I turned visible and hopped down off the rock, pointing. “Look!”
Teraeth followed the line of my arm, although his gaze was still wary. He probably thought it was a trick.
There really was a ship though, a ship with black sails making its way around the island toward the main harbor, coming from the opposite direction to the Maw.
“So?” Teraeth bent over and picked up the red flag. “It’s a supply ship. Nothing interesting there. Leave it. We still have a challenge to finish.”
I gave him a look that suggested he might very well have lost his mind. There were plenty of people on the island who had been waiting for that supply ship for months now. Had she not joined the Brotherhood, Tyentso could have left on that ship, headed back to Zherias to find more work. Most of the survivors of The Misery would probably leave on that ship.
If not for the Old Man, I would have left on that ship.
I ran back down the mountain, although to be fair, it was more like calculated sliding.
Others had noticed the ship already, or had been warned to expect its arrival. As I started down the path toward the harbor, I recognized one figure ahead of me in the distance as Kalindra.
She too was heading toward the harbor. Unlike me though, she had a bag slung over her shoulder. She wasn’t dressed in the black robes of the Brotherhood, but in simple traveler’s garb, including the patterned veil of a Zheriaso native, worn like a shawl. It hadn’t occurred to me that she was of mixed blood that included some Zherias stock. Kalindra was lighter skinned than Ola, but not by much. The knots in her hair should have been a clue.
But she was leaving.
“Kalindra!” I shouted.
She glanced back at me, put a hand to her forehead in the manner of someone trying to keep the glare out of their eyes, and turned away again. She kept walking toward the bay.
“Let her go,” Teraeth said. “You knew this day would come.”
I startled. Teraeth had followed me after all.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “She’s leaving?”
“A lot of people are leaving,” Teraeth said. “Others are arriving. It’s the way of things.”
“Okay, but why wouldn’t she say goodbye? When’s she coming back?”
“She’s not.”
I stood there and stared at him, my mouth dry, my hands working at my sides making silent fists—releasing them, starting over. I couldn’t process what he was saying. I didn’t like being on this island. I didn’t like being imprisoned here, and frankly, I hadn’t quite given up on the idea that Khaemezra controlled the Old Man; that the dragon was her way of making sure I stayed and did what I was told. I know a thing or two about cons, after all.
Kalindra made all that tolerable. Kalindra was the reason I could stay sane. With Kalindra I didn’t have to be controlled by what Xaltorath had done to me. With Kalindra I could feel normal.
She couldn’t leave. She just couldn’t.
“What?” I finally said.
He didn’t look at me. “She won’t be back. Her new assignment is long-term.”
I knew what the Black Brotherhood did for a living. “Who’s she being sent to kill?”
“It’s not that kind of assignment. Anyway, it’s none of your concern.”
I took a step toward him. “Excuse me? Not my concern?”
Teraeth’s upper lip pulled into a sneer. “What part of that was too simple for you, Your Highness? This is Brotherhood business. You had your chance to join, and you refused. It’s a courtesy I’m even telling you this much.”
“I don’t recall your mother saying I had to join. Anyway, aren’t you forgetting that Kalindra was one of my teachers?”
Teraeth’s stare turned hateful. “It seems she was taking too many liberties with the curriculum.”
My stomach tightened. “What?”
Teraeth paused. “It’s … never mind. I spoke rashly.”
“No. Explain yourself. Too many liberties? What did you mean by that?”
He looked abashed. “Never mind my words. I’m not happy that she’s leaving. Your new teacher is arriving by the same ship. He’ll take over your training, just as Mother promised.” He turned away to leave.
I ran ahead of him until I blocked his path. “No. You’re not walking away from me, Teraeth. She was taking too many liberties? Are you saying she was sent away because we’re lovers? Everyone on this island is bedding everyone else, usually in groups. I pick one woman and stay faithful to her and she’s punished for it?” I pointed a finger at him. “Is this your doing?”
That stopped him. “My doing?”
“I’m just curious if you’re sending her away because you’re jealous of me or because you’re jealous of her?”
His nostrils flared out as he stared at me, disbelief and fury naked in his eyes. “You arrogant little bastard.”
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
Teraeth scowled as he stepped toward me. “You already know you’re wrong. Kalindra is my friend and I care about her, but I’m not in love with her, nor she with me. Neither of us expected monogamy from the other. And as for you—” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t insult me by suggesting that the only way I would be welcome in your bed is by removing all rivals. You may be too shamed by your precious Quuros masculinity to admit you want me, but that’s your problem, not mine.”
Teraeth finished by lashing his hand through the empty air in front of him. “Anyway, Kalindra’s assignment has nothing to do with me. Mother thought Kalindra was in danger of falling in love with you, so it would be best she left—before the relationship progressed beyond all recovery.”
“Kalindra…” I ran down the hillside, toward the harbor.
Footsteps behind me, then something heavy crashed into my back. I rolled to find that Teraeth had tackled me. He followed that up by punching me in the face, which was like being hit with a maul. I twisted aside to grab one of his arms, hoping to throw him off-balance enough so I could gain my own. He pulled his arm out of reach, twisted around, and grabbed my wrist in such a way that if he wrenched hard, my arm would break or dislocate. His legs pinned mine and all he had to do was bring a knee up to leave me too incapacitated to do more than vomit.
“She’s not for you,” Teraeth told me, his face inches from my own. “You like her, she’s safe, but you don’t love her. You will never love her. Letting her become emotionally attached to you is nothing more than cruelty.”
“You don’t know that.” I tried to break free, but Teraeth knew tricks that my teachers had only just suggested might exist.
“I know she’s not a blood-haired Jorat girl with eyes like fire.”
I stopped struggling. “What did you say?”