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The four men returned after around an hour, with apparently nothing changed between them. Harel looked as pissed off and disbelieving as before. The other three didn't seem to have come to any sort of agreement.
They settled in for what looked like a full night of conversation, or rather arguing.
I excused myself and returned to the atrium.
The guards were back on the door, but I got the impression they were there to keep out anyone who shouldn't be there, rather than to keep us in. A move, presumably on Cavan's part to gain our trust. Or mine, anyway.
Maybe it was easier than having Tavian throw knives at them to get to me.
In the end, I went to bed with a restless mind and more questions than I could imagine getting all the answers to. Including whether or not I was going to stay here, return to the Winter Court, or go somewhere else.
At some point, I needed to sit down with Ryze, but for now my priorities were up in the air. Getting my sisters out of here no longer seemed viable. If none of the other High Lords agreed with what Cavan was trying to do, and if those lost courts did in fact awaken, they'd be needed here.I'dbe needed here.
I also wanted to be where my pack was. And where Zared was, all at the same time.
As far as I knew, I couldn't split myself in three.
I was still awake when the door opened slowly, almost silently. I assumed it was Tavian until I heard Ryze's voice.
"Khala? Are you still awake?" His whisper was soft enough that it wouldn't have woken me if I was asleep, but loud enough to hear.
"Yes." I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Is everything all right?"
He took his hand away from in front of a lit candle, illuminating the room just enough for me to see him. He set the candle holder on the table to the side of the room and sat on the side of the bed.
"I feel I should apologise for… I’m not certain where to start. I never intended for you to end up in the middle of all of this. In the middle of anything."
He rubbed a hand over his face. "I don't know what to think about what Cavan said. If he's right—if he's been right all along, we all should have been doing something for the last couple of decades. How many omegas with the magic we’ll need didn't make it past their heat?"
"You believe what he says, don't you?" I asked softly. "You don't want to, because you don't like him, but he makes sense."
"He does, because I've always thought the two courts still existed somewhere." Ryze lay down beside me and placed his hands under his head. "Those maps, the songs, they have to mean something. I don't know… It's possible they annihilated each other and all of this is for nothing."
"I'm new to this magic thing, but I don't think nothing melts stone." I found myself snuggling into him. He draped an arm around me.
"The only thing I know that can melt anything that hard, apart from extreme heat, is you," he said. "I'm talking about hearts of stone like mine. Like Cavan's too, unless I'm completely misreading the signs. Which I might be. I seem to be excelling at misreading things lately. Like the last hundred years or so. There's nothing more stubborn than a Fae who gets stuck in a comfortable rut."
"I'm sure there isn't," I agreed. I wasn't sure about melting anyone's heart. Mine was confused enough.
"It's possible he's wrong about the courts, but he mentioned other things happening. Tavian said assassins went missing. And then there was Illaria. Why would she keep him from the barracks if nothing was going on? Everything would seem to suggest… I don't know what it's suggesting."
"Therein lies the conundrum," he said. "No one knows. We talked for a long time and came to no conclusion. Except that Harel is a bigger prick than I thought he was. I suspect we can all agree on that. That's another thing I'm sorry for. He shouldn't be calling you names. I wanted to rip his head off. I wouldn't have shed a tear if Tavian landed that knife in his brain. Although, if it would have further complicated an already complicated situation. You can't assassinate a High Lord without consequences. Whoever inherited from him would be obligated to return the favour and assassinate me. And then my cousin Johah would have to do the same thing. If you ever assassinate one of us, make sure the finger points at someone else."
"I'll bear that in mind," I said. "You didn't tell Cavan about the maps, did you?"
"No, I didn't," Ryze admitted. "Believing he might be onto something and trusting him are two different things. I can't rule out the possibility he's working with someone else. He might have found a way to combine several kinds of magic to create that lightning bolt or whatever the fuck it was. He could have tried to use it to get rid of me. No one would know which way to point the finger then."
He toyed with my hair lightly. Every so often, his finger would brush against my skin, making me quiver.
"He might have found one of those lost courts," Ryze said thoughtfully. "He said the Shadow Court hated the Court of Dreams. The Court of Shadows was the one, according to legend, with the kind of power that could melt stone. They might be hunting for information on the whereabouts of the Court of Dreams."
"Like the maps?" I whispered. "You think he might be trying to figure out who has those maps?"
"I can't discount the possibility," Ryze said. "Those maps might give him—them, exactly what they need. The animosity between Cavan and Harel might be a pretense. An act to get us to trust Cavan."
"I suppose it could be true," I said carefully. "Cavan seemed sincere." I didn't want to believe he was using me after all.
"I'm sure he did," Ryze said. "People will do anything when there's a lot at stake. Don't forget what he did to Zared. And those priests back at the caravan. I know he explained his reasons, but those may be nothing more than pretty excuses."
