Lux bit her tongue to say nothing else. It slipped free anyway. “By thatLordSilas?”
She expected him to glare at her for her sarcasm. She did not expect a grin to spread across his face. “You take issue with our titles.”
“No issue,” she lied. “Only think it’s odd.”And pompous.
She couldn’t deny her knowledge of Malgorm’s running was vague at best while sequestered within Ghadra. She could have sought more, but she hadn’t cared to. She’d barely survived each day. That had changed in her month of travel. She’d learned the country was not run by any singular person, but a large council far away. Though even they were not considered lords.
“Well,Icertainly didn’t choose it,” said Corvin. “The title was given to me on my induction into the society. It’s supposed to represent reverence or something—respect for the role we’ve carved out for ourselves in this world.”
She hummed a noncommittal note. His grin grew.
“Tell me why you left Ghadra, Lux. Aside from the obvious fact you were meant for bigger things.”
Lux ran her nail along the seam of the cushions. Over and over. “I left Ghadra because it was a part of my life that had run its course.”
“A chapter ended. So you don’t plan to return?”
“I—”
The carriage lurched.
Lux’s hand reached out to steady herself just as pressure came down upon her leg. She stared at her fingers gripping the soft fabric over Corvin’s forearm. At his own gripping the space above her knee. Their hands retracted at the same moment, and Lux straightened her skirt while Corvin did the same to his coat, his eyes looking anywhere but at her.
“Apologies,” he said. “This road is rough with roots in places.”
“No need. I’m relieved to be in a carriage rather than walking, for once.”
That brought his gaze back, and it was horrified. “You’ve beenwalking? Why?”
“I never learned to ride, for one. The only horses in Ghadra were reserved for the death-carts or hired carriages. And my funds have been a bit dismal with my lack of revivals.”
“Death—we will come back to that. You’ve been traveling alone, walking, this entire way? You’re either very lucky or very skilled with that knife. Or both.”
“It’s honestly neither.”
Corvin rubbed his smooth chin, and gradually, the shock faded from his features. “All right. What of these death-carts? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Lux’s gaze held his. “They were our means of transporting the dead out of the city and into the forest. There, the trees consumed them.”
He sat forward, eyes impossibly wide and appearing younger than she’d yet seen him, hardly older than her. “A devouring wood? Now you must tell me everything.”
Chapter twelve
Thesolitaryflamepulsedhungrily in the dark. It beat in time with her heart.
“Please, stop. Please.Don’t.”
Her ankles were strapped, her wrists too. She didn’t know what would come, but she knew it would be terrible.
Struggling was useless. The bindings would not give. She smelled nothing. Heard nothing. The flame was the only thing she could see. The only thing—
A tortured face emerged from the void, dripping and insidious.
“What are you afraid of, Lucena?”
Lux’s eyes sprang open to a hand jostling her knee. She flung herself backward at once, where she hit the cushioned seat. Her breaths heaved.
“I’m sorry to wake you, but we’re nearly there. Blessed Saints, are you all right? You look like you saw the Devil.”
