I ignored the jab and showed him a few subtle gestures with my fingers. “I’ve already learned more than the basic commands.”
“You’re picking up hand speak swiftly.”
“Must be my craft. When I melded the shard into you, I could practically see the bones.” The truth of the eerie phantom in the shadows died on my tongue. How would I explain such a thing without sounding like my magic had brought about an unnerving delusion? “Perhaps that is how I’m learning his words. I’m memorizing the movement of his bones, like I can see them.”
I moved my hands in a new gesture Ashwood signaled to a nearby Stav Guard. In the next breath, the guard went through the unit, delivering orders for disembarking and making camp. The signal must’ve meant something about organizing the guard.
I blamed my craft, but there was something more, a pull toward Roark Ashwood that burned the words of his language into my mind. Like my own magicneededme to unravel anything about the man, and I could not help but want to learn the secrets he kept beneath his mask of cruelty.
“What if he’s merely flicking at a pest near his ear?” Kael closed his eyes and tilted his face toward the misty sun. “You might be memorizing nothing.”
I snorted a laugh. “Then I will learn it soon enough.”
“You really think a man like Roark Ashwood will be so careless with his words?”
“I think a man like him underestimates those of us who have been forced to hide to survive.”
“Lyra,” Kael began, voice low. “Don’t be foolish. Melder Fadey was constantly threatened by symbols and missives sent by commanders of the Dark Watch. The Draven army is known for spreading pieces of their victims across the Red Ravines. I don’t want them to even breathe your name. Perhaps you should not fight this so fiercely. You might come to need his protection.”
I picked at a few slivers in the damp laths. “How can you not see this as a betrayal? You’ve admired the Stav Guard—admiredAshwood—for seasons, now look what they’ve done to you.” When he didn’t answer, I pulled my knees against my chest and propped my elbows on the tops to press my fists into my brow. “How can you stand it?”
A muscle ticked in Kael’s jaw. “Because I am loyal to Jorvandal, but…I am also loyal to you.”
We were silent for a long moment before I whispered a question for which I was not certain I wanted an answer. “Why would Vella want me dead?”
“I don’t know, Ly. I never knew what Fadey’s role was at Stonegate to bring such hatred for melding craft.” With a wince, he pressed his hand to his side, and glanced over his shoulder before speaking. “For what she did, I do not mourn her death.”
Damn this man. I kissed his brow.
Kael coughed through a groan and pressed a palm against his bandaged ribs, then looked to the stars again. “I believe Vella was manipulated to fear you by the Dravens. They despise Prince Thane’s union with the princess of Myrda. And they despise that craft is strongest in Stonegate. King Damir has the power of melders and the support of the Myrdan king, and the Dravens want to take it all.”
I rubbed the ache above my brow. “If Stonegate and King Damir are honorable, then why does no one truly know what goes on with a melder? Why are we forced to serve the king?”
“I don’t know.” Kael rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “What I do know is when we reach Stonegate we must choose who we trust with care. This betrothal brings whispers of war, Ly. And the king will want our craft to be at the center of it.”
10
Lyra
“You cannot remain here, andmust walk the deck.” Emi had rid her waist of her knives and the pouch with her herbs. Dressed down in a black tunic and simple hosen, the bone crafter seemed wholly unthreatening.
“Woman,” Kael grumbled when she nudged his leg with her toe. “You’ve already tried to kill me once—”
“I did not try to kill you,” she said in a huff. “For the last time, it was merely to spurhercraft. I had it under control.”
“Forgive me, Stav Nightlark, but I find your methods rather cruel. Now let me be.”
Emi, at least two heads shorter than Kael, bent down and pressed a hand to his arm. For a moment, she didn’t move.
Then Kael cursed and wrenched his arm away. “Damn you. Going to snap my arm now?”
“I will bend all your bones if you keep resisting my command.” Emi grinned with a touch of smugness. “You need towalk. It helps the blood flow instead of pooling and hastens the healing in your wound.”
“That you caused.”
Emi pointed her face at the sky. “Get. Up.”
Kael’s protests and complaints faded once he was on his feet. His spine curved from the pain, but he was sturdier and had color in his cheeks again.
