Elva shivers, her voice barely audible. ‘He said he’d kill me.’
‘Not going to happen,’ I assure her. ‘Not on my watch, anyway. Don’t let him scare you.’
She frowns. ‘But … aren’t you scared of him?’
Yes.
‘No, and you shouldn’t be either,’ I say firmly. ‘Besides, do you really think he’d go to all the trouble of saving you if he was just planning on killing you?’
She thinks about this for a moment, seemingly unconvinced.
I lean towards her. ‘Do you understand, Elva? Do you understand what I – what’s happened?’ I catch myself just in time. Confessing that it was me who returned her magic means exposing the truth about the Eye of the Soul.
Elva shifts uncomfortably in her seat. ‘He told me that I’m a …Mage.’ She says the word like it burns her mouth. ‘But I can’t be, I –’
‘It’s all right,’ I tell her. ‘It’s a lot to take in, I know.’
She buries her face in her hands.
‘Elva,’ I say gently. ‘You do know what this means, don’t you? You possess extraordinary power. You don’t have to be a serf any more, you can be whatever you want, go anywhere you choose. You could … you could go home.’
She stills. Lifting her head ever so slightly, she whispers, ‘I could go home?’
I watch in astonishment as thin tendrils of darkness begin to escape from the tips of her fingers, ribbons of shadow wrapping themselves round her.
A single tear slips down her cheek. ‘What’s happening to me?’
We’re both startled by a knock at the door. Elva waits, panic-stricken, until the gloom dissipates, then crosses to answer it, her face flushing with guilt and delight. Hal stands on the threshold. Something in his tired eyes sparks to life as his gaze falls on Elva, and I get the feeling that she won’t be going anywhere, at least not anytime soon.
I’m coming to terms with it, I am, and I’ve forgiven them for deceiving me, for the most part anyway, but I can’t resist giving a small, pronounced cough.
‘Blaze.’ Hal bows his head as he moves into the room.
I rise and sink into a curtsy. ‘Your Imperial Highness.’
Elva hovers uncertainly by the door.
‘You can stay,’ I tell her.
She shakes her head. ‘I should go,’ she says, then slips quietly from the room.
‘So,’ I venture, as the door snicks shut behind her. ‘I’ll bet you didn’t see this coming.’
Hal sits down next to me. ‘I always believed in you, Blaze. From the very beginning.’
There’s a pause. I don’t speak, knowing he has more to say.
Eventually he turns his head and looks me in the eye. ‘Tell me I haven’t lost you forever,’ he says. ‘Tell me we can still be friends.’
I think back to my Name Day, the way Hal held out his hand to me, and all I know is that in spite of everything, my life got a little brighter the night I met the Prince of the Dawn.
He wants to be my friend. I thought I wanted more. But I’m realizing now that maybe that’s all I ever needed from him. Maybe that’s all we were ever supposed to be.
‘Always,’ I tell him.
Hal smiles. ‘I want you to know that I’m happy – no, I’mhonoured– that you will be joining my Council.’
I smile back. ‘The honour is mine.’
