“Syla had already gotten the door closed when I arrived, and she’d… she and Lesva were actually locked in a battle of wills—of magic and wills.”
“Oh, and you rescued the queen from Lesva? No wonder the captain is so pissed.”
“Actually, no. Syla had—she’s gotten quite powerful, and from what I could tell, she’d managed to get the best of Lesva and knocked her back. When I came to Syla’s defense, it made Lesva nuts, and she challenged me to a duel. I’m not positive Syla even needed me.”
“I hadn’t realized… I guess since I don’t have magic of my own, I can’t sense her power. I wouldn’t have guessed she was a match for Lesva.”
“She has her gods-gifted power—you’ve seen the moon-mark on her hand—and now she has the power from Wreylith’s bond too. If I were you, I wouldn’t cross her again.” Vorikblinked, realizing Wise might have been sent for the shielder components. Did his people know that Syla had not only acquired them but was toting them around Castle Island with her aunt? Were the components still a priority for his people?
“I’ll keep that in mind, sir. Is that why, er— Are you drawn to her power?”
Vorik remembered Syla naked in his arms the night before and her voluptuous curves on display for him, available for his hands, and barely caught himself from quipping that he was drawn to herboobs, not her power. But Wise wasn’t a close confidant, nor did Vorik want to be crude about Syla. There weremanythings about her that drew him.
“There’s a lot that I like about her,” Vorik said. “Did you know she’s had a number of opportunities to poison me or help others kill me, and she never has?”
He smiled, not expecting Wise to understand, but the lieutenant scratched his chin. “From the beginning, you were sent to plot against her. Sheshouldhave poisoned you.”
“Yes, she should have. But she’s never taken advantage of those opportunities.”
“She could have killed me.” There was a note of realization in Wise’s voice. Either this hadn’t occurred to him before, or, more likely, he’d forgotten that moment when she’d been touching him—stoppinghim from sweeping her up. “In those ruins.”
“Yes.” Vorik nodded, wondering if this could be an opportunity to bring Wise over to his side. Or ratherSyla’sside. Not that SylawantedWise, but Vorik longed for his people to understand her value. He hadn’t betrayed them for no reason. Syla was worth it. “Even though you were going to kidnap her, she didn’t try to kill you.”
“I wonder why not.”
“Because she’s a healer at heart. Trust me, it wasn’t your charm.”
“No, no woman has ever said I had that.”
“You might have more luck if you didn’t start your relationships with them by threatening kidnapping.”
“That’s good advice, sir. I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Seeking advice on women isn’t what brought you here.” Vorik looked in the direction that he could sense Wreylith. She was still on the roof of the glassworks. Keeping an eye on him with her senses? When he’d slipped away, Syla had been busy with the glassmaker, but she had probably noticed his absence. He hoped she wouldn’t think he was out here colluding with Wise for nefarious purposes. No, she knew him better than that. He was sure of it. But he didn’t want to linger out here, especially not when people kept coming after her. She needed him close. “What did bring you, Wise? Did Chieftess Shi send you?”
“No. I came on my own. Sort of to gather intelligence—that’s what I told Colonel Ankvorth—but kind of because… I needed to know, sir. If you’re… Lesva says you betrayed us all, but you’ve always been honorable and good to the men, sir. I didn’t want to believe her.”
“Thanks for coming to ask me. I never worked against our people. I’ve just been trying to help Syla. For the reasons I said, she deserves my help. She doesn’t deserve… what we gave her.”
“You mean killing the rest of the royal family?”
“Herfamily. Yes.”
“It might get worse again for her.”
“How so?” Vorik asked warily.
“There’s going to be a big meeting with all the chiefs soon, but Lesva has been talking, and so have Chieftess Shi and Chief Tenilor. They’re trying to sway our people into attacking again, into taking everyone to Harvest Island, claiming it with brute force, and then using it as a launching point to get more islands.”
Vorik leaned a hand against a cool brick wall. “Didn’t our people suffer enough at Bogberry Island?”
“I… some others do think that, sir. They’re starting to question everything, whether this was a good idea from the beginning. We all want food and not to have to slash and claw so hard to survive, especially through the winters, and some want a sanctuary from the wyverns and dire vultures and manticores—badly—but it’s more than that. Some of the tribes are saying that we underestimated the Kingdom. We’re better fighters—nobody is arguing that—but they have so many more people than we do. They canaffordto lose soldiers. But we… Like I said, sir. Bogberry was devastating. Who could have foreseen that lake turning into an epic whirlpool and sucking people under? It was like a tale from when the gods walked the world.”
“I know.”
Vorik sensed an increase in magic coming from the direction of the glassworks, more than the tools he’d noted when they’d first reached the building. Had Tibby started doing whatever special engineering it would take to assemble the components into a working shielder?
“The big tribal meeting is going to be in three days.” Wise, who couldn’t sense the magic in the world around them, looked at Vorik. Expectantly?
