“Youcanbe,” she says, sneering. “You’re always so careful to protect yourself. Is thatwhyyou were in Emberfall with the king?”
A cold wind blows past me, kicking up droplets from the swiftly moving river. I don’t want to shiver again, but I can’t help it. The horse gives a slight tug at the reins, and I realize I’m a bit trapped here with my back to the water.
I need to stop thinking of this like an attack.
I step away from the banks anyway, moving forward so I’m on level ground as I face her. “I’m careful to protect the best interests of mycountry.”
A whispering voice finds my thought, but it’s not really something I canhear.
— He was not among those fighting on the fields.
I hate the way they can do this, because there’s something so unnatural to it. I want to put my hands over my ears anyway. Even without sound, the words feel like they’re coming from the right. I whip my head around, searching the trees for the scraver.
I spot himthere, just near the upper branches of an oak tree. Xovaar has deep reddish wings and hair, and he blends with the brown and green of the tree effortlessly. He’s at a distance, so I can’t make out too much of his features, but the evening starlight glints onsomething. He’s probably wearing weapons.
Against my will, I think of the scraver that attacked me and Callyn. The way its claws tore into me. The sound of its screech in the sunlight. It was a hot day, just like this one.
My mouth goes dry.
Another blast of cold wind blows past me, and I realize ice is forming on the buckles of my armor.
I’m better with a sword than I am with a bow, but my hands suddenly itch for an arrow.
“I was called here as an ally,” I call to him, and I’m pleased that I can hold a note of disdain, even as my heart hammers in my chest.
Unfortunately, he can, too.
— I can smell your fear from here.
Lady Karyl smiles. “Are you afraid, Alek?”
“The scravers eviscerated more than fifty soldiers on the training fields,” I say. “Are younot?”
“Xovaar and I have come to . . .” She hesitates and looks to the trees. “An agreement.”
“There was a time when you wouldn’t have negotiated with a scraver,” I say. “As I recall, you believed they were under the king’s control.”
“I have discovered that they were not under his control,” she says. “But now, aside from a few . . . shall we say,stragglers, these scravers share our goals. This one in particular shares my intent, and the others bend to his will.”
Stragglers.I wonder if she’s talking about Nakiis and Igaa. I cast another glance at the scraver in the trees, but he doesn’t move. “And what goal is that?”
“I just told you.” She laughs darkly. “To remove magic from Syhl Shallow, by whatever means possible.”
“Magic has already been driven out of Syhl Shallow. The king is gone.”
— The king is not the only one with magic,says the scraver.—I was on those fields. There were many magesmiths there that day. More than two, for certain.
His voice in my head makes my skin crawl, and the fact that Lady Karyl is working with him feels almost like a bigger threat to Syhl Shallow than Grey ever was. I spare a moment to thank fate that the queen sent word to the king, begging him to return.
“Lord Jacob has already gone back to Emberfall,” I say casually, as if they’re worried about nothing and I can’t understand the drama. “Lord Tycho is gone. So is the healer Noah. Who else could there be? We’ll drive them out, too.”
Lady Karyl frowns, her voice thickening with disgust. “His wife, perhaps? Why else do you think we’ve been targeting the queen?”
That nearly stops me in my tracks. “You think thequeenshares his magic?”
“Why would she not?” Karyl says. “Why would the king share his power with others in his circle yet not hiswife?”
“The queen lost a child!” I say desperately. “If she had magic, why would she not prevent such a thing?”
