A curl of anxiety wraps around my thoughts, and I have to shove it away. “I’ll return to Ironrose as soon as Grey drafts a response to Rhen. My visit will be short. There’s no cause to worry.”
He hesitates, then grimaces. His voice lowers. “You mean, aside from scravers attacking, threats from the Truthbringers, and the growing rift between Grey and Lia Mara?”
If anything could distract me from these new worries about Jax, that does it. I make my voice as quiet as his. “So there’s definitely a rift? I was wondering why he was sleeping in the east wing.”
“Grey didn’t tell you?”
“No.” I frown. “But he wasn’t exactly pleased with me when I arrived.”
“I don’t think he’s pleased with anyone right now.”
“What’s happening?”
“A lot. He’s been trying to find out who was behind the attack, and it’s not going well.” Noah takes a long breath and runs a hand across the back of his neck. “If you listen to the gossip, you’ll hear that the Truthbringers might have the queen’s ear—that she’s beginning to fear magic herself.”
“But . . . but she would never—”
“Careful.”
We’re closer to the palace now, and I fight to keep my voice down. “Lia Mara has never been afraid of Grey.”
“I know. But they went through several pretty traumatic events in a row. They lost the baby, and then there was everything that happenedto them in Briarlock. That’s not even considering the Uprising itself. Magic has done a lot of good, but it’s done a lot of terrible things, too. People are afraid.” He pauses. “They might be the king and queen, but they’re still human. Strip away the magic and the thrones, and she’s just a young mother. He’s just a young father. The Truthbringers want him dead, and they were willing to threaten the princess and the queen to achieve it. They were willing tokillthem to achieve it. That’s a lot to put on a marriage. Any marriage.”
And then I rode up to the gates with another threat—all because of the king’s magic.
On the night Grey told me they’d lost the baby, I remember the emotion in the air. Sinna had been missing from the palace, and stress over the event sent the queen into early labor. Grey tried to use magic to stop the baby from coming too early. He worried that his magic made things worse.
You didn’t, I said to him then, but I wasn’t sure.
I’m not sure now.
I think about how Noah was bringing the gardener a salve for a simple bee sting.
“The queen has magic, too,” I say softly. “She used it in Briarlock.”
“If she does, she hasn’t admitted it,” Noah says. “In fact, I think she’d deny it.” He glances at me, and his brown eyes are heavy. “I’m worried she’s beginning to think that his magic is making her and the princess a target.”
She’s not wrong. Right now, his magicisa target.
I consider how I waited in my quarters all afternoon, how I wondered if I was at odds with the queen. I’m not . . . ?but now it feels like I am. I have magic just like the king, and I brought word of a new threat.
I rub my hands over my face.
“I think they all just need time to heal,” Noah says quietly. “It’s only been a few weeks.”
We’ve almost reached the palace doors again, so I put out a hand to stop him. Once we’re inside, the press of servants and guards will be too close to speak so openly.
“Do you think people are right to be afraid of magic?” I ask him quietly.
But that’s not really what I’m asking.
Do you think the queen is right to be afraid?
He takes a long breath. “I’m not sure I can give you an honest answer without feeling like I’m risking my neck.”
He’s never said anything like that to me. “Noah.”
“Magic is dangerous, Tycho. I’ve seen him lose control. So have you. And we’ve all seen the damage caused in Emberfall. There’s a reason Rhen was so afraid when he learned that Grey was a magesmith.” He pauses. “But magic has brought a lot ofgood, too. I’ve been able to heal injuries that should have meant certain death. And Emberfall isn’t trapped by a curse anymore. Lia Mara’s mother is no longer in power. Emberfall and Syhl Shallow are at peace. All of that came aboutbecauseof magic. Is that worth the trade-off? I just don’t know.”
