I searched her thoughts,I tell Darrius via our telepathic connection.She’s telling the truth.
The look he sends me is one of utter astonishment.Like her father, Zahre has a talisman that doesn’t allow mind magic.
I shrug, recalling how easy it had been, and flinch slightly.I saw what I saw.
I believe you.
***
THE NEXT FEWdays pass in a flurry of preparation, while Darrius works diligently to ferret out the treason in his kingdom. Nearly all the nobles from Pix, Lora, Morien, and Solis have been summoned, given Verac root, and interrogated. In addition, all three of us—Darrius, Ani, and I—have also taken the root and consented to being questioned.
So now we have a handful of insurgents in the prison who were accomplices of Lord Donnan and paying for stolen azdaha eggs, but we have yet to identify a corpus magi powerful enough to perform necromancy who is working against the kingdom. Sowhois the traitor?
Because somethingiscoming.
Signs of the rot are growing in Everlea, with more animals becoming feral as the basilisk I killed was, even nonmagical ones like cattle. We’re doing everything we can to help, but if the infection spreads, it will become an uncontrollable plague.
Ani bustles into the library, where Darrius and I are scouring the texts for a cure. “Bad news, brother,” she says, shoving her hair out of her eyes. She looks frazzled and upset, and is clearly not taking care of herself. Her thin frame is gaunter, her eyes sunken. “The Aspacana have reported the rot is now spreading in their horses. It’s taken hundreds so far.”
“But how?” I ask. “Can we test the infected?”
Ani nods tiredly. “I’m working on it.”
I remember the dark tendrils that had been on Laleh’s skin and frown. “What if Fero is the source of the plague?” I ask. “Darrius, you said before that when you banished him, he languished in rot. His return can’t be a coincidence. And somehow, a remnant of him has hooked into Roshan... like a parasite.” My frown deepens. “Could he be the original source?”
Nodding his head, Darrius studies me. “That is probable. Most pathogens are spread by fluids, bites, or some kind of contact. Could it be vector-borne?” he asks his sister. “Like a sting?”
“Very possible,” Ani says. “It could also be transmitted via blood or even a hex.”
“What if the rot needs to be intentionally implanted from one host to the next like a seed or spore?” I say, thinking through the scenarios. “Sand tapeworms in Coban hatch in the intestines of hosts, and their eggs are passed on in undercooked meat or fecal matter. It could be similar.” I shudder at the thought of the rot gestating inside of a body like larvae. “Or it could be as Ani says, something as simple as blood transfer.”
Ani brightens, looking more enthusiastic than when she came in. “I’ll see what I can dig up. I have a few samples that I can test for each of those possible variants for the necrosis.”
“Be careful,” I tell her, and she nods, already distracted with her plans.
After the princess leaves, I turn to the king. “Are Raz and Indira and their eggs safe? I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to them. They’re family.” When his face tightens as if he’s hiding something, my heart free-falls. “No... not them.”
“I just received word from Indira this morning,” he says in a low, hard voice. “I wasn’t sure how to tell you. It’s Razulek. He’s been quarantined in a remote cave for the roost’s safety.”
“Why didn’thetell me? How could I not feel it?” I ask, pressing a hand to my chest. But even as I ask the question, I already know. He’s done it before to safeguard me from the worst of the pain he endured in Kaldari. A painful sob forms in my chest as I reach out and sense the connection with Raz closed off. “Dare, I have to see him. I know my magic can heal him. He saved my life. I won’t let him die.”
He nods and gathers me into his arms as I weep all over his chest. “The cave is high in the mountains, and we can’t portal to it, as magic there is too unstable. We will have to fly.”
“Won’t Indira be with her eggs?” I ask.
He pulls back to cup my face in his large hands. “If you wish to see him, you will have to fly on me,” he says, eyes flashing gold. “As the manticore. I can’t risk taking any other animal too close to Razulek in his condition.”
“Dare, what if you... can’t turn back?”
“That’s not how the curse works, thankfully.” He tilts my chin up and kisses me. “As you said, he’s family. He saved your life, so we owe him our help.”
Chapter Thirty-One
We leave the castle library, and Darrius heads down to the enclosure where he’s been locked away in the past while I make a quick detour to change out of my dress. I put on a gorgeous pair of black-and-gold leathers that Darrius had made for me, sewn from similar spelled fabric as my feast dress, which should provide a layer of warmth as well as protection. A hidden sheath for my dagger is sewn into the lower back so I can reach for it comfortably with my right hand. Lastly, I braid my hair back so it doesn’t get tangled in flight.
I run into Ani on the way out in the courtyard, where she’s talking to the head of the kingsguard.
I hurry over to her, and she eyes my gear. “Do you have training?” she asks, curious.
