“No?” he said. “No, me?”
She waved a flat palm through the air and closed her eyes. It felt as though she were dismissing what he had said.
“You don’t believe me?” Erich asked. “What is there not to believe?”
She pointed to herself, still shaking her head, then pointed to him again.
“No, you?” Erich said, trying to decipher her meaning. “No, me? No to both of us.”
She pointed at him very emphatically, then dropped her finger. Then, she shook her head very quickly. Finally, she pointed at herself.
“Me. No. You,” Erich said slowly. “I. No. You... I don’t know you.”
She nodded, her face lightening briefly.
“Of course, I don’t know you,” Erich said. “But I know what you are and that’s all I need to know.”
She shook her head again, her face taking on an almost wild expression. She repeated her earlier motion. Pointing at him, shaking her head, and then pointing at herself.
“I do know what you are,” Erich repeated. He felt as misunderstood as she seemed to. “You are a powerful monster who doesn’t care about the harm and suffering you bring to others.”
Her forehead wrinkled again as her expression fell. Averting her eyes, she shook her head, as though too tired to fight her point.
Erich crossed his arms even more confused. She didn’t seem proud of her evil accomplishments. Her expression held sorrow at his accusations, not glee.
As frustrating as this one-sided conversation was, Erich didn’t like leaving things misunderstood. “You’re still shaking your head. I’m wrong about you.”
Lifting her eyes to his once more, she dropped her head for a single nod.
In that moment, Erich believed her. Her expression was so sincere.
He turned away quickly, cupping his hands around his eyes to block his vision. “Of course, you are acting sincere. You are trying to sway me in your favor, exactly as Councilor Turio said you would.”
He stalked toward his horse, keeping his back to her. He couldn’t bear to bring himself to look back at those big, sad, green eyes.
Chapter 19
Aizel hugged her knees. The Quotidian hated the Majis. She had accepted that fact her entire life. This was different. She was beginning to feel as invisible and worthless as these people seemed to see her. The indifference was more painful than the hatred.
She wasn’t a murderer. Clearly, Turio or the king had fed him some sort of lie about what had happened that day. And she had no way to tell him she’d had nothing to do with the killing of his men. Did he truly believe her magic was powerful enough to cause such a massive wave?
And, he kept acting as though her magic was evil. His people had magic and it was much, much worse.
“I’m not a monster!” she wanted to yell at his back. “Stop calling me that.”
“But you are a monster.”The small thought crept into her aching mind.“Or, you will be when you kill this confused stranger. You are about to become a murderer. You will be everything he has accused you of.”
“Go away!” she yelled at the voice inside her head. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.
Burying her face in her knees, she wished she could hide from view.
“It’s time to get going,” the prince called from where he stood by the horses. The tone of his voice was distant, as though they hadn’t just had a heated conversation.
Slowly lifting her head, Aizel repositioned her body so she could stand on her good foot. She felt more exhausted this morning than she had last night.
Before she stood, she repositioned the blanket around her shoulders so she wouldn’t have to stoop and grab it off the ground.
With tremendous care, she pushed herself up and balanced on one leg.
