I ask him about his mother while we’re in earshot of the court, and he tells me some made-up story about a nature-born healer who was able to cure her nonexistent illness. Then I tell him about a gallery I heard about, one made by shadow-born artists that’s meant to be viewed by other shadow-born in the dark. He suggests we go so that I can describe the art to him, and I agree.
My assumption that the gallery would be quiet proves to be correct. There’s no one else there when we arrive, which is apity, because the paintings are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The gallery runner draws back a heavy curtain so that we can see how the paintings appear completely ordinary in daylight. A landscape of the Palador Mountains. An orchard of some kind. A portrait of Ronan’s father. But in the darkness, I can see other images layered on top in swirls of reddish color: a wildfire in the mountains, pomegranates growing on the trees, a golden glow around King Aurelian that’s not unlike the way I perceive Ronan in real life.
I describe the paintings to Larus until the gallery runner finally leaves, giving us an opportunity to speak freely.
“Larus, so much has happened. I wish you had been here. I didn’t know what to do.”
“It seems like you did a pretty good job on your own, from what Adria told me. Tell me about the night you saved Ronan.”
I blush at just the mention of his name. Thank Vahlo it’s dark in here. “There wasn’t much to it. I saw the man in the darkness, and I did what we practiced a thousand times.”
“I wish I could have seen it. I imagine it helped you get closer to him?”
“For a time,” I say, choosing my words carefully. “I’ve taken a step back from him lately.”
“So Adria tells me. She says you told her it’s to prevent things burning out before we’re ready.”
“That’s what I told her, yes.” My chest begins to tighten. “But there’s more to it than that.”
“You like him. The real him.” It’s not a question. He can hear it in my voice.
“Yes,” I admit. “I thought maybe with some distance—but yes. I do.”
“You like him too much to do what we’ve asked of you?” Larus cocks his head to the side as if he could read my reaction, but he can’t in the dark.
“Maybe,” I say. “I don’t know.” I do know, but I’m afraid that even Larus won’t understand. “But he’s not the reason I’m having doubts.”
“Then what is?”
“It’s Adria that’s the problem. Adria and Seth.” I know this is going to come as a shock to him. “The food shipments. It’s them, not Ronan. They’ve been sabotaging them for months. Everything you and Typhon have been doing to fix it, they’ve been countering in secret. I don’t know if they always meant to keep it from you or if they did so because they thought you and Typhon are friends—”
“Hmm,” he grunts. It’s the hollow, laugh-like sound he makes when he’s been fooled. “I’d be impressed if it wasn’t so terrible.”
“What do you mean?”
“If they’ve done what you’re saying, it’s a massive undertaking. I could believe it from Adria. But Seth? Never would have thought he had it in him. I thought she was a fool to trust him to gather the forces on his own, but it seems she knew something I didn’t.”
“Larus, she admitted it to me. I told her that I figured it out, acting like I was helping her, and she admitted it. They starved our own people. They kept them hungry and desperate on purpose, so they could get their revenge. This war has been built on a lie. We have to find a way to stop them. I need your help.”
“I wish I’d known two weeks ago…” he says. “What I agreed to in order to get my mother’s ships. And for nothing. Worse than nothing.” He makes a gesture like he’s going to spit but thinks better of it in the gallery.
“What did you agree to?”
“To marry. I’m to take a bride from the Islands when the war ends. At least I won’t have to do that now, I suppose.”
When I was younger, I asked Larus why he hadn’t married, and he’d told me that a Guardian’s duty was to their House firstand foremost. And that if he married, it would only be in service to the House.
I wonder for the first time what it had cost him to keep that vow, and I wonder what it will cost him now to turn his back on his promise to his mother. “You could still marry, even if we don’t go to war,” I say. “You ought to be happy, Larus.”
He laughs. “It’s because I want to be happy that I don’t marry.” He turns to look at me and shakes his head again in the dark. “Tell them to bring back that damn candle so I can have a look at you. I want to see this clever young woman that I’m going to stop a war for.”
“Then you’ll help me? You’ll help me find a way to stop them?”
“Of course, Sylvie. How could I ever deny you? Just give me a bit of time to think.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ifeel lighter than I have in weeks when I return to the palace with Larus.
