Guilt rattled my chest. Using Ericen’s feelings for me to manipulate him into joining me was something Razel would do. No, I hadn’t given Ericen any reason to think I thought of him as anything more than a friend. Besides, manipulation required subtlety. Not my greatest skill. But maybe that was okay. If he didn’t immediately refuse to ally with me, it might mean he was interested and willing to listen.
I groaned and pressed the fingers of my uninjured hand to my temples, the beginnings of a headache threatening. This was too much to think about at midnight after a long day, but sleep still proved elusive.
Carefully, I slid out of bed. My dress had been replaced with a thick nightgown and a long pair of socks, which I covered with my boots. A cloak hung in the corner, and I secured it over my shoulders before slipping outside.
The sona lamps scattered throughout the training grounds were dim, the moonlight mostly obscured by clouds. The cool air soothed my stress and the heat of my burns. I took a deep breath, then froze.
I wasn’t alone.
I turned but saw no one. A presence in the shadows pulled at me. Familiar, quiet, comforting. I followed it. The feeling grew stronger as I entered the lounge beside the training grounds, then followed the hallway past the kitchens and servant quarters. I was about to round another corner when voices echoed down the corridor.
“Is everything ready?”
Shearen. I stopped, pressing my back to the wall.
“Yes, my lord. The queen has requested your presence,” responded a female voice.
“Fine. Leave.”
I slipped into a nearby alcove, trying to make myself as small as possible as an older servant bearing a torch walked past. Once she was out of sight, I crept to the edge of the hallway and peered around in time to see Shearen disappearing around another corner.
Keeping my steps light, I followed, staying a good distance behind as he took turn after turn deeper into the belly of the castle. The humming grew stronger, dancing through my veins and settling in my stomach, drawing me closer.
Shearen halted outside a padlocked iron door, withdrawing a key. I dared a look around the corner. He unlocked the door and pulled it open, and as the door slowly closed behind him, a humming blasted me with an echo so strong, it shuddered through my chest.
Magic.
Twenty-Eight
Kiva! Kiva!” I shook her vigorously with one hand, though her eyes flashed open at my touch. Moonlight illuminated her disgruntled face, and she swatted at me lazily.
“I’m awake!” she grumbled, sitting forward in her chair. “Why are you?” She blinked, then coming fully awake, sprang to her feet. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Fine. Shearen was in the halls, and I followed him. The door he went through, it’s locked, but when he opened it, I felt magic!”
She stared at me like I’d lost my mind. I replayed my rambling in my head. Taking a deep breath, I relayed it all again, taking pains to explain carefully what I’d seen.
“Humming?” she asked. “Like you felt with the egg?”
I nodded, and she folded her arms.
“You think Razel has some type of magic stored in there?”
“I don’t know, but we need to find out. It doesn’t seem likely, but strange things have been happening.” She listened as I explained about Res using shadow crow magic to conceal himself and the possibility that he’d used earth crow powers too.
Kiva rubbed her face. “That’s not possible.”
“Neither is this.” I held up my injured hand, which wasn’t quite so injured as it should have been. “We have to see what’s inside that room. If Razel has magic, we may not be prepared to fight Illucia after all, alliance or not.”
Kiva sighed. “You want to break in, don’t you?”
I grinned, and she rolled her eyes.
“How do you plan on getting past the padlock? Did you become a picklock when I wasn’t looking?”
“No, but I do know a few common infirmary ingredients that make for a nice acidic solution.”
“Saints. You’ve spent too much time with Caylus.”
