“Why?” Tiberus asked cautiously.
“Your son is with her now.”
Why was Victor doing this? Vi kept her thoughts level. Was this to spite Aldrik out of a vendetta he’d long held against the prince for being the magical favorite? Or could it be more?
Victor knew by now that Vhalla was a Windwalker. Taavin’s reports on the whisperings of the Tower had told Vi that much. All the sorcerers of the palace were abuzz with the presumed presence of a Windwalker.
If Victor was mentioning Vhalla to the Emperor, it could mean that he was trying to convince Tiberus to go hunting crystal weapons now that they had a Windwalker in their pocket. Victor was trying to make Tiberus the next Jadar, and convince him to use Windwalkers to get the crystals.
Vi had to switch the crown as soon as possible.
“Aldrik?” Surprise was apparent in Tiberus’s voice. “Aldrik is not one to fraternize with—”
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” The blue-eyed woman was back, grabbing her elbow and yanking Vi away from where she hovered in the doorway.
“I was waiting to see if the Emperor needed anything,” Vi said, wrenching her arm away.
The woman’s fingers snapped back around Vi’s arm and she yanked again. They were back in the main room. Several curses nearly flew off Vi’s tongue. Cursing the woman was better than splitting her in half. “You were eavesdropping.”
“I was not.”
“Foul girl!” The woman was a blur as she slapped Vi. She blinked, dazed. Vi had taken worse strikes, but this one was utterly unexpected and caught her off-guard. “I know what it looks like when one of your ilk is eavesdropping. It’s why I don’t have the likes of you up here.”
“The likes of me?” Vi rubbed her cheek. Clearly, this woman was the mother hen of the Imperial domain. She’d been lucky not to run into her sooner.
Her eyes raked over Vi. “Dirty shoes. Windswept hair. Basic robes. Tell me and tell me honestly, were you appointed up here today or is this some clever little attempt to see the Emperor and his family up close and personal?”
“I was appointed,” Vi said.As if anyone would be honest in this situation.
“If you’re lying, I will have the guards cut out your tongue and hang it with the laundry.”
“The guards won’t do that,” Vi blurted before she could stop herself. The woman only seethed further.
“Tell me who appointed you and you won’t have to find out what the guards will and won’t do.”
“I was appointed by—”
“She was appointed by me,” Victor said from the entrance to the Emperor’s personal armory. “She’s attending me today, to assist me in getting ready for the Imperial events this evening.”
“Minister.” The woman stepped away from Vi and bowed her head. “I am compelled to regretfully inform you that I caught her listening in—”
“Surely you were mistaken,” Victor interrupted in a tone as icy as his magic. “She is one of my most loyal servants in this palace.” He approached her. “Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, my lord,” Vi ground out, bowing her head.
“Good, come along then.” Victor started for the door and Vi was helpless to do anything other than follow. She kept a few steps behind him on the stairs. Magic sizzled on her fingers, on her tongue. Even though there was a good distance between them, she felt ensnared; she was looking for the most immediate escape. Victor startled her when he spoke. “They hate us.”
She kept silent, which forced him to glance over his shoulder.
“They hate us,sorcerers, because they don’t understand. And what they don’t understand, they fear. And what they fear, they seek to snuff out of this world.” She pursed her lips, letting him soliloquize to his heart’s content. “But I’m not like them. I do not fear what I don’t understand.” He reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped, turning to face her. Vi looked down at him, remaining a few steps away. “I do not understand what you are. But I do not fear you.”
“You should,” Vi whispered ominously.
A smirk cracked his lips. “No… you’re like me, just a few steps ahead on this journey, aren’t you?”
“More than a few.” Vi’s chest tightened to the point of quivering. He saw her. Somehow, out of everyone, Victor had been the one to see right through her. He could see she wasn’t like the rest. Until now, Taavin had been the only one to peer into the corners of her that no one else could see. Vi hated that Victor, of all people, would be the second to do so.
Let him see your sharp edges, a voice whispered to her.Let him see you have achieved what he can only dream of—an evolution from the shell of humanity that holds him back.
