“And now he wants me to summarize all of it!” Lo exclaimed. He had been lamenting ever since Kael had asked him to turn the notes from the monthly assembly of magisters into a report for the king a week ago. “Can you imagine? Condensing that carnival of egos into something His Majesty can actually read?” His hazel eyes flicked toward me. “You were there. You know how interminable that council was.”
“Hmhm,” I murmured. It must have been the fifteenth hum I’d given since we had started walking to the farming village.
The day was gentler than any in weeks, the first true breath of spring after endless rain. We had strolled out of the castle walls and into the city, weaving past markets, shopfronts and the grander residential quarters before passing through the northern gates onto the road that led to the village.
Trees lined the path, their branches still bare from winter, tipped with tiny budding jewels that would soon burst into white blossom.
Lo walked beside me in his blue robe, the official outside-the-castle tabard draped over his shoulders. His black hair was pulledback into a short, bristling tail, baring slightly pointed ears where red rubies hung from silver rings.
During the plague, my whole world had been confined to the halls of the Magi Academy of Hauvia. I’d kept myself sane with the endless shelves of the library and with Loren Vey, who’d become my closest friend and the support I’d needed most. Neither of us could see our families across the ocean, so we’d built our own, two souls sharing a narrow life of quarters, classrooms, and the inner gardens.
Lo knew my secret. He’d never thought much of seerlings, but he did enjoy that my powers could tell him when someone fancied him.
“You know what Kael said?” Lo asked, and the name alone froze me. “What’s with that look?”
“What look?”
“Those eyes. You’ve gone pale as parchment, like you’ve just seen a ghost in bad robes.”
“Tell me what he said!” My poor attempt at diversion.
“Well,” Lo drew the word out like a stage cue, “he has an audience with the king this afternoon. And he told me—this towering, terrifying block of stone we call a court wizard—that he wants my notes turned into something concise. Objective.” Lo lifted a hand and waggled his fingers as though casting an invisible spell. “How am I going to do that when magisters are anythingbutobjective! Honestly, Evie, I should be paid in gold and roses for making sense of it.”
I snorted. “You’re already paid in gold.”
“Not enough gold,” he said with mock solemnity, then softened. “And certainly not enough roses.”
He adjusted the tabard on his shoulders, rubies catching a glint of the sun. “Still, I’ll do it. Someone has to translate wizard-speak into words His Majesty can bear over supper. And I’m really good with words.”
“Come on, admit it,” I teased. “You enjoy it.”
He gave an exaggerated sigh. “I suppose I do. Kael may be terrifying,but he’s also terrifyingly nice to look at—hey! There’s that look again.”
Note to self, I am terrible at hiding my emotions.
“There is no look!” I lied.
“Oh my gods, Evie, darling! You think he’s nice to look at, too…”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. There was no getting out of this now.
“Kael is attractive, yes,” I admitted, guilty as charged. “But he’stheCourt Wizard, and I want to keep my post. You know how hard it was finding work after the plague.”
“All too well, darling,” he said, his lips thinning, voice softening. We’d both been lucky to land a post. Some of our academy acquaintances hadn’t. “But Evie, let me warn you, Kael is no gentleman. I’ve seen the women he brings to his chambers. They never come out quite right.”
The women? His words twisted around me. How many had there been? My mind, traitorous and vivid, began to paint pictures of them, beautiful women in Kael Forloren’s arms, gasps and hitched breaths against red satin sheets. I didn’t know my imagination could be so sinful.
And what did Lo mean bynever quite right? What did Kael do to them?
And why was I suddenly so curious? Something bloomed in my chest, dark and eager.
The heartbeat of intrigue.
I wanted to ask more, but the words tangled in my throat. How could I pry without baring that hunger coiled low in my belly? How could I keep from sounding like some girl desperate for a glimpse at the Court Wizard?
And Kael’s reputation with women was, at least, a shield I could raise between us. A reason to hold back. I wasn’t built for fleeting touches and single nights. The only man who had ever touched methat way,I’d thought I would marry. And so I stayed quiet until the village came into view, letting the picture of Kael fade as fields and fencesunrolled before us.
The farming villagenorth of the city lay tucked against the mountain, a scatter of stone houses, low windmills, and broad fields that fed the capital. The soil at the mountain’s foot was dark and rich, coaxing crops to grow thick and plentiful.
