“Not sentience,” Snorri said.
“Yes. It’s more an expression of his will,” Oskar agreed.
Rakel joined Phile in hunkering down in front of the young boy. “Could you show us?”
Kai shrank back in the chair and shook his head.
“Your magic isn’t something you have to fear, Kai,” Rakel said in her most gentle voice.
“Magic is scary. It’swrong,” he whispered. The haunted look in his eyes twisted her heart.
He knows. Though he fearlessly befriended me, he knows what having magic means.“Do you think I’m scary and wrong?”
“Of course not!” Kai gaped at her with horror.
“I don’t think you’re scary or wrong either. Magic doesn’t make you more special or less human,” Rakel said. She held out her hand and created a paper-thin snowflake the size of a bowl. It twisted in the air, glittering a dazzling silver in the firelight. “It means you have a responsibility and an ability that will never leave you.”
“Magic users are hunted and killed,” Kai said. He stared at Rakel, begging her with his eyes to save him.
“It’s true; they were. And in many countries, they still are. But you live in Verglas. Nothing like that will happen to you,” she said.
“You were all alone on that mountain because you had magic.” Kai shivered and stared at his hands.
“Oh, Kai,” Rakel said. She dismissed the snowflake and hugged him. “My exile is…complicated. One day, I’ll explain it to you. But that was in the past. My brother—King Steinar—would never let anything happen to the magic users. Things have changed. We don’t have to hide anymore.”
“How do you know?” Kai asked, his voice small.
Rakel released him so she could meet his eyes. “Because Steinar wouldn’t do anything to harm me.” She was surprised when she realized she genuinely meant it. Her relationship with Steinar was rocky, but in the few stilted conversations she’d had with him, she knew for certain he had never planned to hurt her, and that wouldn’t change. “And the Verglas citizens have grown to accept us. Many people have come out of hiding and declared their powers publically so they can help us save Verglas.”
Kai rubbed his nose and stared back at Rakel. After a few long moments he lowered his gaze to the plate of toast. “Okay.” He slipped off his chair and padded across the room to pick up a basket of toy blocks Snorri frequently used in their strategy sessions to build models of landscapes he’d scouted. Kai paused with a block in each hand. “If I can’t—if it attacks me again, will you stop it?”
“Kai, the princess is the most powerful magic userever.” Gerta snatched up another piece of toast and wandered after him. “She can keep you safe.”
“I’m afraid I am not the most powerful.” Rakel ignored Phile’s snort of disbelief. “But I can promise that I will stop your magic, should it prove to be harmful.”
Kai nodded. He sat down on the ground and started arranging the blocks to build a wall. When he had a decent structure going, he said, “Defend.”
The blocks pulled tight, creating a wall. Gerta tried to kick it, but it didn’t move.
Phile prodded the blocks with Foedus. “Can you order it to do more than one thing?”
“I don’t think so,” Kai said.
“Could you try?” Oskar asked.
“Scatter,” Kai said.
The blocks remained tightly interlocked.
“I don’t know how to make it stop,” he admitted after several moments of silence.
“You have to let go of your magic,” Rakel said. “You feel it swirling in you?”
Kai nodded.
“Cut it off.”
Kai set his shoulders then kicked the blocks. They scattered, toppling from their tight formation.
