“Split-second decision?” he said sheepishly. Taly gave him a withering glare, and his shoulders slumped. “Fine. When you said that you were traveling with Skye, I figured out pretty quickly that you were more than likely the little mortal companion that my brother hasn’t shut up about since he was ten years old. And considering that the two of us aren’t what you’d call close—”
“You mean belligerent, bordering on hostile?” Taly interjected.
Kato snapped his fingers. “She has a way with words—I’ll add that to my list.” He gave her a sly wink before continuing, “Since I figured Skye had probably already told you some things about me, none of them good, I thought it would be safer to lie about our relationship until I got you back to the compound. While we were out in the open, still in danger of being attacked, I needed you to trust me.”
Taly pretended to read the page in front her, suppressing a grin when she heard him shift uncomfortably. After a long pause, she said, “You do see the irony in that, don’t you? Lying to make me trust you?”
Kato held up his hands in supplication. “Like I said when we first met, I’m not a smart man.”
“There’s another lie.” And it was. Taly could see cunning behind that boyish facade.
“I take it you’re not mad?” Kato reached for Skye’s discarded cup of tea. “According to my brother, your temper is something to behold. I figure if I’d committed some grievous sin, I’d be splattered across the tile by now.”
“Well, Skye would certainly know a thing or two about my temper.” Taly threw the book she was reading into the growing pile of rejected tomes. Leaning back, she let her hair hang down past the back of the chair as she rubbed at her eyes. “But I’m too tired to be mad right now. Anger takes energy. If you give me a few hours and ten more cups of coffee, I promise I’ll give you a good beating.”
“And funny.” Kit smiled as he swiveled in his chair. “My list just keeps growing.”
Taly once again ignored Kato’s attempt at flattery. “You’re getting cute again. Besides, I never said I forgive you. I just acknowledge that everybody lies—even honest men.”
“And practical.”
Rolling her eyes, Taly stood and walked to the end of the bookcase to retrieve the ladder. “Why does my forgiveness even matter? Aren’t you just using me to mess with Skye at this point?”
“It matters because I like you,” Kato replied simply, watching Taly climb the ladder a little too closely. “You’re fun, and you don’t seem the type to take shit from anybody, regardless of rank. I might not be the heir anymore, but I’m still a son of the reigning Duchess of Ghislain. All of the sycophants and their incessant groveling gets boring after a while. It’s a nice change to have someone talk back for once.”
Taly reached for a book stacked on top of the bookshelf. “Again—I’m not sure I believe that. I get the distinct impression that you like having a captive audience.”
Kato shrugged, catching the books as Taly dropped them into his waiting hands. “Let’s just say that ruffling Skye’s feathers would be an added bonus to getting to know you. Besides, if I really wanted to piss him off, I’d tell you about Ava. He really doesn’t want you to know about Ava.”
Taly bristled when she heard a trace of that veiled animosity she’d seen earlier resurface. “I already know about Ava and everything that happened last summer,” she said evenly. “And to be clear, don’t think that I can’t tell the difference between friendly sibling rivalry and a deliberate attempt to undermine your brother’s relationship with me. If you want to play your games, I can’t stop you, but I will not be used as a pawn.”
“Fiery,” Kato said after a pause. “No wonder my brother’s so taken with you.”
Taly blushed, licking her lips to see if she could still taste Skye there. He was taken with her? Sure, he had basically said as much, but to hear it from someone else… “Go to bed, Kato. You look exhausted.”
“Would you come tuck me in?” he asked mischievously. She didn’t need to look down to know that he was leering at her.
Taly chuckled. Although she had never worked up the courage to go to bed with a man, she had spent more than enough time in bars. She knew how to handle Kato’s type. He was all talk. “So, let me get this straight—you think you walk in on your brother and I doing something untoward, and your first instinct is to try to get me into your bed instead?”
“Well, I don’t think I walked in on something. I know I did.” She could hear the challenge in his voice. Ask me. You know you want to.
And Taly took the bait. “Oh really? And how is that?” She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. She had grown up around shadow mages. She already knew how.
“Well,” Kato drawled, and Taly’s cheeks were already flushing. “Aside from the racket you two were making, his scent is all over you. You must have had him really worked up, because believe me when I say that you’re drenched in it. I can barely smell any iron at all.”
Taly slid down the ladder, landing hard. She smiled when Kato jumped back slightly. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you it’s not polite to go around scenting people?” Pushing past him, she started to walk back towards the desk, her boots clicking across the marble floor. Her scent was one of the few things that she had always been self-conscious about, a factor of her humanity that she couldn’t compensate for by studying or training harder than everyone else around her. As one shadow mage in Ryme had told her once, humans reeked of iron—especially the females when they bled. It was so unpleasant that some shadow mages just made it a point to avoid mortals altogether.
Seeing that he had upset her, Kato reached out to grab her arm. “Hey, I didn’t mean—”
“Ow!” Taly flinched away. A sharp, crackling pain radiated up and down her arm as soon as his fingers closed around her bicep.
