Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(38)

Anger oozed from my sister like a rotten tomato in the sun, feeling putrid in my stomach.

“Guys …” I pleaded, knowing this was heading for trouble.

Neither of them noticed or cared.

“What does that mean?” Míra spat, jumping to her feet.

I jerked and hustled after her, wondering if I would have to tackle her to the ground.

“Calm down, Míra,” I hissed at her, but she breathed harder, hissing behind her teeth like she was going to spit fire.

“I’m not meaning any offense.” Risha finally looked up from the now organized marbles, her voice calm, though her eyes were narrowed, full of distrust and fear. “It means that I know Edmund. I know the Trpaslíks and their culture. I am fairly certain I know what he would have you do.”

“I doubt that.”

“I first went to their ‘pits’ when I was a child. I never went back. It was disgusting. Edmund even tried to get them banned before Timothy appointed him king in his stead.”

“Timothy?” Míra asked in confusion.

The calm in Risha’s voice left as she began to laugh. The sound was that same mocking that Momma would give our sister.

“You need a history lesson, little girl, before you start pretending like you know everything.”

It was then that Míra moved. I saw it a minute before she rushed her, and I wrapped my hand around her wrist, pulling her back toward me, hoping the small movement would be enough.

“Stop, Míra. Please,” I hissed, trying my hardest not to yell.

Míra fought against me once more as I pulled her back. I got her attention this time as she turned to face me, her hair swishing through the air from the intensity.

“Why should I? She’s not very nice,” Míra asked, her words masked by the language that we had adopted as children. Brought on by a speech impediment, the switched consonants made everything we said hidden to even the best Czech speakers. Even Míra’s speech therapist couldn’t understand us, which was probably why it stayed around even after her palate was corrected.

“I’m trying to help them, Jaromir. I want to help. But they keep talking to me like a child,” she pleaded, and my heart hurt from the response.

“You are a child, Míra.” I forced the words out, careful to make sure they were masked.

“Edmund didn’t treat me like a child.”

“But he wasn’t nice. You know Risha and Ryland and all of them are nice.”

“But I can’t tell them …” Míra continued in code.

Risha looked between us before moving back to the marbles, poking them with her finger. I knew she was really paying close attention, trying to figure out what we were saying.

“He’ll kill me if I don’t, Jaromir.” She had said it before, and even though I didn’t flinch, I was shaking. Míra’s wide eyes were scaring me. “He’s going to kill everyone if I don’t. I know I can save all of them … You have to help me.”

“They can help you, too, Míra. You have to trust them.”

Míra looked from me to Risha, staring at something.

I clung to her harder. Maybe this time, she would agree with me. Maybe this time, she would tell them what was going on, and then all of this could stop.

“Risha can fix it. I know she can.”

“You know I don’t believe that. I can’t. I have a job to do.”

Now I did cringe, a big shiver that rolled over me, and my heart thundered in my chest, knowing what she was talking about.

“Please don’t, Míra. Not now. Not ever.” I had tried to talk her out of it since she had brought it up, and this time was going to fail as much as the other ones at the rate I was going.

Míra looked at me once before sinking back down to the floor, the bed she leaned on creaking.

“Can we at least play a real game?” she said in straight Czech, her voice like an adult, pretending the last few minutes hadn’t happened. Momma used to do that, too. “Go have a battle in that ruin or something?”

Risha laughed. “Sorry, kid, but that is the last thing we are going to do.”

“And why not? It’s practical, and I’m sure Jaromir—”

“It’s dangerous, Míra,” Risha cut her off with a snap.

The two of them stared angrily, leaving me standing above them like a statue. I was starting to wonder if I could sneak out of here and find Ryland on my own.

“Besides, Ilyan has forbidden that kind of war-play.”

“No wonder everything here is so boring.” Míra poked at the marbles Risha had set before her, letting a stream of magic shoot into them before seeping right back into her, a purple line of light that flashed for a second then disappeared. “You don’t do anything.”

“We do plenty,” Risha said with a sigh.

Míra looked up at Risha grumpily, her lip pulled out like it used to when she was a little kid.

“We don’t kill people is all.” Risha was calm. It still didn’t stop the knot in my stomach from tightening right back up. I didn’t think I could have sat back down next to my sister if I had tried right then. The knot was too big, and my legs weren’t moving.

“Lame,” Míra groaned, her word choice one she had been using since we had turned six. “I miss the pits.”