Nocturna (A Forgery of Magic #1)(73)

She shot him a look. “I spent years working in traveling circuses. Of course I know how to ride a maldito horse.” She shifted uncomfortably beside it, her shoulders tensing when it gave a whinny. “I just don’t like to.”

“Why’s that?” Luka asked before stroking her horse’s nose with a practiced hand.

Finn eyed the steed warily. “I don’t like things I can’t—”

“Thieve?” Alfie supplied as he ran his hand over his own horse’s dark mane.

Finn rolled her eyes. “I don’t like things I can’t communicate with, control. Even the most well-trained, friendly horse can buck you off if it feels like it.” Then she looked at Alfie pointedly. “And of course I could thieve a maldito horse. What kind of second-rate thief do you think I am?”

Luka tilted his head. “You mean steal an actual horse or steal from a horse?”

“Both. Obviously.”

Luka gave a bark of laughter at that and Alfie was thankful for the sound. He wondered if that would be the last time he heard it, if he would die at Ignacio’s hands before he could see Luka again. What was Ignacio doing now? How many had he killed with that poisonous magic? He swallowed thickly, pushing those thoughts away before they swallowed him whole. When Alfie finished readying his horse, he stood still, not wanting to admit that there was nothing left to do but leave.

Luka, wearing Alfie’s face (a sight Alfie would never get used to), opened his mouth to speak but fell silent. What could be said now, when death hung heavy over Alfie like a veil.

Lies, Alfie thought. Comforting lies.

“I’ll be back.” Alfie swallowed before his voice could splinter. “I promise.”

“I know,” Luka said, his throat working. “Here, take this.” He handed Alfie a velvet drawstring pouch. Inside were two stoppered vials. “Some healing draughts in case you need them.”

Healing draughts were not as specific or helpful as Alfie using healing magic on himself to fix a certain wound. They could not mend a broken bone or stop the blood from gushing from a lesion. What they did was give the body a burst of energy, a bit of help so that one had the strength needed to heal naturally. They might come in handy, but Alfie hoped they wouldn’t.

“I will come home,” Alfie said, his hand still tight on Luka’s shoulder, as if he could leave the impression of the promise on Luka’s skin. “But if I fail, if I don’t come back, I need you to tell Paloma the truth and try to put a stop to this.”

“Cállate. Don’t say that nonsense,” Luka said, his eyes shining. “If you die, I’ll kill you.”

Alfie laughed before pulling Luka into a hug and clapping him on the back. He couldn’t bring himself to break the embrace, to let go. He gave Luka’s shoulder one more squeeze before pulling back, his eyes stinging. Behind them, Finn mounted her horse. When they left the stable she would pull up the hood of the vanishing cloak, and Alfie would lead her horse under the guise that he was bringing the horse for a friend.

Alfie pulled a roll of parchment from his bag. “Take this,” he said to Luka. “I’ve magicked it to match mine,” Alfie said, pointing at another roll of parchment in his bag. “Anything that happens to one will happen to the other. What you write, I’ll see, and vice versa. So if you need me, we’ll have a way to talk.”

Luka rolled his eyes before grabbing the parchment. “And to report on my very important research?”

“Yes,” Alfie said, his lips quirking up at the sarcasm dripping from Luka’s voice. “That too.”

Before going to bed, Alfie had tasked Luka with looking into any and all books on Sombra while he and Finn were gone in case Luka could discover any weaknesses that could help them when they had to face Ignacio once more.

Alfie chuckled at Luka’s forlorn expression. “Would you really rather infiltrate a prison than read books in the library?”

Luka stared at him. “Yes. Obviously. What do you expect me to find out? That Sombra’s magic is allergic to oregano?”

Alfie snorted at that. “To be honest, at this point nothing would surprise me.”

“Gods,” Finn mumbled from her unseen place on the horse. “No more maldito oregano.”

The sound of pounding hooves drew Alfie’s gaze out the stable doors. A red-caped guard was leading his horse in a sprint to the stables.

“Quick,” Alfie hissed at Finn. “Pull the hood up!”

Finn disappeared before Alfie’s eyes just as the rider led his horse into a halt before the stable doors and dismounted in a hurry. At the sight of Luka and Alfie, his spine straightened.

“Buenos días, Prince Alfehr,” he said, bowing low to Luka. “And to you as well, Master Luka.” He bowed then to Alfie.

Alfie blinked at him for a moment before remembering that he was wearing Luka’s face. “Good morning.”

The man peered about the stable. “Has the stable boy gone, Your Grace?”

Alfie had asked the boy to leave for a bit, to give him some privacy to say goodbye and so that he, Luka, and Finn could speak freely.

Luka nodded at the man. “Yes, but he’ll be returning soon enough.”

The man nodded and hurriedly led his horse into the stable and into an empty stall well stocked with hay. He didn’t even bother to unsaddle the horse or water it before leaving it in its stall. A froth of sweat had gathered at the horse’s neck and the guard looked shaken as he made for the stable doors.