“Shards! I’m sorry,” Kit exclaimed, shamefaced. “I really must be tired. My magic hasn’t sparked like that in over a century. Here” —he reached out and grabbed her wrist, tightening his grip when she tried to pull away— “let me make sure I didn’t burn you.”
“No, that’s not…” But he had already pushed her sleeve up, the oddly shaped bruises easily visible against the pale backdrop of her skin in the dim light of the library.
“What the hell?” Kato ran a finger along one of the angry red welts.
“It’s nothing.” Taly jerked away, quickly pulling down her sleeve down and rebuttoning the cuff. “I got grabbed by some of those things yesterday. They weren’t gentle.”
“And you got away?” Kato’s eyebrows rose, almost disappearing behind the mop of auburn hair sweeping across his forehead. His eyes flicked back to her arm, prompting Taly to hide it behind her back self-consciously. “How? You’re human.”
“I got lucky,” she replied quietly. It wasn’t a lie. Not exactly.
His narrowed eyes seemed to study her, noting the way she shifted under the weight of his scrutiny.
“Sarina might have tried to turn me into a proper lady, but Ivain always believed that even proper ladies need to know how to hold their own in hand-to-hand,” Taly offered, fumbling for an explanation. “I’ve been sparring with Skye for as long as I can remember. That wouldn’t be the first time it’s come in handy.”
Taly forced herself to move her arm to her side, to straighten her shoulders. Shadow mages were trained to read people—to tease out information from physiological responses. She couldn’t let him see her fear. She swallowed back a sigh of relief when she saw the tension in his eyes release, remorse taking the place of suspicion.
Kato stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I really am sorry about the...” His voice trailed off. “Maybe you were right. It’s been a very long day… night? Maybe I should go put myself to bed.” He scuffed at the floor with the toe of his boot. “Before I leave, can I just add one more item to my list of things I’ve learned about Taly Caro?”
When Taly just raised a brow in response, he ducked his head, that
guileless mask effortlessly slipping back into place. “She’s a puzzle I look forward to solving.”
There was heat in his gaze, but it had little effect, and Taly rolled her eyes in response. “Oh, please. Were you actually expecting that line to work?”
Kato laughed, shrugging in good-natured defeat. “Well, it was worth a try.” With a wink and a wave, he turned to leave, disappearing around one of the towering shelves and leaving her alone at last.
When she could no longer hear the measured clicking of his footsteps echoing down the stairs, she pulled back the cuff of her sleeve. She hadn’t noticed it the day before. Or maybe the edges hadn’t been as distinct. But now, after a morning spent poring over texts written in an arcane language she had learned as a child, she recognized the bruises for what they were.
Faera. Lines upon lines of overlapping Faera script.
Which meant… spells. The bruises, the flashing runes—they were spells.
And the scar on her palm… it had turned a deeper shade of plum, almost amethyst. If she pressed at the surface, it felt hard, and her finger grazed a sharp, faceted edge just beneath her skin. Or what looked like her skin. When she raked her nail across the spot, it made the pad of her finger itch. Just like her face would start to itch beneath a cosmetic glamour.
“No, no, no,” she whispered, flinching when she felt another sharp stab of pain ripple up and down her arm. The air around her fingers began to glimmer, and something in her knew that she wouldn’t be the only one able to see the golden apparition spiraling around her arm. This wasn’t like the visions. This was something new.
“Well… fuck.”
What the hell was she supposed to do now?
Chapter 22
-An excerpt from the imperial scrivener’s collection of unclaimed letters from the Shade Rebellion, housed at the Arylaan Archive
Dearest sister,
If you can spare your son, I have need of a healer. To my great surprise and most ardent joy, Abel returned from the front last month. However, I have noticed a change in him. At first, I believed that, given time, he would be able to move past the horrors of the front, but now, I fear it may be something else. From the smell, I suspect a lingering infection.
All our village’s earth mages have been called to the front line, and our menders aren’t able to diagnose him. They have prescribed a draught to help him sleep, but it hasn’t helped. He never sleeps, he barely eats, and he has begun to lapse into fits of delirium. Occasionally, he’ll come back to himself and speak a few words. In those brief moments of clarity, I’ve been able to make him eat a few bites of food, perhaps lie down to rest, but these instances are becoming more and more rare.
I pray this letter reaches you. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I love my husband, but sometimes when I catch him looking at me, I start to wonder if something else came back in his place.
All my love,
Abigail
Taly lay on her back watching the slow creep of sunrise brighten the dome of the library with a smoky glow. It was still raining outside, and behind the film of streaked raindrops painting the glass overhead, she could just spy the faint blush of dawn peeking through the clouds. Petal pinks, inky blues, the warm glow of tangerine—a palette of soft hues painted against a backdrop of gray.
Having grown tired of poring through the endless stacks of books, Taly had retreated to an old couch she’d found tucked away in a forgotten corner. The aged and cracked leather creaked every time she shifted, the only other sound besides the patter of raindrops and the crash of thunder to penetrate the silence of the library. Her fingers nervously toyed with the pendant at her neck, and she’d pressed her feet between the cushions to keep from fidgeting. She took deep, calming breaths, but her heart continued to beat a sharp, staccato rhythm in her chest: what now, what now, what now…
Kato. When he grabbed her, she had felt a stabbing swell of pain rush through her—like a whip cracking against the skin of her arm. He’d thought his own magical discharge had caused her to flinch away, but he’d been wrong. Something inside her, possibly one of those strange spells inscribed on her arm, had snapped.
