“The saint was questioning myknowledge,” Lorna continued. “As such, I was forced to give a great deal of it, tousea great deal of my affinity. The effect on my shield is the same as it is on my son’s. And given a Visya’s shield protects them against all sorts of affinities…the pain lingers. The saint was nothing if not creative in leveraging her power against me. I can feel the echoes of the pain, just as you can feel the lingering of a bruise.”
For a moment, Aya was back in the Athatis barn, watching Will drag a hand through Akeeta’s fur as he confessed to the very same.
“I don’t suppose you ever told your son of such issues.”
Perhaps it was wrong to let anger coat her voice, shaky as it was. Perhaps Lorna deserved grace, especially after what she had been through since arriving in Kakos. But Aya had never been one much for it.
That fact had bothered her once.
It didn’t now.
Lorna didn’t seem to take offense. She simply settled back against the wall, her lips twisting into a grim expression. “He never found a cure for the issue, did he?”
“You would know if you’d stuck around.”
Lorna let out a dry laugh. “I did what I thought was best. I thought you might have more sympathy for it. Or did you know what bringing the saint back would entail?”
Aya took a single step off the wall, her hands balling into fists where they rested as close to her sides as they could withthe shackles. Her spark of anger felt foreign after so much numbness.
Lorna just grinned in the face of it.
“Speaking of shields,” she continued, as if she hadn’t just dealt Aya a verbal blow, “I don’t suppose you can conjure a shield of air to give us some privacy?”
Mockery danced in her tone, and it prodded that spark she had just lit.
It seemed Will had come by his goading honestly. He’d always known how to push Aya to the brink when she needed it.
Aya raised her shackled wrists. “These are imbued with a tonic King Dominic created to mute Visya power.”
Lorna glanced down at her own in surprise. “Interesting,” she muttered. “So that is how the Visya king hid for so long.”
An aborted objection stuttered out of Aya. How did she know? Was it her ties to the Bellare, or—
“The news came to us on the road to Kakos,” Lorna explained. “I overheard the Vaguer speaking of it. King Aidon was seen wielding Incend fire in the Battle of Dunmeaden. He hasn’t been seen since.”
Aya swallowed against the burning in her throat, a distant voice echoing in her mind.
Control.
“I assume your Bellare hold some responsibility for his disappearance,” she ground out.
“If they do, it would be news to me,” Lorna replied evenly. “They were busy laying plans, but those plans were far from Tala.”
“Plans your othersonaided in, I’m sure.” She would never forget the look on Will’s face when he’d explained how Lorna viewed Ryker.
“Yes,” Lorna exhaled. “Ryker was certainly distracted by it all.”
“That’s how the Vaguer got to you,” Aya said, her browfurrowing as the pieces clicked together in her mind. “The Bellare were distracted, and you…”
“And I was ripe for the taking.”
Aya dug her teeth into her bottom lip, considering for a long moment. Then she crossed the cell, her chains clanking with each step until she settled on the bench next to Lorna.
“How did the Vaguer know to find you?” she murmured, her attention flicking to the wooden door.
Lorna brushed away the question with a simple shrug. “There has long been interest in my family line.” She hesitated, her eyes scanning Aya’s face. “What…of my son?”
The vulnerability behind the question did nothing to quell Aya’s anger. “Where was your concern when you dragged his name out of Evie’s mouth?”
