“A birthmark,” said Kai smoothly, snapping time back into place. “She doesn’t like to talk about it. Something about superstitions in Tempesia.” He waved a hand as if dismissing the northern kingdom and all its silly beliefs.
I expelled a breath, grateful for the easy lie. “Yes. I was born with it. And you asked me why I would dedicate my life to the queen. I was never accepted in Tempesia.” That much was true. “My true home is here, and my place is serving her. I want nothing else.” I made sure to meet the master’s eyes, unwavering.
His expression darkened and he went silent. “Very well,” he said finally. “You may take the trials. You have a week to prepare.”
Kai made a strangled noise. Master Dallr turned grim eyes on him.
“Master,” said Kai respectfully. “A week? Most students have years.”
“Indeed. And that is the challenge you have been set by the queen, Prince Kai,” the master said. “You will train Ruby, and you may use the school as often as you wish. If she passes, you will be allowed to take your final trial a second time. I don’t have to tell you that getting a second chance is unprecedented. The queen has been very generous.”
I sucked in a breath, looking quickly at Kai to gauge his reaction. So this was the reason he’d made the long voyage to Tempesia and risked the Frost Court: to trade me for a second chance at the trials. And he was getting what he wanted. I expected to see satisfaction, maybe elation, on his expressive features.
But if he was happy, it was hard to tell. He didn’t move or speak for several seconds. It was unlike him to be at a loss for words. I touched his shoulder and his lashes fluttered as if he were coming out of a trance.
“I trust this is to your satisfaction?” Master Dallr asked drily, his mouth curving ever so slightly as he watched Kai’s reaction. I wondered if it was the closest thing to humor that the master ever allowed himself.
A telltale pulse beat in Kai’s neck. He stood and bowed low. “Extremely generous. Thank you.”
We left the school, skirting groups of sparring students in the courtyard. Kai’s hands were balled into fists.
I tilted my head up to speak in his ear. “You’re pale as death. You look like you’ve eaten a bad fish.”
Even my insult didn’t jar him from his unaccustomed silence. He seemed to relax a little, though. By the time we reached the carriage, he’d regained his color along with his usual arrogant strut. When I was seated across from him, he knocked on the roof and we rolled away from the school. He stared at nothing in particular.
“What’s wrong with you?” I leaned forward. “If I’m not mistaken, you were just given your second chance. I would have thought you’d be… oh, I don’t know… happy?”
“I am happy,” he bit out.
My eyebrows rose. “You seem like it.”
“Conditions.” He frowned. “I should have known she would add conditions.”
“Why is it so important to you? Passing the trials?”
He shot me a burning glare, as if I knew the answer and was merely baiting him.
“What?” I gave him an open-palm gesture. “I wasn’t born here. I don’t know these things.”
“Only a master can rule an island. Without passing the trials, I won’t be able to succeed my father as ruler of our home.”
“Oh.” The pieces fell into place. “When did you take the trials the first time?”
He didn’t bother looking at me as he answered. “Almost two years ago.”
“What happened?”
He grimaced. “Revealing details of the trials is forbidden.”
“So how are you supposed to train me if you can’t tell me what to expect?”
He waved a vague hand. “I’ll figure it out.”
He was beyond frustrating. “Well, at least I know why you lied to me, essentially kidnapped me, and handed me to your queen like a wrapped present.”
“You agreed willingly enough.”
“Yes, we need to talk about all the lies you told to secure that agreement. For the record, I haven’t forgiven you. I just put it aside because we had more important things to worry about today.”
“Fine. I admit that I lied. But in the end, you’re getting what you want, aren’t you? The chance to learn how to master your gift? You were eager enough when you asked the queen to give you a chance at the trials.”
“I don’t like being lied to. Besides, she may be letting me take the trials, but I’m still under her control. I would rather have come here secretly.”
He snorted. “Nothing happens on Sere without the queen knowing. You’d have been worse off if you’d tried to sneak in.”
I folded my arms.
He stared at me for a few seconds. “All right, I’m sorry. I was desperate. And I didn’t know you.”
“You know me now.” I stared at him. “Don’t lie to me again.”
“I promise,” he said, fighting a smile.
“I don’t trust you when you smirk at me like that.”
“My enjoyment has nothing to do with whether or not I’m telling the truth. It’s just that you’re rather adorable when you’re annoyed. Am I forgiven?”
The answer was easy. “No.”
“You’ll have to forgive me once you pass your trials,” he said with confidence. “We’ll train every available moment until you’re as prepared as I can make you. Be warned, though. It won’t be easy.”
“I’m not scared of hard work.”
“Good.” He settled back and folded his arms behind his head. When he started to put his feet up on my seat, I knocked them off with my knee. It wouldn’t do to let Kai have his way all the time. He would become truly impossible.
As we passed the wharf, my nose wrinkled at the scent of hundreds of sweaty fishermen and laborers and ten times as many dead fish being gutted or dried or piled into baskets. In between shacks and fishmongers’ huts, the sea sparkled with flecks of sunlight that winked like a thousand cold diamonds. It reminded me a little of Arcus’s eyes when he was angry: sun-bleached blue lit with white sparks.
The bobbing ships made me think of the vision I’d just had in the Fireblood school. Whereas previous visions had been some form of memory—aside from the vision in the throne room, which was so strange it had seemed more like a nightmare—this recent one had felt real. Like a glimpse through a spyglass, as if I’d been watching something that was really happening. I had the sense I’d fallen into the Minax’s mind for a few minutes. If that were true, it had found its way to possessing some hapless sailor and was currently on a ship.
What if it was on its way to Sudesia? Would it come all this way to find me, its true vessel?
If so, it only made my mission more vital.
I couldn’t help but wonder what might happen to Kai once I escaped Sudesia. Would the queen turn on him and punish him for my disloyalty? Imprison him? Judging by our interaction in the throne room, she seemed as mercurial as the sea, capable of anything.
I watched Kai as he lazed on the carriage seat, staring out the window with a placid expression, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. The only detail that belied the studied picture of ease was the hand resting on his knee. It was curled into a white-knuckled fist.
ELEVEN
“FORGET WHAT YOUR FROSTBLOOD monk taught you. I’m telling you to rein in your fire on the upswing and let it out at the end.”
Kai demonstrated by snapping a fire whip, the crack reverberating off the walls of the school. We’d arrived at the end of a morning practice session, watching a few minutes of sparring before the students filed inside for meditation. The scent of flowers perfumed the oppressively humid air. A handful of masters watched us from discreet positions on benches or stools. We’d been practicing for an hour and Kai was already impatient. It didn’t bode well for the rest of the afternoon.
“Fine.” I swished the fiery rope into the air in what I thought were impressive trails of flame. I controlled it well, but even I could see that it didn’t crack with the kind of force Kai had achieved.