The Shadowglass (The Bone Witch #3)(100)

I should have known. I should have known. The visions of the future Lord Agnarr told me I would gain, the crescent symbol carved into the rock at Mithra’s Wall—the same design as the zivar I had worn for so many years. How blind could I be?

Naturally, Kalen refused when I told him of my intentions. “We haven’t gotten this far for you to do this alone.” I couldn’t blame him for his anger.

“She wants something from me, and I can’t put any of you at more risk than I already have.” I didn’t want to return to Ankyo. You’ll return to Kion to mourn on graves, the Fox from Stranger’s Peak had told me.

“This is not up for discussion. You should know that by now.”

“We’re not leaving either,” Likh said just as stubbornly.

“We’re taking you back to the Willows,” I said quietly. “You and Khalad will be safe there. Now that we know the source of your blight, it should dissipate soon enough. You won’t be in any further danger.” I clenched my fists, my fears running a mile a minute. “I suffered none of the blackouts I had in Ankyo after I left. You weren’t the only one she’d been poisoning. I was meant to be a victim all along—not of the blight, but of madness.”

? ? ?

We stayed overnight at the Sea of Skulls, looking to regain what strength we could manage before our return to Ankyo, with plans to drop Likh and Khalad off at the nearest village. Likh wasn’t happy, though she appeared more amenable after Khalad had taken her aside for a more private talk.

Kalen, on the other hand, was a lost cause. “You already know my answer,” he growled, tossing more kindling onto the fire. “Where you go, I go.”

I couldn’t sleep, uneasy about what the next day would bring for us. “I don’t know where I’m going yet. The asha association could hunt me down for the rest of my life. You weren’t born for this, Kalen.”

“Last time I checked, neither were you.” He touched the tip of my nose with a calloused finger. “We’ll go to Istera, find a place away from the city like Lord Garindor did. Or Tresea, where the asha’s reach is paltry at best and everyone would much rather mind their own business. We’ll find our own house and garden.” He smiled. “They’re always looking for people who’re good with their hands, ready to do hard work.”

“I can sew,” I volunteered, hungry for this dream that he wove. “Enough for a livelihood, I think. And I know enough to treat the sick. I can use Illusion, change our appearances. They’ll never find us that way.”

He bent closer, brushed his lips with mine. His hands trailed to my stomach. For the first time that I can remember, his touch was awkward and unsure. “When we’re sure they won’t find us, if they do stop looking, I wouldn’t mind having some… They’ll be looking for a couple, not a family. If you would one day want to—”

My heart was full. “You’ll need to make an honest woman out of me first.”

“If you’d let me, I’ll find the nearest judge between here and Kion. Likh and Khalad could even attend to us before we send them back to Ankyo.” He kissed me longer. “You propositioned me, remember? You asked me for my heartsglass in a room full of Yadoshans. If we’d had another day to ourselves, I would have married you right there and took them all for witnesses. You would have enjoyed some of their raunchier wedding customs.”

“Even if the bride was an asha?” I was horrified. He laughed, and I was on his lap in an instant, kissing him eagerly, my hands running through his hair. “I was drunk and out of sorts,” I whispered to him, but found myself liking the idea more and more. Surely I had nothing left to lose. Surely I could start a new life, not as one, but as one half of two…

“I regret nothing I said. Marry me, Kalen. Take my heartsglass and honor me with yours.”

His arms encircled me. “You already do.”

From behind us, Khalad cleared his throat. “I, uh…I’m going to take the rest of the utensils. Just go ahead and—”

He crumpled abruptly. Stunned, we broke apart and rushed to him. “What’s wrong with him?” I asked in a panic, immediately Delving him and finding nothing.

“Have no fear, Tea. He’s only asleep. He’s too important a person to kill, but I would like him unconscious for the rest of our conversation.”

A figure emerged from the darkness, and only then did I sense their presence. There were two of them: the mysteriously cowled figure that looked down on me from the cliffs of Mithra’s Wall, and—no, no, no—Altaecia. Kalen let out a growl. Likh stumbled toward us, shock clear on her face.

“You don’t seem as surprised as they are.” Altaecia greeted me with a smile, as if she had not just gone out of her way to betray me, to betray everything the asha and Kion had stood for.

“I should have known sooner. There were signs, but I refused to believe them.” I was angry, horrified. “Why, Althy?”

“It was for you, my dear.” Her voice was as I remembered it, patient and kind and wise, but a strange tremor lay tucked behind it. There was sadness in the way she walked and sighed, a peculiar regret that I could not understand. “And for Mykaela, surely you didn’t think you were the only one who wanted to save her? To find some method to keep her from drawing in the Dark and prolong her life?”