Children always appear so innocent when they’re sleeping, even these ones who are not actually children at all, but older than I am. It’s better not to see them as young—or even as human—if we want to survive any of this. But one of the best and worst things about Sam is that he sees the humanity in everyone. Even when, like me, they don’t deserve it.
“Bring them to Adira for questioning.”
Sam grimaces.
“They aren’t just getting bolder, Sammy. They’re getting more reckless. The kingdom is terrified as it is. If they figure out how Willa broke through the wards and use her to lure more children here—” I cut myself off with a violent shake of my head.
That won’t happen. I’ve shredded myself apart to keep the balance for more than two hundred years. I won’t lose it now.“We need intel, and as unfortunate as it is, I’m not up to torture tonight. So, Adira will have to do.”
I’m asking too much of my friend. I know it and can’t change it, not when things are as tenuous as they are. Relations between Sam and Adira have been strained for years now, and I’ve done my best to studiously avoid asking anything about it. I can hardly bear the weight of my own pain—I’m in no condition to offer to shoulder another’s.
Sam twists his hands in front of him hesitantly. “I don’t think she’ll like me marching into the Grove in the middle of the night.”
“No one appreciatesanyonemarching through their home while they’re trying to sleep, Sam. Perhaps you could try more of a gentle walk.”
He sets me with an unamused look. “You know what I mean, Niko.”
I only grin, pleased I’ve annoyed him enough to ditch the titles. “Adira will understand. She knows what’s at stake better than any of us.”
Sam hardly appears convinced.
“Star above, have some courage, would you? Do you think she’s just going to hex you on sight or something?”
“If she was capable of such a thing, I think that’s exactly what she’d do.”
“What in the second star did you do to the woman?”
Sam shoots me a dirty look. “You’re really going to lecturemeabout how to treat women, when you’ve got one locked inside your house right now?”
I roll my eyes. “Not locked.Sleeping.”
“Against her will.”
“Semantics, Samuel. And I did warn you of Adira’s nature years ago. Tempestuous on her best days. A literal tempest on her worst.”
A knowing smile tugs at the corner of Sam’s mouth. “And if I were to warn your ship away from the hurricane of Willa Darling?”
I’d stand on the deck and let her consume me,I think ruefully, before changing the subject. “You can take the carriage. I’ll walk."
Annoyance prickles hotly down my neck at Sam’s worried glance at my fingers. The tremors in my hands have grown increasingly violent in only the few minutes we’ve been standing here. I ball both hands into tight fists, and glare at him hatefully.
“Do you think your king isn’t powerful enough towalkin his own kingdom?”
The soft look in Sam’s eyes immediately shutters, and I’m both thankful and ashamed. I hate reminding him of the power dynamic between the two of us, hate that it exists atall,but I’ve no tolerance for pity. It only makes the pain of my condition more unbearable. On a different night, I would have the capacity to tread more carefully, but I’ve nothing left now. Wrung out and ragged, I’ll be lucky if I make it back to the gates without collapsing. I don’t have the energy for anything else.
“You’re a real bastard, YourMajesty,”he says with a sigh, before turning to haul the first body into the carriage.
I don’t bother to disagree.
By the time I make it back to the Lunaedon, the tremors in my fingers have grown so frequent, I can no longer manage a fist at all. The stiffness in my limbs weighs down my every step like I’m wading through waist-deep mud, and the pounding in my head is now akin to being stabbed through the eyeballs. Even the dimlight of the torches lining the path home is torture, and for a wild moment, I consider collapsing right here and sleeping away the pain.
Only the thought of another of Willa’s imagined beasts keeps me trudging miserably forward until I finally reach the front steps. Marina is huddled up against one of the towering front doors, an emerald-green cloak wrapped around her like she’s been waiting awhile.
She immediately leaps to her feet, hurrying forward to meet me on the bottom step.
“Sam and I are both fine,” I assure her listlessly. I know Marina worries, but just like I didn’t have the energy for Sam’s kindness, I’m not in the mood for hers either.
You look like shit,she signs.
