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He cleared his throat. “Besides, if you’d never known me, perhaps all this would have still happened, just without me to help protect you. And what then?”
“I’m loathe to even consider it.”
“Luckily, we don’t need to. Besides—then I wouldn’t have discovered the truth.”
She let her eyes drift shut. “What does the truth matter? They will still want me dead. People will still hate mages. The fact that we were once considered normal and not evil won’t help me now. Or you.”
“The truth matters to Nefrana,” he said, his voice rich and dark, “and it matters to me. Those paintings, Iseris—think of it. We’ve been told so many lies. Deep inside, I think I always knew the truth. But I let the world tell me differently. No more. Didn’t you hear the truth in your heart all along?”
“What’s a heart anyway?” She waved at the air, bitter, letting her eyes open again. “A bloody, beating thing.”
He caught her hand in the air with his and held it tight. “I don’t know. You’ve had mine as long as I can remember.”
“The same is true for me as well.” She stared at his hand as it gripped hers tightly. “But I’m sorry for that, then.”
“Why?”
“Because this is just the beginning. This is never going to end. Alekur is never going to stop hunting me.”
“Alekur is dead. I ran him through when I saw you go down.”
She caught her breath. “Oh. Well.” She thought for a moment. “Then they’ll hunt us even harder, to avenge him.”
“That might be true. But Alekur was their best tracker. And we can go somewhere to make it harder for them.”
“Where? We can’t stay hiding here forever.” And it hadn’t kept Alekur away anyway. He’d made his way through the fever grass, a better obstacle than most. “Nowhere will be safe. We killed a prince. The heir, no less. They’ll make sure their allies are looking for us. Where could we possibly go?”
“Well, I’m glad you asked.” Iseris jumped as Selis’s warm, gravelly voice came from the door. The door must have opened utterly silently, because they’d expected her and still somehow missed the exact moment she’d come in. She removed her cloak and set down the basket of herbs that had been on her arm. “Jav and I did discuss some ideas about that.”
Jav smiled. “We’re going to go to Akaria.”
She opened her mouth, wanting to argue, wanting to say it was impossible, that they were doomed, that they couldn’t win.
But his blue eyes were so warm, the smiles shared between him and Selis so pleased. Maybe she was wrong.
Maybe it didn’t matter what was accurate or likely. A few days ago, she’d have bet she’d be dead, and she wasn’t. And the things Jav had said, well, she’d never ever dreamed… never let herself hope to hear them…
Akaria. Truth be told, from the moment she’d heard about the mage king there, she’d wanted to go. Known in her heart? Was it her destiny? Or simply a logical safe harbor?
“The Way will guide you.” Selis picked up the basket and approached the hearth. “We have a plan to get you there. And soon. Just as soon as you are healed. Which we will be working on shortly.”
She eyed Selis as the old mage started gently tearing her herbs. Then she shifted her gaze to Jav.
He held up one of the gems, an emerald that she’d packed from her rooms, so that it twinkled in the firelight. “And the king and queen will be paying our way.” He grinned.
He was so close. So warm. He’d called her just by her name. And impossibly, they’d escaped the castle and were both still alive. And then he’d kissed her. Who was she to argue about what was possible and what wasn’t?
“Okay,” she said weakly. “Akaria it is.”
Jav grinned.
“Oh, and Alekur was a mage?” She shook her head minutely, but even that made it ache. “That definitely never occurred to me.”
“Indeed. All that time blaming your mother, and your father was equally at fault,” Selis murmured. “Figures.”
“The king is a mage?” Jav turned toward Selis.
“Oh, yes.”
