“Was it working?”
“Maybe.”
We round a corner and step onto the main street. Set back from the road is Ravin’s manor, and neither of us says anything as we pass. I choose to focus on the decorations already out for All Coins Day tomorrow.
Pennons flutter in the nighttime breezes. Strings of lanterns aid streetlights. The main square already has stalls set up and waiting for students.
We turn a corner among the rows of empty stalls, and Kaelis slows slightly; that’s how I notice he’s actively scanning the rows of wooden stalls with a gaze too deliberate to be casual.
“Looking for something?” I ask.
“Already found it.” We come to a stop.
It looks just like any other stall. Then my gaze lands on the corner of the wooden table, and it all clicks into place.
I rest my fingers on the broken edge that’s been smoothed over with time. Jura stood here. The thought of her still stings with sweet pain.
“This was my stall last year…” It brings back memories of the plan I concocted with my crew. Of the king. The fight. I knew so very littlethen. I look to Kaelis; the hood hides his hair and shadows his eyes. Yet, somehow, they seem to gleam like the thousands of stars that arc above us. “Wait, you knew it was mine. How? You weren’t there.”
“Just because you didn’t see me doesn’t mean I wasn’t there,” he says.
“But I thought…The plan was that you’d stay away so your father didn’t grow suspicious of the connection between us.”
“And he was none the wiser.” Kaelis leans against the front of the stall, hands resting on it. The cloak splits slightly in the front, pooling on either side around his lean form. I can already picture the frame underneath. My fingertips know his every outline. “You didn’t really think I was going to let you do that completely alone, did you?”
“I did think it at the time.” I run my hand along the split edge. “But now…”Knowing what I know now.“The king recognized me then.”
“I wasn’t sure how my father would react when confronted with you—the woman who would replace his queen,” Kaelis says lightly, but there’s a touch of murderousness in his eyes as he stares ahead at nothing.
The idea that Naethor once allowed me to be near his son at all is possibly the most confounding thing. But he did say to Prince Belen that he’d hoped having me would quell Kaelis’s ambitions some. Maybe Naethor really thought that Kaelis could have me—just not the crownandme—and that would be enough for him.
Or perhaps it was to spite his son by allowing him me as a reminder of all the other things he couldn’t have.
Either seems possible, and the longer I think on the motivations of Oricalis men, the murkier they become.
Black silk brushes against the side of my hand, jolting me from my thoughts. Kaelis holds out a bundle to me, and I know instantly what’s inside the silken pouch. My eyes run up his arm to meet his, my question unsaid.
Though he hears it, because he answers. “Is it not the tradition of All Coins Day to gift one’s abundance to others? To share one’s skill in service to the community?”
“Am I ‘the community’ now?”
“You’remycommunity.” He shifts, the raw sincerity of his words clearly making him uncomfortable. “You’re all I have, really.”
“You have Priss.”
“You are a much better conversationalist.”
“Don’t let her hear you say that.” I grin.
Kaelis sighs dramatically. “Are you going to take it or not?”
I open the bag, and I’m met by exactly what I expected: a deck. One of exceptional quality and craftsmanship. One inked entirely by him.
“I know that you are one of the most talented inkers alive,” he says softly, almost shyly. “But…when I saw you take down Halazar with a deck I gave you. When I felt likeIcould give you power. It was infectious. Addictive. I might not always be by your side to protect you. But in a way, perhaps I can be.”
“It’s magnificent.” My own voice has dropped to a hush as I fan out the cards on the table, admiring his inking. Each one is a work of art. Utterly stunning in detail and accuracy. It’s even better than the last deck he gave me. “How long did this take you?”
“A few months.” He rubs the back of his neck.
