The Mirror King (The Orphan Queen, #2)(115)

That sounded ominous.

The desktop clock ticked, and people in the hallway laughed as they walked by. Tobiah let out a long breath. “Maybe we should start with you telling me how much you remember of our childhood.”

James shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about what I remember. I want answers.”

“Please. I’ll tell you everything. I just . . . want to know.”

“That doesn’t seem very fair,” I said. “James just wants to know, too.”

“It’s all right.” James sighed. “When we were nine, we got in trouble for swimming in the Saint Shumway fountain. Your idea, of course. And when we were ten—”

“What about before that? Before the One-Night War?”

“That’s hazier. But we were young.” James frowned, focusing inward. “I remember your seventh birthday party when Lord Roth gave you the pre-wraith spyglass, and we hung out the windows to get a good view of Indigo Order training. I fell and broke my leg. I vaguely remember lessons, before I went to the Academy. Hours and hours of tutors talking about history and mathematics. We were always sleepy from our sword training.”

“What about any memories without me?”

After a brief hesitation, James shook his head. “No. But we were together so much then. We always have been.”

“You’re right,” said Tobiah. “We have. But there were times you visited your mother’s holdings without me. Do you remember that at all? Before the One-Night War.”

“No. I just know I went there.”

Tobiah’s face was tight with discomfort. “You don’t remember because I wasn’t there. Because I couldn’t tell you what happened.”

James and I waited, and finally it came:

“I made the bridge earlier today.” Tobiah gestured at the window, a fluttering, fleeting motion. “And ten years ago, I made James.”





FORTY-ONE


“I CAN EXPLAIN.” Tobiah’s voice was rough.

“I hope so.” Muscles tightened around James’s jaw, and he never looked away from Tobiah. He hardly blinked. “Because right now it sounds like I’m a piece of a bridge. Something you can make appear and disappear.”

“No, that isn’t it at all.” He shoved his fingers through his hair, all the way to the back of his neck, which he massaged for a moment. “This isn’t the way I meant to tell you.”

“It sounds like you meant to never tell,” James said. “Saints, Tobiah. The wraith boy knew. He told me months ago that I wasn’t human, that I wasn’t what I claimed to be. The wraith boy told me the truth, but you’ve been hiding it for a decade.”

Silence.

“What am I?” James whispered.

“You’re my cousin. My best friend.” Tobiah sat on the edge of the desk and kept his voice soft. “That will never change.”

“Maybe you should start from the beginning.” I pulled out the desk chair and offered it to James. He stared at it for a heartbeat, like he might refuse, but then he collapsed into it. I rested a hand on his shoulder.

“I need to preface it by saying this was the worst point in my life. Even with everything that’s happened recently, this is the worst.” Tobiah slumped and stared at the ceiling. “The night I was abducted, James, you and I were spying on my father’s meeting with Aecorian diplomats, and a man in a red uniform caught us. General Lien.” He glanced at me, but there was nothing to say. I already knew General Lien had kidnapped Tobiah and brought him to Aecor to use as leverage.

“What then?” James asked.

“You knew something was wrong when we saw General Lien in the hall. You didn’t trust him, so you stayed in my room that night. To protect me.” Tobiah’s voice caught. “When the general came for me, you were there, armed with one of our wooden practice swords. It didn’t stop the general. He crashed into my room and threw you aside. You were unconscious. I fought, but I was so worried about you I couldn’t defend myself.”

James sat straight and tall, eyes never leaving Tobiah.

“Other men came into the room, just two or three. The general said to take both of us so it would look like we’d run away or were playing a game. Our parents wouldn’t know we were missing until morning. I think there was some kind of explosion in Greenstone that night, something that distracted the Indigo Order and police. We were put in a wagon and taken from the city. I don’t remember much of that. Just that there weren’t many people with us. General Lien wanted to move quickly.”

A knock sounded on the door. We all paused and looked over, but no one moved until Oscar’s voice came, sending the person away.

“Once we were out of the city, General Lien bound us to a horse. We were gagged, but I could hear you breathing in my ear. You were still unconscious. We rode for hours like that, mostly at a gallop. The general wanted to be as far from Skyvale as possible before dawn.”

I barely breathed myself as I looked between the boys. James was ashen, his eyes wide and afraid.

Tobiah blinked away tears. “It wasn’t quite light out when I felt your body go slack. You’d stopped breathing.”

My skin prickled with a surge of horror. “No.”

James looked as though he was struggling to stay upright, and I squeezed his shoulder in a pale measure of support.