He could kill me right here, and there’d be nothing I could do about it.
I swallow thickly.
Eventually, he looks at the driver. “Filcher,” he says hollowly. “Return Lady Callyn to the Crystal Palace at once. Adim, remain here so the carriage can be repaired. I will take your horse and continue on to Spitnare. Lord Hashten needs to be advised.”
“But, my lord—your safety—”
“I’m fine.” He sheaths the sword. “Get Lady Callyn home. There are surely matters she needs to resolve.”
The air feels thin and hard to breathe again, but now it’s my own doing, my lungs refusing to work. “Alek—”
“My lord,” he snaps.
His voice is so cold that my blood turns to ice. It’s terrifying that I can’t tell how much is anger—and how much is fear.
“Talk to the queen,” he continues. “Tell her what has happened here.” His eyes flash. “Everythingthat has happened.”
I square my shoulders. The queen is already distancing herself from the king due to concerns about magic. Who else will Alek tell? What will this mean for me?
What will it mean for mysister?
But he’s standing there with a sword on his hip, and he’s given his footman an order. I can’t run. I can’t force him to take me with him.
So I give him a nod. “Yes, my lord.”
And then I climb into the carriage.
For the entire ride back to the palace, I hug my arms to my body. Alek was so angry. So . . .afraid. The worst part is that I can still feel him, and my thoughts can’t comprehend how we were so close, and now we’re not. Every time I blink, I see his body lying crumpled beside the carriage. Then I see him standing there glaring at me, that bloodstained sword in his hand.
Not even ten minutes earlier, he was looking at me like the most precious thing in the world.
My throat is so tight, and I’m desperately trying not to cry.
I don’t know what he’s going to do. Is he going to tell all the other nobles? Is he sending me back to the palace in the hopes Queen Lia Mara will make an example of me?
And . . .wouldshe? I know how desperately she wants to hide her own magic. She wants to prove to her people that she’s on their side. Would she do something tometo prove that?
The thought makes me want to leap out of the carriage. But I can’t leave Nora. Even if I disappeared, I have no doubt Alek would return to the palace to tell everyone what happened. I can’t risk anyone going after my sister.
Could I go to the king? Would he be an ally here?
But what would I say? My visits with Alek were a secret. Mymagicis a secret.
If I thought you were a risk to the princess, you wouldn’t be here.
Would he see my magic as a threat to Princess Sinna? As a threat tohim?
I have no idea what to do.
By the time we return to the palace, I’ve been able to compose myself. I ask the driver to take me around to the lesser used servants’ entrance on the far side of the training arena. When I press through the doors, I keep my head down, my bloodstained hands tucked in the folds of my skirts. I need to find Nora.
The hallway is so empty and I’m so singularly focused onnotbeing seen that I don’t realize someone is coming the other way until my shoulder slams into a man, and someone else puts out a hand to catch me before I ricochet into the wall.
I look up, finding that same young soldier in gold-and-red Emberish armor, which takes me by surprise—until I realize the man next to him is Lord Tycho.
“Callyn,” he says in surprise. His eyes skip down my form, and I have no idea how much he can tell from my appearance, but I know he can tellsomething.
“I need to get to the queen,” I say.
