“I don’t need—”
The princess rolled her eyes. “You push everyone who loves you away. You think the whole world is against you, that no one understands you. Has it occurred to you that no one understands because you don’t let them?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Comeon! I tell you I am trying to be your friend, and you say you don’t need one. Then what do you want?”
“I don’t need—”
“I’m not asking you what you need, I’m asking you what you want.”
“Nothing!” Risa shouted, earning looks from everyone in the courtyard.
Except Javi, of course.
“Fine,” Amina snapped. “I told him you weren’t ready, but Javi was determined to tell you—” She clamped her lips shut.
At this, Risa lowered her voice. “Tell me what?”
“It’s not my place.” The princess flexed her jaw.
“Then you can keep your secrets, too,” Risa spat, ignoring the wretchedness she felt for picking fights with everyone and not knowingwhy.
Disappointment was written all over Amina’s face as she turned back toward the airship, apparently fed up with the argument herself.
“For someone who can see curses, you can’t see things very clearly.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVEIn Which Life-Altering Realizations Occur
Risa made her way aboard the airship and dropped onto an empty bench, still reeling from her conversation with Amina. The girl’s words repeated over and over in her mind. What had Javi wanted to tell her? Had he been intending to tell her the truth all along, that he needed her to break his supposed curse—one she was sure he didn’t have? Or was there something else he was hiding, something worse?
She took in the airship in a daze. It was one of the Regent’s personal machines, outfitted in luxury. Small but mighty, it flew with a deep rumble in its belly, and it had leather seats and a plush carpet the color of moss. The steel walls were painted burnt copper, and several windows allowed a clear view of the pastoral plains outside the dry patch that demarked San Cirilo. Beyond those were heather-covered hillsand valleys, farms dotting the landscape, and towns that appeared and disappeared as they flew past.
Javi had claimed a bench at the front of the airship, directly behind the curtain that housed the cockpit. He was dressed like a prince again, the life of a pauper a distant memory. The crisp white linen doublet had been tailored to his exact measurements in the span of a few hours, highlighting the width of his broad shoulders. The trousers were hemmed a few inches above his ankles, revealing a sliver of dark skin that made Risa aware of the stuffy heat in the airship. His curls were limned with gold threads, and his circlet was settled in its rightful place, gleaming against his forehead.
She didn’t realize he’d taken it from her rucksack.
He sat in silence, forearms perched on his thighs, fingers steepled. Amina sat with him, concern written across her face, her mouth pulled down in a frown. While her cape had not been replaced, she did wear a new silk tunic of bright sapphire, the tone highlighting the sharp edges of her beauty, the gray of her eyes. Her jeweled belt was slung around her hips, the pearl hilts of her daggers stark white like shards of bone. Her trousers were loose and hung a few inches below her knees, emphasizing the shapeliness of her calves and the battle scars garnered over the years. While she wore no diadem of her own to signify her royal blood, Linda’s gift was pinned to her cape, its center mechanism spinning wildly in its casing.
Risa watched as the princess leaned over to say something to Javi and received no response.
Besides Brunie, their only other companion was a guard busy staring out of a porthole, nose smudging the glass. With the way they gripped the window, Risa might have thought it was theirfirst flight, but she was sure the Regent wouldn’t have trusted her nephew’s life to a new member of her uniformed guards.
The airship wobbled. A groan reverberated across its metal body, wind buffeting its sides. Brunie scrambled into Risa’s lap while she slid down her bench and watched Amina skid into Javi.
His reaction was quick. One arm dragged the princess closer; the other braced against the bench to anchor them in place. Amina briefly rested her head against his shoulder.
Risa’s heart careened into her rib cage.
She was sick. With a horrible, fatal disease. Death was at her door, knocking with heavy fists, eager to claim her life. There were no doctors or midwives or blacksmiths moonlighting as healers to help her. This was an incurable, unknowable illness, and it was probably thanks to Brunhilda’s spell.
The airship righted itself, then immediately listed to the other side, sending them scrambling for purchase before the airship settled again.
Risa realized she was still staring at Javi and the princess when he lifted his head and their eyes locked.
He pushed Amina away as if she were diseased and climbed onto his feet in a hurry.
“I’m going to check with the pilots,” he declared to the plush rug and his new shoes. “Doesn’t anyone know how to drive this thing?”
