“Does it have to do with this Xovaar?” I add.
Again, no answer.
“You’re going to have to tell me eventually,” I say.
“Indeed,” he says. “Eventually.” The wind swirls up again. “You should know that the scraver attacks will continue. They willworsen. The others seek to cause discord with their attacks—but they are not my people.”
“Are they Xovaar’s people?”
His eyes narrow. “You have so little control. You would do well to keep from letting them know you are a magesmith.”
“I know. That’s why we’re riding to warn the king.” I pause as a new thought occurs to me. I might have been ordered not to use magic, but no one else has any limitations. The king is known to be a magesmith, but he’s given magic-wielding rings to others: the queen, Noah, Jake . . . ? Ifmypower drew scraver attention, if any of them use their magic, they might become a target, too. “Have there already been attacks in Syhl Shallow?”
“Yes.”
Despite everything that’s happened between me and Grey, my heart trips and stumbles. “Have they attacked the Crystal Palace?”
“No. I would have heard if they’d approached the king.” The edge of his fangs glint in the firelight. “I do have some scravers who are still loyal tome.”
“The ones who fought with you in Briarlock?”
“The ones who defendedyouin Briarlock. The onesyouwill defend when it comes time for me to claim my vow.”
My heart keeps tripping along as I try to understand everything he’s telling me. “Are you at war with these other scravers? With Xovaar?”
“Not yet.” He pauses. “But your king is already besieged by those who hate magic—and it seems Xovaar has found some of them.”
“The Truthbringers,” I say in surprise. “They’re working with ascraver?”
“Possibly.”
If the scravers are potentially working with the Truthbringers, we need to ride for the Crystal Palace tonight after all.
“What do Xovaar and his people want?” I ask.
“The same thing the scravers wanted when the magesmiths fledIishellasa. They want what was taken.” Without another word, he launches himself off the branch, his wings snapping open to catch an air current. Before I can blink, he’s thirty feet overhead.
A moment later, his magic brushes against my senses, and it’s almost shocking how it feelsfamiliarnow. Words find my ears, carried on the air he can control.
—I won’t be far.
Any other time, those words would have sounded like a threat.
For the first time, they don’t.
“Thank you,” I whisper. I know he’ll hear me.
And then he’s gone from view.
I look at Malin. “We do need to ride for the Crystal Palace. The king needs to know.”
He nods and turns to bank what’s left of the fire. “He said they want the same thing they wanted in Iishellasa. That they want what was taken. What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.” I look up at the stars again, where Nakiis disappeared into the darkness. I consider the words on the air the night the scravers attacked the soldiers.
Find the magesmith.
I consider what Nakiis just told me about Xovaar.
