lovely bit of news, he’d received just before he arrived. “My father’s magic requires much of him. Too much, in his later years, at least for a Sacred. While she’s here...” It was an effort not to look downrighthateful,when he thought of his witch of a mother. “She and my father wish to meet you and see a Demonstration with Six.”
She looked like she might vomit. “What kind of Demonstration?”
He waved a gloved hand. “We have several days until her arrival. And if what you’ve said is true, then you’ll have no problem saddling the pup today...and getting her ready for a rider by tomorrow.”
“What?” she yelped.
He’d expected this reaction.
But he wouldn’t flinch, wouldn’t show even ahintof doubt in her, because he truly had none.
He’d seen the way she flew Six.
He’d seen how effortless it was for her. She had greatness woven into her very bones, the ability to fly like so many of the boldest Eagle Riders he’d known...and she truly had no clue.
“No time to waste, Raphonminder!” He opened the black door for her, the cold pouring instantly out. “We’ve got a king and queen’s blessing to earn, and after that – an Acolyte to kill!”
She glowered at him.
Beautiful, tortured soul.
She was so godsdamned likehim.
She was just about to enter the doorway when?—
No,Kinlear thought.No, no, no.
Because there was that awful claw sliding across his lungs, his throat...his illness taking shape and doing its best efforts to ruin the day.
He coughed.
But it was deep and painful and... he’d tasted blood with it. He quickly went for a handkerchief, wiped his lips to try and hide the evidence.
She couldn’t know, notnow,when she’d hardly learned anything about him. He’d be damned if his oncoming death was the first real thing she discovered.
