“I’ll look into it.” I hesitate, then add, “did you know she had books on plants in her old rooms? On poisonous plants.”
His brow furrows. “I didn’t know that. Did she select them from the library?”
“They were left behind in the room,” I say.
“That room was emptied before she arrived. There weren’t any books.”
Now it’s my turn to show my concern. “You’re saying someone put them there for her to find?”
“They must have. There wasn’t even any furniture in there before she arrived. My father had that entire room emptied. All the furniture destroyed.” His lip twitches, a tell I haven’t seen show on him since he was a teenager. “He said it made him miss my mother too much.”
I study him, waiting to see if he does it again. He used to do that when he was hiding something. What is he hiding now?
“Send someone we can spare—someone we trust—to retrieve those books if they’re still there. I want to see them.” He returns his attention to the altar.
“How about Stanley?” I suggest.
“Perfect. He’s desperate to please me. He won’t mess it up.”
“I’ll inform him tonight,” I say.
We’re both quiet again for a long while as we stare at the flames dancing on the candles. There’s spiderwebs stretching between them, spreading up the walls and across the alter. Nobody has even cleaned this room since the queen died.
“Is there more?” Caiden asks.
I know I shouldn’t say anything. I know I should turn and walk out of this room right now, but I can’t help myself. It’s been eating away at me. “Why did you marry her?”
He looks amused. “I wondered when you’d ask me that.”
“You don’t need her,” I tell him.
“You still think she’d have you once she knows what you’re truly capable of?” He glances my way.
“This isn’t about me. She’s been through enough, hasn’t she?”
“I’ve only seen some of her markings and it’s enough for me to know she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with. You know just as well as I do that it’s possible she could be more powerful than both of us combined.”
I tense as I recall the markings on her back. So similar to my own. Caiden hasn’t seen most of my markings. Unlike Sabina, mine appeared slowly over time. He saw the dragon, but the moons were new. They came later.
“We can’t afford to have a rebel out there with that kind of power unless we can keep her on a very tight leash,” he says.
“Like mine?” I ask.
“Exactly.”
My hands curl into fists. Getting magic was supposed to be a gift. Something celebrated. Instead it was locked down and controlled by people who didn’t deserve the power.
But magic makes people do terrible things everywhere. It causes fear and anger. Creates division and death. I’ve seen enough to know that magic isn’t worth the price we pay. What might things have been like if my power had been accepted? Or if I’d never gained any at all.
“I would have been by your side, Caiden. You know that. You chose to create the divide between us. My magic wasn’t a threat to you. You know that more than anyone.”
“You know exactly why the two of us aren’t friends anymore. And it has nothing to do with your magic. I was the first to defend you to my father. The first to tell him he could trust you, to keep you unbound.” He scoffs. “That’s what you told her, though, isn’t it? That we’re not friends because I was jealous of your magic.”
“You always have been,” I say.
“No. I have no need of your magic. I’m cursed with plenty of my own. And you know more than anyone else the price we pay for what we were gifted.”
“You don’t know anything about that,” I accuse. “Your back isn’t torn to ribbons every time you were forced to use magic you didn’t even want.”
