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I meander on, my eyes turned toward the next set of terrariums but my mind drifted far beyond this room.
The king’s goal isn’t really to have me murder Ster. Torstem. It’s to end the threat the scourge sorcerers prevent. He simply thinks their leader’s death is the likeliest way to ensure that outcome, and I’m the tool most readily available.
What if there’s something that could destroy the conspiracywithoutme having to stain my hands with all that blood?
Forty-Five
Alek
When I step through the cord into the palace meeting room at our scheduled time and find only Stavros waiting, my pulse hiccups. “Isn’t Ivy—”
“The bug club meeting ran a little long, but she’s fine,” he says from where he’s sitting at the table, before I need to finish my anxious question. “She didn’t end up eating beforehand, so she ran to grab something from the dining hall before she’ll join us.”
The momentary panic that gripped me eases. I walk over to the table, but I still feel too anxious to sit down.
Stavros’s expression is grim. It’s hard to relax when even a former general who’s survived a hundred battles looks uneasy about a situation.
My fingers curl around the top of the chair. “Did she tell you anything about what went on with the entomology club?”
Stavros’s mouth tightens even more before he answers. “A little. As usual, she wants to give us the full account all together rather than repeating herself.”
He obviously isn’t inclined to give me the little he does know, but after a pause, he lifts his gaze to meet mine again. “One of those clay deliveries you suspect is for the scourge sorcerers went out this morning.”
My heart skips in a more enthusiastic fashion. “Was someone able to track it?”
“The two soldiers the king assigned to watch the quarry are particularly adept at stealth missions. They followed the workers at a distance and saw the hand-off with the buyer. Unfortunately, they only managed to stay on the buyer’s trail for half a mile before the wagon and its driver vanished.”
I frown. “‘Vanished’?”
Stavros lets out a disgruntled sigh. “Simply disappeared from view in a blink, as the soldiers tell it. They hung back for a short while and then surveyed the area, but they couldn’t find any traces of passage.”
I push away from the chair to pace the length of the table. “We know from what Ivy’s told us that the scourge sorcerers must have someone very skilled with concealing magic on their side. They’re able to disguise their passage of the Starsil and the bonfires they worship around.”
“Yes, we have to assume magic was involved. So we don’t knowwherethey were taking the clay, but I think we can consider it confirmed that it is the scourge sorcerers who are taking it.”
His tone stays as grim as his expression. I can’t summon a smile myself.
It’s an awfully minor victory. We need so much more if we’re going to free Ivy from the task King Konram assigned to her.
Casimir arrives a moment later, with the same worried glance around the room I must have made on my entrance. Before he can even ask about Ivy, she emerges from her loop of cord too with a swish of her layered skirts.
Her face holds such a mix of foreboding and resolve that a pang reverberates through my heart even as my lips spring into a smile at the sight of her. She swipes a few stray strands of hair back from her cheeks and squares her shoulders.
But when her eyes meet mine, the emotion that sparks in them sends a bolt of giddiness straight through my nerves. With an answering smile, she walks straight to me and bobs up to press her mouth against mine.
It isn’t one of the chaste pecks we’ve exchanged since she told Casimir and me that we needed to tone down the physical part of our relationship. The heat of the kiss sets my pulse racing with a flush that washes over my skin.
I hesitate only for an instant with a hitch of surprise, and then I clasp the back of her neck to return the kiss as eagerly as she’s offered it. I don’t know what’s gotten into her, but I want her to know I’m right here with her.
Ivy draws back with a softer smile that lights me up from head to toe. “I sorted some things out with Julita. We don’t have to hold back our feelings.”
The relief that sweeps through me at those words is as much for Ivy as my own satisfaction. I can’t imagine what it’s like being at odds with another person who’s residing right inside your head.
I squeeze her shoulder. “I’m glad you could come to an understanding.” As I peer into her eyes, I try to picture the woman I knew before her watching me through them too. “Thank you.”
Ivy breaks into a laugh, a hint of a blush coloring her pale cheeks. “She says you’re very welcome as long as you make sure to take good care of me.”
My own face heats even more, but my lips twitch with a grin. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”
