My heart skips hard. “The steel,” I whisper, resting my hand over my mother’s pendant. The whole reason I have the magic.
The queen had access to rings, too, I think.Rings that protected her just like Tycho.Just like my mother’s pendant protected me.
But I can’t say that. I don’t want Alek to know.
I let go of the pendant. “What does this have to do with Xovaar?”
“This part,” she says, “has more to do with Nakiis. As the years wore on, we began to tire of the treaty. Scravers did not want to be confined to the ice forests. Ourfriist— ourking— sought to renegotiate with your queen. She refused.”
“Lia Mara?” says Alek.
“No. Her mother. Karis Luran.” Igaa glances into the shadows of the cave. “She threatened destruction of any scraver who dared to enter Syhl Shallow. But Nakiis didn’t believe she could capture him if he tried— and he was right.”
There’s a grave note in her voice that tells me there’s more to this story. “What happened to him?”
“As thefriist’s son, he wanted to prove that escape was possible. He stayed hidden, passed through your country, and made it to Emberfall, where he found a surviving magesmith named Lilith. When she offered to share their magic so they could protect each other, he agreed immediately.” That grave note in her voice turns to despair. “Lilith trickedhim, trapping him into her service. She used his power against him, and nearly succeeded in destroying their kingdom.”
“I remember this,” Alek says, and now it’s his voice that’s gone heavy. “She created the monster that started the war.”
The same war that killed his mother and his sister.
The same war that killedmymother.
“Yes,” says Igaa.
“How did Nakiis escape her?” I say, and my voice is a little rough.
“He didn’t,” says Alek. “The king had his own scraver, and they killed her.”
“Yes,” Igaa says. “Nakiis’s father. He was ourfriist. He was killed in the conflict, and Nakiis fled.” She lets out a long breath. “But he was injured, and humans found him. He was trapped again.” A heavy pause. “For years, until Tycho found him and freed him.”
Tycho.I swallow, hearing the emotion in her voice.
“In return,” she says, “Nakiis has attempted to protect him— but he is wary of having his magic taken.” She pauses. “As you can see, this has put him at a disadvantage.”
Those words land like a rock thrown into a pond, spreading ripples of awareness. I feel as though I’m connecting points I never realized were related. No wonder the scravers arrived to help in Briarlock. I thought they were helping the king and queen.
But they were helping because ofTycho.
I think again of the day he healed Jax’s hand, the gentleness in his voice as he uncurled my friend’s burned fingers. I think of his kindness with Nora, or the way his skittish cat wound between his ankles after hiding from everyone else.
Of course he freed a vicious scraver. Of course he did.
Alek’s voice cuts through my reverie. “None of this explains Xovaar.”
Igaa’s eyes shift back to him. “Ourfriistwas gone, human. His son was gone. In the absence of leadership, others will rise to claim power.In Iishellasa, that was Xovaar. When Nakiis returned to Iishellasa and said Queen Lia Mara and her magesmith king were not enforcing the treaty, he thought the other scravers would welcome the opportunity to leave the ice forests. He thought he was bringing news that we could finally be free.” She pauses, then frowns. “He did not realize that Xovaar and his followers had developed a deep resentment for the magesmiths who’d taken their magic and left them trapped there so long ago.”
“So they’re angry,” I say softly. “And that’s why they’re coming after the king.”
“That’s why they’re coming after any magesmith at all.”
Alek’s eyes have gone a bit cold again, like he’s had a new thought, and he looks back at Igaa. “Will Xovaar come after Callyn?”
Igaa nods. “He could.”
“The king and Tycho are in Emberfall,” Alek says. “How do we ensure that Xovaar goes afterthem?”
Ice forms on the rock wall beside us, and the bare edge of her fangs appears again. “You would commit your problems to Emberfall as well?”
