She threw a roll at him. He caught it before it smacked him in the head.
Plucking another from the basket, she tore into it. “We’re woefully unprepared for court.”
Her mind flitted from one thought to the next. The politics of court life were the least of her worries. She was no match for Lavana. Perhaps if she’d had the next year to train without interruption or fleeing for her life... but in a duel, Lavana would have all the advantage. She’d had the last seven years to prepare, and Magda had no doubt that’s exactly what she’d been doing. And then Magda had to worry about Flor’s campaign and that Kaelan would be found out, either as Cae’s impostor or, worse, as who he really was—an Elf Prince.
Thinking about Kaelan made the back of her neck itchy. Every muscle squirmed as though her skin had grown too tight.
“Where’s Kaelan?” Damion asked, as if he had read her thoughts.
“You didn’t see him?”
“No.”
“He’s Cae now,” she said.
“And?”
“And he’ll pass,” she said. “At least visually, I think. What about Honey? Do we really think she’s talking to the dead?”
“She put on another convincing show with Uncle Rahul,” Damion said. “His long deceased mother told him that he needed to help us and chided him about getting too fat and out-of-shape. You think Honey is lying?”
Magda sat back on her heels, already having consumed half the contents of Meer’s basket.
“I don’t know. I’ve never met anyone who could speak to the dead. My nurse used to tell me stories about necromancers...”
“They didn’t talk to the souls of the dead. They raised corpses and used them as soldiers during the Godwars,” Damion said. “Besides, there’s no such thing anymore. And that’s not what the nymph is doing.”
“In the human world there are people who claim to speak to the dead,” she said through a mouthful of cheese, “but I never believed any of them. Only the spirits of the tormented or cursed remain in this world.”
“Why are you so reluctant to believe her?”
“You think she can reach across the Bridge and communicate with those in the Godlands?” Magda asked. “Does that mean she could speak to the gods as well?”
Damion was grim.
“You see?” she said. “So much has already happened to her... if people start to think that she can communicate not only with the dead, but with the gods...”
“Are you afraid what the gods might say?” he asked.
“No. I’m afraid that Honey will be misused, kidnapped, even killed by the power-hungry imp-holes who populate the Lands. A power like that... whatever has happened to her, Honey is innocent in all of this. I know she wanted to come with us, but I can’t help but feel responsible for all she’s suffered.”
“She doesn’t seem to be suffering that much,” he said. “I think she’s quite happy, in her way. I think you feel guilty about Kaelan.”
“What do you mean?”
Damion snorted, shaking his head. “Still eating?”
She frowned behind the plum she’d been devouring. “So?”
He looked up at the stars filling the violet sky. “Well, the starlight is strong tonight, but it’s been strong on other nights since we’ve been together and I haven’t noticed your skin... glowing quite the way it is now.”
She stopped chewing and looked down at her arms. A faint luminescence like moonlight emanated from her skin. “Oh shit.”
“Starting to Shine,” he confirmed.
Shooting up to her feet, she tossed the plum’s pit away. “Do you know where Kaelan is?” she asked.
“No.”
