“You have no idea,” Darion said, looking away.His jaw was clenched, and he seemed to be trying hard to suppress a complex mix of emotions.
We lay there quietly for a moment, both lost in thought.I supposed that was another thing we shared: dead parents and painful family histories we didn’t love talking about.
He let out a long breath, then turned back to me.“It must have been hard for you, too.How old were you when your parents died?”
“I was eleven, and Elena was four.”
“Dust, I’m so sorry,” Darion said, holding me tighter and kissing me.
I thought back to that worst day of all, when Orlik Leonom and his army of Sentinels had destroyed my family.As they’d approached the farm, my mother had taken me aside.It’s your job to protect your little sister.Elena is counting on you.Then she’d told me to take Elena and hide.Do as we practiced, she had said.
Elena and I had run to the grain silo on the far side of our farm and hidden under a trapdoor at the bottom.But I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing.After all, I assumed this was all my fault for trusting Bren, my next-door crush.
I told Elena to stay and ran back to the farm.Halfway there, I watched as my parents were murdered, their throats slashed.I was too far away to help.I ran as fast as I could, but by the time I got there, my father was dead, and my mother was dying, lying in a pool of blood.Orlik and his men had ridden off.My mother took me by the hand.She was clutching her locket, stained with her blood.She was only able to choke out two words, barely audible:Protect Elena.
Darion looked deep into my eyes as I relived those memories in my mind, as I’d done a thousand times before.
“You okay?”he asked.
“Yeah,” I said, although my eyes likely betrayed me.
“If you want to talk about it, I’ll listen.”
“I do,” I said.“But another time.”
Chapter nineteen
A Slice of Normal
IfIwasgoingto sneak into the Citadel Library, I’d need some help.Since Darion could no longer get involved, I turned to the only other person I knew who might have some ideas.
I knew of no fewer than three ways to get into the Charred Snake without being seen.Today I sneaked in through the back window of the kitchen.Hiding in the shadows, I threw a snap-flare across the room into the smoldering hearth.As everyone in the main hall turned to watch the fire erupt in an explosion of sparks, I slipped into Garrick’s office quietly.
Garrick looked up from his desk, his face tinged with annoyance.“Cas, I told you to wait before coming back.”
“I was discreet.”
“And yet I still don’t have a job for you, so you wasted a trip.”
“I’m not here for a job,” I said.
Garrick lifted his eyebrows.“Why do I get the sense that I’m not going to like this?”
“Did you know?”I asked.
Garrick gave me a look that said,I’m not falling for that one.You’ll have to tell me what you’re talking about.
The din of the room outside hid our voices from prying ears, but I still approached him and spoke in a hushed tone.“Did you know that I’m Emberborn?”
Garrick’s eyes opened slightly, but any trace of surprise was gone in a heartbeat.“I didn’tknow.I suspected.”
“Yoususpected?”
“Your uncanny memory, your speed and stealth, and your ability to climb up a damn wall without so much as a crack…when I was a much younger man, I knew Emberborn who could do similar things, but never all of them.And then there was your parents’ death.It all added up.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because that’s not the kind of thing you speculate about openly.It often has the nasty side effect of getting you killed,” Garrick said dryly.“How didyoufind out?”
