As Valoria begins another speech, Karston looks around until he finds me, Noranna, and the others and starts to make his way over. His part of the show is apparently finished, and his relief is only evident when he wipes a layer of sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.
“I’ll take questions now,” Valoria says, catching my attention as she skims her gaze over the crowd and points to a young duchess. “Yes?”
“Why do they have those horrible eyes?” the duchess asks, eliciting giggles from a few of her friends. “Why bother giving them faces at all?”
Valoria frowns. Before she can answer, however, Noranna pipes up from beside me. “Because I wanted them to look friendly rather than faceless!” Her eyes blaze with a typical Karthian temper as she glances in the duchess’s direction. “What, should I have stuck some roses on them for you?”
The duchess and her friends have a lot to say about that, and Karston has a lot to say about them insulting Noranna’s creations. Valoria tries to restore order, but a telltale creaking sound draws her gaze, and mine, away from the bickering nobles.
One of the metal soldiers, the one closest to Valoria, now has its spear angled forward in an attack position. It definitely wasn’t like that when I saw it moments ago.
I shift my gaze back to Karston as he growls a colorful name for the duchess, and toss him a wink in approval. She deserved that one.
Valoria gasps. I turn in time to see the soldier with the pointed spear fall forward onto her, bringing her swiftly to the ground.
She manages to dodge the spear, at least. The soldier’s hand glances off the side of her neck, likely not giving her more than a scratch, though her face is tight with pain as she tries to lift the heavy iron body off of her own.
Karston gives an anguished cry. Several nobles scream, too, a sound like angry geese. Of course, that might be in part because Jax and I push several of them out of our way in our haste to reach Valoria in the first moments after the collision.
“I’m getting Danial,” Simeon announces over the clamor of creaking metal.
Nearby, Karston raises his hands, using his gift to move the heavy iron figure off of Valoria as tears roll down his face.
Breathless, Jax and I kneel beside Valoria amidst the unhelpful flappings of the nobles, trying to assess her condition.
“Hurry!” I call after Simeon.
The spear didn’t miss Valoria after all. A long gash in the side of her neck is bleeding heavily, like a red mouth yawning against her pale skin. The stiff white collar of her new inventor’s jacket is already stained a gory mix of black and crimson. Valoria breathes rapidly, but she seems to be aware of her surroundings. At least, she winces when Jax climbs to his feet and starts kicking the fallen metal soldier over and over.
Trying to shield Valoria from the stares of the crowd with my cloak, I lean over and squeeze her hand. My mouth goes dry in the tense moments that I wait for her to squeeze back. If she does, it’s only faintly, or I’m shaking too much to notice.
“How... bad...?” she coughs.
“You’ll be fine,” I say firmly, while inside I’m screaming. “I’ve survived worse.” It’s true, but only because my friends got me to Danial before I bled out.
Valoria has to be fine. There could be no replacing my best friend. And for Karthia, there could be no replacing the queen they’ve tried so hard to reject. No doubt people would be even more restless with her twelve-year-old brother, next in line to the throne, guiding Karthia into an uncertain future.
“Let me see her,” Danial says tersely, dropping to his knees beside me. Exhaling at last, I back up slightly to let the master healer work, but continue using my cloak to hide Valoria from all the prying eyes.
As I try to rein in my galloping heart, Karston catches my gaze as he attempts to peer around my cloak.
“Is she going to live?” he asks hoarsely.
“Karston, what happened? Did you—?” I begin hesitantly, trying to keep the accusation from my voice.
“Of course not! I’dnevermake that soldier—” He breaks off, scrubbing a hand over his face and breathing hard like he’s going to be sick. “Odessa, you saw me. My hands weren’t even raised. I was talking to Duchess Aventine, and—”
“I know,” I say through gritted teeth, desperate to placate him. “Iknowyou didn’t do it. But right now, we need to let Danial work in peace.”
I try not to let my doubt show on my face as Karston bites back a bitter curse, his hands balled into fists at his sides. I don’t know who exactly he wants to punch. Perhaps, given the way his shoulders hunch inward, the person he wants to beat bloody is himself.
Still, I have to wonder: If he wasn’t trying to kill Valoria—and it doesn’t seem that way—could this attack be related to the cost ofusing his magic? Or perhaps this is a strange effect of Azelie’s animation magic. After all, those soldiers can’t move on their own.
Yet, who’s to say there wasn’t someone else in the crowd today who knows how to magically move things? Someone from the city who wants Valoria dead, perhaps? Guilt needles me as I realize that should’ve been my first thought, not accusing my friends.
“Jax,” Valoria murmurs a few times before going oddly still.
“Right here.” Jax hastily abandons his beating of the metal soldier and drops to the ground beside Danial. He grabs Valoria’s limp hand, cradling it like he’s afraid that if he holds on too tightly, he’ll shatter her.
