“There’s time,” Caelan said again, rougher this time.
“There’s time to ride to Kingsborough,” Roy agreed. “Just about. But you must still infiltrate the palace, find Brigid, get the King alone, take his skin –”
He broke off, his voice rising with more agitation than I knew him capable of.
“The longer you stay, the less chance we have, Caelan. You should have left hours ago.”
“And what if I had?” Caelan answered, straining to keep his voice low as it peaked with fury. “What about Fischer? I should never have agreed to your gods-damned confession, it did fuck all to deter him.”
A tense silence.
“You promised me you’d find him, Roy. Yousworeyou could handle it.”
“I thought I could,” Roy said simply. “I chose the wrong form – how could I know he would run from a fellow Kingsman? He evaded me.”
“Heevadedyou. You could have overpowered him. Youshouldhave. You must be a hundred years old, there arethousandsof skins you could have used–”
“A strong skin only goes so far,” Roy said, volume rising with a low thrum of power though his tone was gentle as ever. “Beneath it, I remain a tired old man whoyoudragged into this coup. I’ll thank you to remember that and show some gods-damned respect for your elders.”
The silence that followed was anything but respectful. Even through the dark depths of my barest consciousness, I couldsense the crackle of tension in all that was not said. There seemed no end to that tension, but for all I knew it could have been moments or hours later, perhaps even a brand new conversation when Caelan finally spoke again.
“She could have died,” he said quietly.
Roy’s answer was distinctly pained. “I would not have let that happen. I have known Miss Roz for some time now. She cared for Tanner. For me too, when not many others bothered.” He hesitated a moment, then added; “And she is your soulmate.”
Shock rang through the black, and it was almost enough to pull me to the surface. But a warm and reassuring knowledge sang within me. It drowned out all else.
Because I had known this.
Had known it for a long time, heard the song between us even when its melody confused me. Now it soothed me; kept me company in the dark while my body and mind pieced themselves back together.
Soulmate.
“That is none of your business,” said Caelan.
“It is. Because you are my business, and she is yours. You have a duty to perform, Caelan, for the good of us all. Trust she will be cared for as one of our own, until your return.”
???
“Where are you going?”
My tongue was dry and heavy, and the words came out in a tumble of nonsense.
“What did she say?”
“Oh my gods, she’s awake.”
The voices by my side were not the ones I remembered, though they were no less familiar. My muscles responded belatedly and it took an age for me to reach the cloth over my eyes, even longer to pull it off.
I blinked several long, slow blinks before the face above my own began to take shape.
My father’s copper curls, the same brown eyes I shared with my mother, a soft, crooked smile I knew better than my own.
“Magnus,” I breathed. “Mags?”
His answering smile was tentative and achingly hopeful.
“It’s me, Roz.”
