‘A word,’ he says. ‘Alone.’
‘Now?’
‘Now.’
Kai looks caught somewhere between fear of Fox and concern for me. He hovers for a moment, unsure of what to do, his eyes darting between us.
‘It’s all right, Kai,’ I tell him. ‘I’ll find you later.’
‘Yes, do run along,’ says Fox without even glancing at him.
Kai hesitates a second longer, then walks hurriedly away into the crowd.
Fox holds out an arm. ‘Walk with me.’
It’s not a question, but I ignore his arm and brush roughly past him. I can hear the smile in his voice as he falls into step beside me.
‘You know, you could do a whole lot better than a half-drowned Fish with a ponytail.’
I glare at him out of the corner of my eye and say nothing. We walk until we reach the outskirts of the crowd. It’s quieter here, the floating lights fewer. Only a handful of stragglers gawk at us as we pass by, and one look from Fox sends them on their way.
‘Can we keep this brief?’ I say. ‘I’d really rather we didn’t discuss things so publicly.’
Fox’s smile grows wider. ‘I knew you liked being alone with me.’
I want to claw off my own skin as my cheeks begin to heat. ‘That isnotwhat I meant.’
‘Don’t worry, Storm Weaver. My dear brother is nowhere to be seen. And with regard to discussing things publicly, itmay have escaped your notice that we are now right on the very edge of this tedious gathering and therefore attracting little attention.’
I pull a leaf off a low-hanging branch and rip it up into pieces.
Fox watches me amusedly. ‘These statues,’ he says. ‘Do you know what they are?’
I let the mangled spine of the leaf fall to my feet. ‘Should I know what they are?’
‘That’s an interesting way of saying no.’
I scowl.
Fox runs his hand down the nearest statue – a tall, bearded man gazing off thoughtfully into the distance. ‘Each of these statues is a former emperor,’ he says. ‘This one is Rekar Castellion.’
‘The second emperor,’ I say. ‘Son of the Maker. He built the Golden Keep.’
Fox nods. ‘You know your history.’ He leads me over to another statue, standing just a few yards away. This emperor is smaller, his mouth curved into a crooked smile. ‘This is my father’s father, Caius Castellion.’
A shiver runs through me as I stare into the face of the emperor who conquered the Otherlands and defeated the Magi. Who murdered Sifa and Seera while keeping Syla for himself, bound to serve him until she died.
Fox is looking at me. He is always looking at me.
‘So,’ I say briskly. ‘Let’s hear it.’
He arches a brow.
‘You said you wanted a word. I want to keep it brief. So, get on with it.’
Fox’s eyes glint with undisguised amusement. ‘Nobody haseverspoken to me the way you do.’
I hold his gaze, irritation conquering fear.
