It must cost him to use magic like this.
I glanced over at the Viceroy, and was disconcerted to find him watching me, his eyes narrowed, an expression I couldn’t read on his face.
The crown in his chest gleamed, golden-filigreed spokes peeking above his skin. He always kept his shirt open, I noticed, a reminder of his power. I hadn’t realized the extent of what King Rusul’s crown controlled until Kiyan had described it. The power to suck magic from an entire Court and wield it as your own.
And if the Viceroy had Queen Azari’s crown as well, he’d have nearly ultimate power.
I just had to make sure he didn’t get it.
My legs were pulled upward and we were lifted in the air. I gasped and grabbed onto Kiyan’s shirt front. He glanced down at me, startled, his concentration breaking. We lurched, dropping from the sky, and I screamed, clutching him tighter. But he regained our balance quickly, righting us. Then he gave me a small smile as he looked at my hands and returned his focus.
It was an unnatural feeling—thick roots lifting my body up, slowly at first, and then they gained speed, until the Viceroy was left behind on the ground with the soldiers, watching us with his greedy eyes.
We were being lifted up the mountain, the vines commanded by the man pressed against me. My stomach flipped as our speed increased, and I clung to Kiyan’s shirt as if he would help me, instead of being the reason I wanted to throw up.
“I wish we’d climbed!” I shouted up at him, over the rushing wind, as we were hoisted into the air.
He glanced down again, but this time his smile was sly. “I can get you up the mountain, but I can’t promise you won’t fall to your death.”
“Liar, you need me. You wouldn’t kill me.”
He laughed, his chest rumbling against my hands.
I had the urge to fight against the vines, to tear them from my legs and plummet to the valley floor once more. I hadn’t thought through what it would feel like to depend entirely on him as he brought us up to the top, to entwine my body with his. It was a reminder of this morning, but instead of vines it had been legs and arms locked together.
Eventually we reached the top of the outcropping, and the vines placed us softly on the stone. They slowly began to slither away from my skin, but again, they moved like a caress, their touch familiar. I watched Kiyan, but he had his eyes closed and was speaking softly, his magic seeming to require verbal cues.
I was relieved to be back on the ground again.
“You can let go of me now,” he said, humor in his voice.
“Oh,” I replied, not realizing I still clung to his shirt front, my body still plastered to his, despite the fact that we were back on solid ground, and I didn’t need to hold on at all. I released him hurriedly and stepped back without making eye contact. My face was hot, and I was sure I was flushed with embarrassment.
Instead of focusing on that, I took in our surroundings.
The plateau of the mountain was desolate. Flat, with a rough bit of underbrush beneath our feet, but other than that, no sign of an entrance or vault.
This time I summoned my magic instead of waiting, closing my eyes and feeling for the threads of gold in my mind. They wove around my head, then became unlaced, coiling out over the area like a webbed map. The light burst from me, a glittering spool of sunlight.
“Remarkable,” muttered Kiyan, and I startled at him so close to me, his voice low.
“Do you use a specific word when you conjure them, is there something they listen to?”
I drew my brows together, thinking through his question as the golden threads drifted around me. “No, it isn’t like that. My magic isn’t something to be told—it’s just me. I do talk to it sometimes, but it feels like talking to myself. It’s like holding out your hand and turning the knob of a door—do you need to tell your arm to lift? Your wrist to turn? It’s an action that’s part of me.”
He cocked his head, watching the golden threads. “Mine is like a partnership, a connection I have with the earth, with life. A conversation.”
“And it’s not part of you? You don’t feel what it feels?”
His eyes flitted to mine. “No, I do. It’s just more like I’m inhabiting the power for a short while. Visiting.”
I was about to reply when my golden web pulled me back, snagging on something at the edge. I stood and walked over to it, all other threads dissipating into golden dust except the one that had snagged like a lure.
It was here, I knew it.
I was so determined that I didn’t notice the rough terrain until my foot caught on a rock and I fell, tumbling toward the edge. A scream tore through me, my face meeting the open air until a warm hand caught me and yanked me back. I fell into Kiyan’s chest with floppy relief.
“Thank you.” I looked up at him, but he stared stoically ahead and then released me abruptly. I fell to the ground in a heap and made a frustrated sound. His mouth quirked but he stepped back from me, not meeting my eyes.
