A subtle hum in the air lifted the fine hairs on my arms. Too faint, I suspected, for anyone else to take note of. Calix was troubled, but this was not the time to create a scene, and it had not been an excusable time since his last feed for him to slack in his restraint. Casually, I slid my glass, still roughly a third full, to the boy to take the edge off, even as irritation prickled that I should have to worry over such a thing in this moment.
Calix took to the drink without hesitation. Huffing, I set my attention back on the letter.
“Do you recall what I said when you sought my services?” Nox asked.
“You say many things, huntsman,” I snapped, tearing the wax seal off the letter. I hesitated, the feel of the paper beneath my fingers course. It was unlike me to speak without thought, and my response had been sharper than necessary. Yes, the man maddened me, but … I rubbed between my brows, a pressure building in my head.
“That is fair.” Nox turned and leaned against the bar top.
I blinked, clearing a fog from my mind. Again, anger swept through me. I slapped the letter down and flexed my fist. “Why pose a question and let it fall off?” I wanted to grab the man, shake him.
The energy in the air intensified, splitting my attention. Maerel stopped her task, though she kept her eyes cast down to the cup she held. Nox gave no notable response at all. Time felt … wrong, somehow. Slow, thick.
A dizzying hum filled my head.
“Dammit, Calix.” I spun on the boy, fury heating my blood.
Calix grabbed at his hair, then lowered his hands to his side. He stood, balling his fists. “Damnyou, Neirin,” he countered and, with fair force for his scrawny form, struck me in the face with a closed fist.
Taken entirely off guard, I balked and brought my thumb to my lip, the metallic tang of my own blood foretelling a split lip. Had he just struck me? Had I imagined that?No, I didn’t.Snarling, I seethed and grasped the boy by the front of his shirt.
“Eaumond’s my friend.” Calix spat the words. “You could have helped him, helped all of them.” Tears welled, and he blinked, the white of his eyes bloodshot. He began to cry. “You could have helped all of them.”
“Neirin.” Maerel’s voice drew me back, and I spun to look at her. The movement was too quick, my vision blurred, and Ifirmed my jaw and narrowed my eyes, trying to keep focused. Was I drunk? No, I couldn’t be. Why was everything so delayed, so hazed?
“What is it?” I growled.
Why does everyone need something from me?
The innkeeper looked past me, and she nodded with her chin.
Why does she look so … defeated?
Turning in my seat to see where she gestured, I let the world catch up to me, slow in its spinning. My hand still gripped Calix’s shirt. At the hall that led to the lower floor of rooms, the two huntsmen stood, Eaumond between them, his eyes black as coals. It was not Calix, then, whose control had faltered.
“No!” Calix screamed.
Eaumond fell to the floor sideways, eyes wide and dark, void as he grasped at the slit in his own throat, crimson spewing. I gaped my lips to question what I saw.
“You did not say you would kill him,” Nox snarled.
I turned to him, nearly swaying from my seat this time at the rush of movement.
Kill him? He is dead? Of course he is, or dying at least. His throat has been slashed.
My head throbbed. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. With me.
“It was not my intention for anyone to get hurt,” Nox said.
Is he apologizing to me?
“And I did not expect you to pass your drink to the boy. I— I am deeply sorry for that.”
Moving more slowly this time, I turned my attention again and focused on the white of my knuckles where I clung to Calix’s shirt. Drink? The boy? Had he … What had Nox done to us? I released my grip, and Calix fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
“Calix—” My hands trembled, and I reached for the bar, needing to steady myself as everything moved both much too slowly and much too fast at the same time. At my feet, the form of the boy I’d come to love lay lifeless.
“When you solicited my help …” Nox said, his voice no longer behind me but directly to my left. The touch of his hand as he took mine was warm, tingling almost. He slid a cool band on my index finger. Mother’s ring. “I told you that my loyalty was dependent on honorable intent. Imagine my surprise when I learned of your ploy to kill the new King. Your own brother, Neirin. There is no honor in that, no forgiving that.”
