The Mirror King (The Orphan Queen, #2)(41)

The council members stood and offered their farewells, and soon began to trickle from the room. Francesca and Meredith were among the first to go, their heads bent together in soft discussion. “Over lunch, let’s discuss how we’ll decorate for your wedding ball. Your parents are meeting us at noon, correct?” The rest of the conversation fell under the buzz of other voices.

Tobiah warmed my side, barely a respectable distance between us. “You did very well today.”

My smile was shaky, but he pretended not to notice. “I’ll bring it up tomorrow, but I had an idea about where to get magic to fuel a barrier.”

Tobiah’s eyebrows raised. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“Perhaps you’ve heard that when wraith beasts die, a white mist flows out of them.”

“Yes.” Of course he knew. It was with Black Knife I’d first seen this phenomenon. “It’s wraith, isn’t it?”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps it’s something a little closer to magic. On my way to West Pass Watch, we fought a giant scorpion.” He’d been there, of course, but I couldn’t chance anyone knowing that. “When it died, the mist split and went into certain people—flashers in hiding, if I had to guess.”

Tobiah’s lips parted as he put all that together. He’d seen the mist go into me the night we fought a wraith cat together, but he’d had no way to know that wasn’t normal. It was unlikely he’d ever killed a wraith beast in anyone’s presence before. “I see,” he said at last. “You think we could harvest the necessary magic from wraith beasts.”

“I think it’s worth investigating, and perhaps offering a sizable reward for either the captured mist or live creature.”

“That would be dangerous, holding the creatures in the city.”

I nodded. “Perhaps a facility outside the city.”

“Indeed.” A faraway look fell over his eyes: he was already forming a plan. “I’ll have someone look into it.”

There was no doubt: Tobiah Pierce was meant to be king. Unfortunate aspects of his princely mask aside, he knew how to behave and make decisions. He knew how to reward people who earned it, and scold those who deserved it.

He would be a good king.

I offered a faint curtsy. “I’ll see you at this evening’s coronation.”





FOURTEEN


AFTER MEETING WITH the seamstresses for our coronation gowns, Theresa and I made our way to the Ospreys’ suite, Sergeant Ferris following at a respectful distance.

“It’s going to rain tonight.” Theresa’s announcement came out of nowhere. “I saw clouds when I looked out the window. Dark clouds.”

“The coronation is inside. Rain won’t matter.”

She lowered her voice. “Do you think it means anything? A big storm on coronation night?”

I shook my head and smiled. “You sound like Connor, all signs and superstitions. Are you keeping a mirror in your pocket, too?”

“The mirror thing turned out to be real.”

She had a point.

In the Ospreys’ suite, Kevin was pacing again. “We should be preparing for your coronation, Wil.”

I gave him a sharp look. “Don’t say anything like that tonight. Show respect to Prince Tobiah.”

“But you hate him.”

“After tonight, he’ll be the king granting us sanctuary. It doesn’t matter how I feel about him; he’s taking care of the people I care about, and that earns my respect.”

“Fine.” Kevin slumped onto the sofa between Carl and Connor. His limbs splayed out everywhere, forcing the younger boys to dodge flying elbows. “This is boring. When can we go into the city again?”

“Never.” That came out too harshly. I softened my tone. “Not for a while. It’s not safe.”

“The city is never safe.”

Theresa flicked her little finger at him. “Oh, stop your whining. There are so many worse problems out there than your boredom.” She stomped toward the balcony door and vanished outside. A ribbon of cold wind cut through the room, and was sliced off by the slamming door.

Carl crossed his arms. “What’s her problem?”

“Maybe you should ask her yourself.” Not that I was sure what was bothering her, either. “Do you like your new tutor?” I perched on the corner of the table.

“She’s fine,” said Connor.

“Fine.” Carl shrugged.

“Really pretty.” Kevin shot a rueful grin. “Smart, I mean. She knows a lot about the Indigo Kingdom. Even Aecor. This morning we went over how to behave at the coronation.”

“Do you think you can manage?” I asked.

“Give us some credit. We managed the memorial last night. You were the troublemaker.”

I scratched my chin with my little finger.

“We had a vote.” Carl leaned forward. “We don’t like your wraith friend. We think he’s a bad influence. And messy.”

“He is messy. And definitely has worse behavior than any of you.” My smile was faint. “What about the Wraith Alliance? Have you made any progress on that?”

“We’re still working on it,” Kevin said. “You only asked us to look at it the other day.”