Lord Karev shut the door to his carriage, and even standing in the snow, Vaasa could not feel the cold. She kept her teeth gritted; it prevented her magic from making an uninvited appearance. She wasn’t certain that she’d be able to keep it down—not like this.
Not anymore.
Roman ushered her into the waiting carriage, and despite the eyes upon them, he loaded inside with her. Panic reared in herstomach, and her magic stuffed up her throat. Vaasa shook her head, desperate for him to leave. Roman ignored her unspoken protest and slammed the door shut, locking both of them inside.
She was going to lose control over her power.
Vaasa shoved her hand into the pocket of her dress and gripped the necklace. Her magic choked to nothing and a dull hum throbbed in her fingertips. The tension in her body eased, even if only a fraction, and she forced herself to take deep breaths.
“Did he hurt you?” Roman demanded.
Vaasa pulled her knees up to her chest, rocking backward on the seat and curling into the corner. She couldn’t do this right now. She couldn’t have this conversation, couldn’t think of anything beyond Lord Karev’s words. She wanted Reid. She wanted warm air and salt and the Icrurian sun. But they had him. They were going to kill him.
“Answer me, damn it!”
Vaasa’s eyes flew open and she hissed, “Yes. He choked me and pinned me to the floor.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and one slid down her cheek, no longer a ruse. She batted it away with her free hand. Part of her felt sick at saying out loud what had happened in that room. It was too vulnerable, too raw. Roman didn’t deserve to see her pain. But he needed to believe her pain was due to Karev, not because of Reid.
It took a moment, but Roman eventually muttered, “I should have been there. I didn’t think he would come for you so quickly.”
Vaasa closed her eyes. All sense of energy drained from her. She couldn’t mask the blaring pain in her ribs or the tenderness of her throat. Her free hand rose to it, brushing along the reddened skin where a bruise would inevitably bloom.
“Was he telling the truth?” Roman asked. “Did you really turn in the Wolf of Mireh?”
Vaasa considered her options, pain extending up the hand that touched the necklace. She opened her eyes. Roman gazed at her from across the carriage with this glimmer of something, like he knew a piece of information that she didn’t. Like he knew the answer to his question already.
“No,” she said on instinct, trying to remind herself what was at stake if she estranged him. “I had no idea that Reid of Mireh was here.”
A small breath from Roman caused Vaasa to tense. There was no telling whether he would believe her, if those words would exonerate her or not. “You need to know something.”
Vaasa sat up a little. “What?”
“I went to see that pirate you’ve been meeting with. Sachia,” he said.
Vaasa closed her eyes. There was no use continuing to argue, to lie, given Roman’s connection to Sutherland.
“Sutherland has been searching for her for months now,” he confessed. “He wants her dead.”
Vaasa clung to the necklace in her pocket, to the only lifeline she had that would prevent her magic from destroying everything around her. She opened her eyes and stared at him across the carriage. “Did you kill her?” Vaasa asked bluntly.
“No. And I won’t, not so long as you have a use for her. I know about the black powder. I assume you’re setting a trap for Karev.”
Vaasa uncurled just slightly, keeping her hand in her pocket. “That was Karev’s trade proposal, not mine.”
Roman scooted forward on his seat, extending a hand and placing it upon her knee. It didn’t seem to matter that she was curled in the corner of the carriage or that she had already drawn back from his touch. His voice dropped to an almostindistinguishable whisper. “Tell me you found the weapon we can use against Ozik. That you have a way of eliminating them both.”
Vaasa pulled her gaze from where he touched her. “I found it.”
Relief softened his features, loosened his grip upon her knee. “What is your plan, Vaasa? Let me in. Please. Karev, Ozik, all of it.”
Vaasa pursed her lips. Carefully, she unfurled, though she was careful not to force Roman to remove his hand from her knee. Instead, she turned so her body was at his mercy, so she appeared as the vulnerable woman he wanted her to be. “You won’t tell Sutherland?”
Roman slid from his bench and came to his knees before her. “He is in the prison, has been for months. I am loyal to you,” he said, keeping his hand on her knee, the other raising to graze her neck where Karev had hurt her.
“I don’t want you to be complicit,” she whispered.
But he shook his head. “Stop trying to save me, you’re only making it more dangerous.”
