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But I have no proof of that or anything else they might be plotting. It’s mere speculation based on the vaguest of impressions.
I’m just passing through the college gate, charting my path through the conjured maze to this week’s obnoxious phrase—Leering freaks return for rotted lunch—when my palm prickles with a burst of warmth. I jerk my hand up and catch the brief message as it glows across my skin.
Welcome to the Order of the Wild. Be ready for the call to your initiation.
Thirty-Five
Ivy
Alek paces the meeting room with uncharacteristic agitation. “We have no idea what they’ll throw at you now that you’re supposedly one of them.Anythingcould happen at the initiation.”
I lean against the side of the broad table. Tension’s been coiled tight around my gut since I got the message from the scourge sorcerers a couple of hours ago.
But I still have to say, “That’s been the case every time I’ve answered their summons. It’s always been a risk. At least this time, they trust me enough that I might find out what I need to ensure that Idon’thave to go back again.”
Casimir has maintained a warm presence at my side, his hand tucked gently around mine, but a thread of uneasiness winds through even his soothing tone. “This is what you’ve been working up to. But they didn’t tell you when the ‘call’ would come. Do they expect you to run off to the woods at a moment’s notice?”
I shrug. “That’s how it worked when Benedikt accused me. They want people who’ll be obedient to them above any other duty.”
My gaze veers along the empty table. A pang of melancholy resonates through my chest at the thought of the man I believed I could count on as much as the three around me.
The man who was willing to see me dead so he could join the scourge sorcerers’ ranks. The man who met a shameful death of his own because I fought back.
The conspiracy is like a poison, tainting everything it touches.
The second Alek pauses in his pacing, Stavros begins his own restless prowl of the room. “We can hope that there’ll be a large group of the conspirators together for the initiation. You should signal us with your locket once you’re all together—I can lead a squadron of the Crown’s Watch to arrest them. We can put an end to this and see you safe all at once.”
The determination in his tone sets off a different sort of pang in my heart. He sounds honestly concerned about my well-being.
I still don’t know how to wrap my head around his renewed protectiveness.
“The king didn’t like that idea when I suggested it to him the other day,” I point out. “I’m guessing he’ll like it even less now that he wants me to find out who’s gotten a hold of his royal seal. And we have no idea if it would even work when the conspirators are guarding their rituals so closely. If I’m the only one being initiated, as soon as a sentry warns of soldiers on their way, the scourge sorcerers will know I’m the one responsible.”
And gods only know what they’ll do to me then, before any squadron can reach me.
Alek’s mouth slants at a miserable angle. “They might find out even before then, depending on how much access the conspirators have to discussions in and around the palace.”
Stavros exhales sharply. “If the men King Konram sent to spy on the clay quarry catch the next secret delivery in time—”
“Then maybe it won’t matter,” I break in. “But we don’t know how long that’ll take or how soon they’ll call me. We have to assume I’m going.”
A growl escapes Stavros. He glowers at me, but his expression looks more anguished than angry. “I could follow you on my own. Act as a secondary witness. Be ready to jump in if they threaten you in any way.”
My throat constricts. I think he means it. He’d jeopardize the entire plan so that he can act as my personal bodyguard.
Does he feelthatguilty about how he treated me before? Or… does his interest actually run much deeper than that, the way Casimir suggested?
I don’t know what to do with that possibility. It hardly matters when I have no idea how long his current dedication to my safety might last.
I manage to keep my voice nonchalant as I set my hands on my hips. “And how far do you really think you’d get before they noticed you? Maybe you could convince them you were tracking me without my knowledge, but they might not want to take the chance and slaughter us both regardless.”
Stavros’s hand moves to rest on his sword. “I’d slaughter plenty of them first.”
I barely restrain myself from rolling my eyes. “Yes, well, true as that might be, I’d still prefernotto get slaughtered in the end, no matter how many of them we’d take down with us.”
The former general grimaces, but he knows I have a point.
Casimir lifts his head. “There’s another possibility we could revisit. Ivy’s already needed to use her magic in unplanned ways to protect herself and win over the scourge sorcerers. It’s the greatest weapon she has against them.”