What now, what now, what now…
This thing inside her was becoming impatient, straining against an invisible wall. Taly could feel that wall now. She could see it in her mind’s eye, a vast expanse of black marble streaked with violet veins of glittering energy. It was crumbling—brick by brick, stone by stone—and there were large, gaping holes all up and down the barricade, places where she had forcibly broken through in a desperate attempt to tap into that hidden well of power.
She could even sense a bit of Skye along the magical barricade—faint wisps of his aether still clung to the edges of one of the smallest gaps. He had unintentionally removed the first brick that day in the sparring ring nearly a year ago. She was sure of it.
What now, what now, what now…
Taly closed her eyes against the relentless doubt clouding her mind. Her magic seemed to be sensitive to strong emotions, so she needed to remain calm. Two more of those strange spells had severed before she’d figured out how to shove the flood of power back behind the wall, stoppering up the gaps with will alone.
Without Aiden here, she had no one to talk to, no way to figure out just what was happening to her, and no allies. That left her with only one option. She needed to tell Skye.
He was going to be angry (well, furious), hurt, confused... He may even decide that this lie she had repeatedly told him over the past year, that she was nothing more than human, was unforgivable. That being a time mage was unforgivable. But he would know what to do. Even if he hated her, he would still help her get back to Ryme and Aiden and safety. He would never betray her.
“There you are.”
Although Taly didn’t jump, her heart started beating faster as she heard footsteps approaching. Skye—would it make her a terrible person if she let him kiss her one more time before telling him that she was a time mage? Would he be disgusted when she told him? What if he was already disgusted? What if it really had been an accident, a fluke, and he was repulsed by the very idea of having kissed a human?
Opening one eye, she saw Skye staring down at her as he leaned over the back of the couch. The sincere, open affection in his expression left her slightly breathless.
“Oh look, you’re back.” She turned onto her side when she felt her cheeks start to warm. “I already sent your brother to bed.”
“Ah… so you figured that out?” Skye asked somewhat sheepishly. She didn’t need to look up to know that he was raking a nervous hand through his hair.
“When were you planning on telling me?”
Skye sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. Kato caught me off guard yesterday in the courtyard. I had no idea he was on the island, much less a part of the Gate Watchers, and I didn’t want to say anything until I got a chance to talk to him—figure out just what he’s up to. I meant to tell you last night, but…”
She heard him shift his weight, heard the low tap of his boot on the marble tile.
“Let’s just say I got distracted.” A pause and then, “You see, there was this beautiful woman. We were interrupted before I could get a chance to properly kiss her, but then when she practically threw herself into my bed, well—"
“You know, I’m starting to see the family resemblance.” Taly still refused to look at him. If her face got any redder, she might actually combust.
“My brother and I look nothing alike.”
“Says you.” Sitting up, Taly mustered her best glare. Skye had been just as much of an eager participant in that kiss as she had. Why should she be embarrassed? “You’re both shameless flirts, for one.”
Skye shrugged, a wide, toothy grin splitting his face when her eyes found his. “I like to think I’m a little more discerning than my brother,” he said as he pulled a hand out from behind the couch and presented her with a fresh cup of coffee.
With a mumbled “thanks,” Taly a
ccepted the mug, relishing the warmth of the white ceramic against her chilled skin.
There wasn’t a shred of uncertainty or doubt in his countenance as Skye casually strode around the couch and sat down beside her. But when he didn’t move to place his arm around her, just like he had done a thousand times over the years, she recognized the gesture for what it was—a question. Is this okay?
She hadn’t given him an answer before—when he had practically laid his heart at her feet. If she moved away, they would forget what happened that morning and move on. That conversation he had confidently declared on hold would be closed—forgotten—and that invisible boundary between them would be fortified, never to be crossed again. They really would be just friends, from here until the day she died.
Something about that made her feel hollow inside. This was Skye—the one constant in her life. The boy who’d found her in a pile of cindered rubble. The man that had proven time and time again that he would do anything to stay by her side. They’d never been just anything, and she’d be a fool if she tried to convince herself otherwise.
When Skye shifted, putting a little more distance between them, something inside her cracked.
Could she really do this? After trying to push him away so many times, was she really capable of doing it again? Yes, he might very well reject her when she told him her secret. And yes, she was still going to have to figure out a way to articulate her very confusing feelings when they inevitably picked up their conversation from earlier—even confess that she had been planning to leave him again. And of course, if they made it through all of that, then they could start to consider the logistics of what a relationship between a human and a fey noble would actually look like. So many questions to answer. So many hurdles to overcome.
Defeat began to creep into Skye’s expression, just around the edges, and Taly felt that crack inside her widen into a gaping breach when he looked away, his shoulders slumping forward almost imperceptibly.
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