Though she had imagined something like it. How could she not when he’d produced such progeny as Morkai? The mage’s takeover of Ridine had resulted in an understaffed castle, dusty halls, and countless soldiers who’d been compelled to obey him by blood magic. She’d imagined Syrus would be like that too. Unkempt. Lifeless. Filled with cowed citizens with glazed eyes.
Nothing suggested the pub patrons were enjoying themselves by force. They drank. They laughed. Some even sang bawdy tunes. There was an array of people in different states of dress, different fashions, though all shared an aura of informality.
The serving woman returned with their drinks. Darius accepted his glass of wine with one hand and passed a couple of coins to the woman with the other. Cora’s eyes locked on his palm as he withdrew it. All she could see of the cut he’d made the blood promise with was a smear of dried blood. Not a gash or scar to be found. So he truly did have rapid healing.
She leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, not daring to drink the ale before her. “So, you’ve shown me Syrus. Why else are we here?”
“Yes, I’ve shown you Syrus, but you’ll look at neither me nor my kingdom with unclouded eyes until you have good reason to discard your prejudices. You have questions for me. Ask them. I’ll answer with honesty.” He took a long pull of his wine.
She did have questions, though she still needed to be careful how she asked them so as not to give too much away. Regardless, she’d take advantage of his offer.
Breathing deep, she pried the smallest hole in her mental shields and focused on his energy as she asked, “How long were you in Khero before you got caught as a pretend spy?”
“Not long,” he said, and his energy remained steady. “I’d learned about the spies from Norun who’d been caught in your kingdom so I made the same mistakes they did. Spoke to the same traitorous informants. Asked too many obvious questions. I was caught within a week. But I know what you’re really asking, and no, I didn’t tour all over your kingdom to secure key locations to worldwalk to. I only did that at your castle.”
“How long were you wandering around Ridine? Did you worldwalk out of your cell from the start? Where have you been hiding since you faked your death?”
“I haven’t been hiding in your castle, cousin.”
She bristled at the nickname. They may be distantly related, but they weren’t cousins. Allied monarchs often called each othercousin, but she and Darius weren’t allies either.
He continued. “First of all, I stayed in my cell like a good little prisoner until I was ready to leave. I only left to retrieve a replacement body, and after I planted the decoy, I returned to my soldiers in Norun. I’ve hardly set foot in Ridine since, aside from the last few days when I was getting the lay of the castle and trying my luck to meet with you.”
His energy continued to pulse with the steady hum of truth, but the last part tingled with something sharp and jagged. Maybe there was a lie hidden there, or more to what he was saying. She hoped it didn’t mean he suspected where she’d been on the nights he hadn’t been able to find her.
“I was lucky to finally find you this evening,” he said.
She gave him a pointed look. “In the middle of the night.”
“Yes, well, I prefer to avoid witnesses.”
“As do I,” she said through her teeth.
“Are you embarrassed about mystaminacomment? Ah, I see you are.” He took an annoyingly long sip of wine, an obvious test of her patience. “I didn’t lurk and watch, if that’s what you’re wondering. Yes, I first worldwalked to your castle this evening at an inopportune time and chose to attempt my visit later when I thought you’d be more amenable to a chat. I made my presence known almost as soon as I appeared in your bedroom, so don’t paint me as a pervert.” He said the last part with a chuckle.
She thinned her lips to show just how little amusement she found in this. “Pervert or no, the fact that you worldwalked straight to my bedroom proves you’ve been there before. Maybe you didn’t spend weeks wandering my castle, but you spent enough time there to orient yourself, as you’ve already admitted, and one of those locations was my most private space.”
With a cold grin, he leaned forward, elbows propped on the table, and laced his fingers. “You really are a worldwalker. You know exactly how my magic works.”
She sucked in a breath but tried to keep her expression even. Damn, even with her precautions, she’d given too much away. “Just because I know how your magic works doesn’t mean I’m the same as you.”
He perched his chin on his laced hands and stared at her with unblinking silver-blue eyes. “Then why is your heart beating so fast?”
What…
What the hell did that mean? Sounds of the busy pub continued to blare around them. There was no way he could hear her heartbeat in such a loud room. Unless…
Was he…clairaudient?
He was half witch, which meant he had a sensory affinity of some sort. Could it be that while she’d been sensing truth and lies from his energy fluctuations, he was doing the same, but with her pulse?
Darius leaned back from the table and swirled his glass. “How is Ailan?”
Cora’s heart lurched before she could steel herself.
He snorted a laugh. “That reaction tells me you have met my sister indeed. I won’t ask where she’d been hiding, for I haven’t given you enough reasons to trust me yet. And I assume she is behind the Veil by now. Does she look younger than me? I imagine aging has been far gentler on her than it has on me, if she’s stayed in Lela this whole time.”
She refused to address Ailan. Refused to admit any affiliation with her. Instead, she trained her voice to speak with level curiosity. “You aged poorly because you lived in Syrus?”
