“You’re right,” he says, and his voice is a little rough. “I shouldn’t have. Forgive me.”
The apology takes me by surprise.
Maybe it’s obvious, because he adds, “I mean that truly. I shouldn’t have. Everything here is . . .” His eyes skip away. “Very tense.”
I take a breath, because I can hear what he’s not saying, and I don’t want to leave the words hanging between us. “I’ve heard about Lia Mara,” I say carefully. Despite everything, I don’t want to wound him. Not with this. “That things are . . . ?difficult between you.”
“She cares about her people. So do I, but . . .” He sighs, and sorrow flickers across his expression. “It seemseveryonefears magic right now.”
When he says the words, another breeze laden with magic swirls between us, and Grey goes rigid.
“Is that your scraver?” he says pointedly. “You told me to double the guards around the palace. If he’s followed you here, it’s not making anything less tense.”
Your scraver.I fold my arms. “It sounds like you do want to punch me.”
“Stop it. Nakiis is risking himself by drawing close to the palace.” Grey says this so plainly that I know he’s not just warning me. “Fears have already been stoked in the city. Archerswillshoot him on sight. If he’s seen, it would cause a panic.”
“I’m not sure what you think I can do about it. He’s got claws and fangs and he can tear a man apart in seconds. Short of shooting him down myself, I can’t control where he goes.”
The king’s expression is unyielding. He says nothing, but Grey doesn’t have to say the words. I hear them just the same.
You let him out of a cage to begin with.
No matter how many times he denies it, I know Grey would have done the same.
“Nakiis isn’t responsible for the attacks,” I say.
“How do you know? You don’t know who this Xovaar is, and you have no idea who he could be working with. You have no idea what their conflict might be. Nakiis has been part of an attack on a kingdom before. Rhen tells me you don’t even fully know what you’ve sworn to him.”
I was ready to remind the king that Nakiis savedhimin Briarlock, but those words freeze me in place.
Rhen tells me.
This feels like a betrayal. Like a trick. Prince RhenknewI’d refused to tell Grey about what I traded for the scraver’s assistance. When the prince asked if I trusted him enough to share the details of my conversation with Nakiis, Idid.
My jaw is tight now.
“You swore a week of service to him?” Grey demands. “Without even knowing what he’d demand?”
“My father sold me to Worwick for five years. A week felt pretty short.”
“That’s not the same.”
“It’s exactly the same!” I snap. “I’ve sworn my entirelifeto you, so surely you can spare a few days.”
“I didn’t bring you out here to argue with you.” His voice goes quiet again, and something about it tugs at me.
I sigh and run a hand over the back of my neck. “Look, I know you don’t want me here. Just write your letter to Rhen or tell me whatever Jake said, and I’ll be out of your way. I can be gone in an hour.”
His eyebrows flicker into a frown, and he studies me in the darkness for an eternal moment. “I’m not sending you back to Ironrose, Tycho.”
My heart seems to stop. The world goes still. Even the insects fall silent—or maybe that’s just the roaring in my ears. The sky spins for a second and then rights itself. “What?”
“Why on earth are you surprised? You told me yourself that scravers are seeking magesmiths. I’m not sending you on a four-day ridealone—”
“Then send me back with guards!”
“So I should risk the lives ofothersbecause you’ve made yourself a target?”
