Seeing her there sitting among the Council, next to her father, talking about the Evil Queen, I remembered Brom’s words the other day. Was I going after the dragon just to prove my worth to my mother?
The meeting ended, and I barely noticed. Gelloren stopped both Weldan and me from leaving and requested we meet with Zach to review the details of the journey to the egg. Weldan promised to drag Zach to the strategy room after lunch tomorrow, since we were supposed to leave the very next day after that.
Mother didn’t look at me again. This time, I welcomed her dismissal. I had a new partner, more skilled than the others before him. It was time to shed the doubts she piled on me and finally prove her wrong.
…
The next morning, Brom told me she had left at dawn.
I opened the door wider, and Brom entered my room, shutting the door quietly behind him. I walked to the wall where my tapestry hung and sat on the floor, holding my knees.
Outside, a thunderstorm raged. Lightning flashed outside my window, and thunder shook the castle like an earthquake.
I didn’t mind the sound of the rain. It had a calming effect. Part of me was relieved she was gone, but the larger part still ached, knowing how little she cared. How little she even wanted to see me.
Brom sat beside me, and I leaned my head on his skinny shoulder.
It had been our ritual as children. Every time my mother would break me, Brom would be there, offering me his silent, supportive presence. Every time Brom would grow homesick for his parents who had died the day before he became my page, I would be there, offering my warm, gentle hand.
“I’m coming with you,” he said.
I smiled against his shoulder. I didn’t have to ask what he meant.
I knew, and he knew I knew.
Chapter
Ten
Preparations
“Your wounds have healed nicely from the battle, milady,” Ulfia said as she brushed her fingers across the pink skin on my thigh where the gash had been. “As expected of your Kiss.”
I only nodded—I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything but nerves for our departure tomorrow. After I’d finished packing, I lingered in my room until Brom had persuaded—forced—me to visit Ulfia to check on my wounds just in case.
“I’ve got some salve for that bruise,” Ulfia said, eyeing the purple mark on my cheek, courtesy of my mother.
“It’s fine. Don’t trouble yourself,” I tried to protest as she glided to the cabinet.
Ulfia’s salves worked wonders but always smelled abhorrent. Nine times out of ten, Kisses healed most wounds, but the magic wasn’t always perfect. Sometimes they required a little help and a little time. Like the locking curse that had plagued me, they could take weeks, sometimes months, to fully disappear.
“Nonsense.” She rummaged in the cabinet for a while, as I stared out the window and tried not to think about Kellian being in the Curse Ward next to me.
“Found it!”
“I’ll take that,” someone cut in.
At the new voice, I tore my gaze from the window.
Zach stood in the doorway, holding the jar of salve.
My nerves doubled at his sudden appearance, and I jerked down the hem of my dress to cover my exposed thigh.
“Oh, but—” Ulfia began, and Zach produced one of his disarming smiles.
“I’m her partner now. I’ve got to get used to doing things like this, right?”
While I glared at Zach, Ulfia pursed her lips and left the room, even though no one had asked her to.
“How’d you find me? Bribe another servant?”
Zach ignored me, unscrewing the lid on the jar then dipping his fingers into the mint, shassa root salve. “Tilt your head.”
I didn’t. I just stared at him. “I can put on my own salve.”
“Difficult to do without a mirror. Move your hair.” When I still didn’t budge, he added, “Please.”
Sighing, I brushed the wisps of curls away from my cheek. At the touch of his fingertips coated with the salve, I almost shivered—because the salve was cold.
This close, I could see my mark on his hand. His sleeve covered most of it, but the pattern of ivy peeked out on his wrist.
He rubbed the salve on more gently than I thought possible, given how tender the bruise was. I thought briefly about asking for a Kiss to heal it, but yesterday he refused to give me a Kiss to heal a bloody gash, so I doubted he’d give it up to heal a bruise.
“You should’ve told me.”
“What?” I finally looked at his face. I was right: underneath the beard he had a faint scar on his jaw and another on his cheek. A thousand colors speckled his hazel eyes.
“About you taking the Sense,” he clarified, carefully setting down the salve on the bedside table. “I would’ve never… It’s not fair that you…”
“Is it my responsibility to tell you things you should already know?”
He made a tch sound with his tongue.
“It’s what’s done,” I said. “You’ll thank me later.”
“I won’t.”
Zach placed both his hands on either side of me. With him so close I had to lean back to avoid the touch of his forehead. He lowered his gaze to my legs, and his hand hovered over my thigh, right where the gash had been. The air was tight between us, as his gaze went from my legs to focus on my face, lingering on the bruise that still stained my cheek.
“I’m worried.” He lifted my hand that bore his mark and traced the stag’s antlers with his thumb. “Without my Sense, I’m going to be fighting blind.”
My heartbeat was racing, and I feared he could hear it, or feel my pulse in the wrist he held. “You have me for that now,” I said softly.
“Goodness, are we intruding?”
I peered around Zach’s shoulder to find Master Gelloren and Amias—of all people—standing there.
Zach quickly moved away, and in three strides he was out of the room. Amias glared at me, then at Zach retreating down the hall. His face reddened, and he, too, walked away.
Gelloren tilted his head, a small grin almost hidden underneath his whiskers. “Popular today, aren’t you?”
“What did Amias want?” I asked.
“I believe he’d heard about your partnership with Zach. But perhaps he wanted to appeal to your…er…non-warrior side.”
I folded my arms, scowling. “I’m pretty sure I don’t have one.”
Gelloren wisely didn’t comment. He strode forward and inspected the bruise Zach had finished rubbing salve on. “About your mother… She’s harsh only because she cares.”
No, a small voice spoke inside me, she has never cared. Never about me.
“You know, Ivy, we wouldn’t have told you about the dragon if we didn’t think you could beat it.”
I stared at Master Gelloren’s calm, familiar face. In many ways, he felt like more of a grandfather to me than King Helios ever did. “I know.”
“And now with Zach… Well, let’s just say that after seeing him fight, I feel much better letting you go.”
I nodded.
Master Gelloren dug into the folds of his robe and pulled out a small silver compact, with intricate designs of flowers and ivy—appropriate. Touching it made my fingers tingle.
I popped it open and gasped. “A magic mirror.”
Magic mirrors were rare and powerful. It took a lot of work and effort for a mage to create one, but once made they could be used for many things. They could show anything your heart wanted to see, act as a communication portal, show scenes and memories from the past, and sometimes witches and mages trapped spirits and magical creatures within the glass.
“It’s so we don’t lose contact,” Master Gelloren said. “You can talk to me anytime.”
“Thank you, Master.” I closed the compact, the silver grooves of ivy pressing into my palm.
…
After lunch, I met with Weldan in one of the strategy rooms we used for war planning. It had everything we needed, namely, maps. Maps of all the roads throughout Myria, way up into the Galedral Forest, maps of the Fields of Galliore, and the islands in the Seas of Glyll, and the best routes to take to get to Raed, Freida, and Saevall.
Zach was late. This seemed to be a habit for him.