The Mirror King (The Orphan Queen, #2)(68)

No. Tobiah would never be mine.

“I was wondering.” Prince Colin rested his hand on the doorknob. “If your wraith can cause so much destruction in the Cathedral of the Solemn Hour, and the swift death of Lady Meredith, what kind of damage can he do to crush the rebellion in Aecor Territory? Lien wouldn’t stand a chance if you loosed that creature on the Red Militia.”

My heart thundered in my ears. “The wraith boy is not a weapon.”

“That’s all he is, Your Highness. A weapon. Why keep him if you will not use him?”

Snow stung my face. Soldiers hurried to their wagons, a few with their shoulders hunched against the cold wind. None of them looked at me, or noticed the way Prince Colin stood, possessive and predatory. I could take out my daggers and shove the blades deep into the crown prince’s stomach. I could slice so that his entrails fell to my feet. At this point, only dishonorable actions were expected of me anyway.

Or I could have the wraith boy kill him for me. Chrysalis could slaughter my enemies, just as Prince Colin wanted.

“He’s open to suggestion,” said Prince Colin. “Just hint to him that you wish Lien weren’t a problem anymore. That you’d be happy if Lien were gone. The wraith boy wants you to be happy, after all.”

The wraith boy’s words from the other night came back to me: A man came to my door. He said you were sad.

“Did you say something to him about Meredith?” My words were a breath.

“I never said anything about poor Meredith to your wraith creature.”

Maybe that was true. Maybe he’d said only that I was sad, and the wraith boy filled in the rest; he was frighteningly attuned to me. But what if Prince Colin’s words had inspired the wraith boy to act? He could be partially responsible for Meredith’s murder.

Not that anyone would believe the testimony of a boy made of wraith.

The sun fell below the horizon, silhouetting the mountains far behind the convoy. In the pale caravan lights, Prince Colin’s smile was all sinister shadows. “Well. I’ll let you consider the options. It’d be best if we took care of Lien quickly. I know you have friends you care about back in Skyvale. I do, too.” A sharp gleam edged his smile. “Good night, Your Highness.” He stepped around me, his shoulder brushing mine.

My stomach turned at the contact; even through all the layers of clothes between us, he made me feel disgusting.

“Wil?” James’s voice was gentle as he approached with a large tray. He glanced beyond me, after Prince Colin. “What did he want?”

“Nothing.” I opened the wagon door and let James inside first. The interior wasn’t warm, exactly, but we were out of the wind and a handful of lanterns cast a pale heat.

The wraith boy was still humming in his wardrobe.

“Are you going to tell him to be quiet now?” James asked.

“No.” I pulled down a polished oak board from the wall. The hinges creaked as I leaned some of my weight on it, testing its strength, and backed off to allow James to place our dinner tray on it.

“So you’ll just listen to him all night?”

“The rest of the journey, as long as humming keeps him occupied.” I lingered near one of the lanterns, warming my face and hands while James finished setting the table.

“I’m not here to spy on you, Wil, though I can understand why you might believe that.” He pulled out the desk chair and sat at the table. “But I do plan on telling Tobiah that you and Prince Colin had a conversation that left you shaking and cagier than normal.”

“That sounds like spying to me.” I perched on the bottom corner of the bed, close enough to the table. A cloud of spicy steam enveloped me, making my stomach rumble. “And I wasn’t shaking because of my talk with Prince Colin, unless you want to blame the extra time he kept me outside. It’s quite frigid. I’ll probably come down with a chill, thanks to him.”

James sighed and—once he’d muttered a quiet blessing over his meal—began to eat. “I miss the days when you were honest with me.”

“Oh, you mean never ago.” I poked my spoon through the soup, finding vegetables, chunks of meat, and spices. The thick broth warmed me from the inside out. James had also laid out generous slices of bread and cheese, and glasses of wine. “Yes, I’m sure you are nostalgic for the weeks you and Tobiah knew I was a girl from the streets pretending to be Liadian nobility. Back when you didn’t know my real name, let alone anything about my magic. I was much nicer to you then.”

“Indeed. Much less sarcastic.”

“And Prince Colin resented me only because I was a lady who’d come to the wraith mitigation meeting, not a rival to his rulership of Aecor.”

“Is that what he was asking you about?” James was already halfway finished with his meal; he would have made a good Osprey.

I shook my head and finished my dinner.

“Well, I can’t force you to talk to me.” James drank the last of his wine and leaned back. The blue notebook came out of his jacket pocket, and he opened to the first page. “Tobiah says hello.”

I rolled my eyes and put my dishes into a neat stack.

“No, he did. Look.” James placed the notebook in front of me, and as promised, there was a note from Tobiah, which did include greetings to me.

James,