“I’m pretty sure Kyra’s going to be pissed.”
“I can’t blame her. You two will have that in common.”
Calix sends me a look he must have stolen from his sister.
After a frosty agreement to the plan that Kalan set out, we all stay the night at Lyle’s. Kyra seems resolute to stay; her demeanour has markedly shifted since the news about Micah. Calix seems to have warmed to his duty of keeping watch and even has a conversation with Kalan out of earshot after dinner.
Reluctantly, Lyle allows me and Calix to share Ever’s room for the night. Calix gets the cot, and I take the extra blanket and bedroll from my pack and sleep on the floor.
Looking around the room, I see how much harder the adjustment to The Court must have been on Ever if this was her life. The gulf between our worlds isn’t just defined by magic, but in the riches around us, too. But the more I think about Ever, the more content I feel in this space. As if the happiness she felt here is ingrained in the wood of the floors, bleeding into the fabric of the building.
It’s enough to help me sleep, to know that she was happy here.
The sky is filled with clouds when we wake, the light of dawn dim and opaque.
Kalan has already secured his supplies and is waiting for us outside the cottage.
Nobody is sure of the mood, and we all dance around each other in the small rooms, saying little about nothing.
Crimson, despite the length of the journey, opts for no horse. We won’t be needing them past Estertor, which, according to Kalan, will be where we find passage to Nehandun, trading the horses for travel.
Lyle questions why not head to Nestegarth, which is the main port and will have easier travel arrangements. But I guess Kalan hasn’t shared all his secrets just yet.
He’s estimated two days’ ride if we push it, three if we’re slow. I didn’t want to be slow.
We leave Nettle and Sara, the horses Lyle took to Kirrasia, with Calix and Kyra.
Lyle doesn’t bid us farewell or even wish us luck. It’s as if everything Kalan shared and revealed has broken whatever she was holding onto, and the only thing that would mend it would be having Ever back. That’s just my theory.
There’s a part of me that sympathises with her—I feel like a part of me is missing, too. But Lyle left Ever to deal with so many things alone. She was banished, and just… took it. Even knowing Ever was a Fifth. Even knowing what she might face.
Lyle can live with that now and deal with making her own amends when we bring Ever back.
“Which direction?” Crimson asks Kalan when we’re finally set.
“West, until we meet a fork in the river. We’ll cross there. Stay off the trails.” She nods and, without even a goodbye to Calix, races off west.
“You’ll have to watch her. Her power will drain here, and it’s still over a week away from the full moon,” Kalan grunts to me.
“She’ll be fine. She’s a Warrior. Come on.” I repeat Crimson’s words.
I nod to Calix and Kyra and press my heels into the flanks of my new horse to follow in Crimson’s tracks.
Kalan sets a fast pace, but after crossing the fork in the river, Crimson sets off again. We’ve made good time, and dusk is still hours away.
There’s been little conversation past the obvious directions and adjustments, but the growing number of questions about Kalan and his role in all of this does nothing to help my mind settle. Rather, embers spark one after another, driving me todistraction, because there are still too many dark gaps to burn through.
“I won’t ask you anything that might betray yourloyaltyto Ever. But how did no one know this was coming? There hasn’t been a Fifth?—”
“Since Ever and Fenix were born. No.”
“If the Orders knew, why didn’t they help her?” I think back to the argument with my father. What was he busy keeping protected behind years of secrets? He knew about Ever being a Fifth, but why are they so worried about her?
“They… only knew so much. Once Ever showed up, they would have known immediately who she was. Elex didn’t make friends, least of all the Heads of Orders. They lived through what happened last time. They would want to keep her as incapacitated as possible.”
“They tried. Are they frightened of her?”
Kalan doesn’t answer. Fine.
