I ignore the blossoming frown and duck us around one of those councilmen with the giant airship hats. “Can you see what’s keeping him alive?”
She jerks me to a halt. Her eerie stare is boring holes straight into me. “Your ability . . .” She actually sounds incredulous. “I was so focused on . . . I didn’t . . .” Abruptly, she takes a step backward and nearly trips as she whispers, “He took it.”
My chest, my veins, my nerves ache. I turn and keep walking after Eogan. “He used Eogan’s block to cut it out.”
“And you’re unable to get it back,” she says in her airy voice, as the full picture apparently dawns in whatever way it does for Luminescents. She jumps to catch up. “When?”
“After you left my room earlier.” I weave us around a servant with two drink trays, and then we’re at the door Eogan and his men have just left through. I see them ahead down the candlelit hall, rounding a corner. “Just tell me how much time he has. Is there any chance of him surviving long enough until Draewulf moves on to take another host?”
“I don’t know. Up until now no one thought it possible to survive this long. It’s something to do with his blocking ability.”
“What about separating Eogan from Draewulf? I mean, if there was a way . . .”
“It’s never been done. The host would die.”
We round the corner and spot them again up ahead. “But hypothetically?”
“Hypothetically? There are always possibilities.”
I may only have known her a matter of days, but even I can tell she doesn’t believe it. I ask anyway. “Do you think you could see clear enough to know?”
Another two bends in the hall, and we take them in time to see Eogan unlocking a room. There’s a brisk exchange between him and his men while the Faelen guards look on before he enters and his door clicks shut. The Bron guards position themselves on each side of it like huge onyx statues, and the Faelen soldiers settle around them.
Rasha looks at me sideways. “I’m not sure. Their intentions are all over the place. Between Eogan and Draewulf and the block—it’s like the positive and negative are morphed. Hazy. Same as when someone’s not yet decided on a course of action.” A pause and then she perks up. “Although . . . it doesn’t appear that either of them have harmful objectives before he leaves tomorrow. On that they seem aligned.”
I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I let it out all in one tremble just as one of the guards turns our way. Rasha and I pull back behind the corner and study each other. Her eyes dim to their normal dark brown coloring, her ability receding with the glow.
“Are you telling me he’s not going to destroy the court or King Sedric tonight?”
She shakes her head. “Not from what I can determine.”
“Can you promise that?”
“Nearly 95 percent.”
I bite my lip. “I need time,” I finally whisper. “A couple of hours—maybe a day or two even—to watch for any change. To see if Draewulf absorbs more of Eogan or to research whether it’s possible he could survive a shift. After that, we’ll do . . . whatever needs to be done.”
“I’m all for letting Eogan live a bit longer, and you for that matter, which is why I stopped you from getting stabby back there. But a couple of days?” Her voice lilts higher than normal. “You’re holding the fate of five kingdoms in your hands. This should be taken to King Sedric.”
“Right. So he can kill him.”
“Or he’ll lock him up until they figure something out.”
I tilt my head and stare at her. Does she actually believe that?
She peers away.
“He’ll kill him and you know it,” I say. “Which will only restart the war, and Bron will come down harder on our heads. Except this time . . .”
She bites her lip.
This time my abilities are gone and I won’t be able to stop them.
“I’ll stay in this spot until he boards the airship,” I whisper. “After that . . .”
Her eyes flash toward me and widen with their reddish hue for a half second. “After that?” she says in a tone that says she’s just seen exactly what after that is going to entail. She snorts. “Are you insane? Bron isn’t going to welcome into their kingdom the person who destroyed their armada. You’re just as likely to get yourself killed.”
“Which is why I’ll make sure I’m not seen.”
She withers me a glare. “This is a bad idea. If they catch you sneaking aboard their king’s airship, they will kill you. And on top of that, perhaps killing Eogan right now might restart the war, Nym, but so will having King Sedric think Eogan stole you.”
“I’ll leave a note. If anything, he’ll blame my lovesick heart and the rumors of elopement he’s heard. In the meantime . . .” I glance around the corner at the guards again. “If he moves an inch I promise you I will have my knife at his back.”
“A knife? If he moves, you should be telling King Sedric and screaming it to every Hidden Lands kingdom! Think about how easily he stole your ability, Nym.”
“I wouldn’t say easily. And I will handle him if—when—I have to.”
She purses her lips together.