Flamecaster (Shattered Realms, #1)(101)

“That’s close enough,” Adam said, planting himself between them. Jenna hadn’t even seen him coming.

The stranger stopped an arm’s length away, looking amused. “I thought you were the healer,” he said to Adam. “Are you the chaperone, too?”

“I’m the king’s expert on magical threats,” Adam said.

“Creating them or preventing them?”

“Both. You can look, but don’t touch.”

“Ah,” Strangward said. “Good to know the . . . parameters.” He stepped past Adam until he stood face-to-face with Jenna, two scant feet away. “I am looking, healer,” he called over his shoulder. “Not touching.” He refocused on Jenna. “I’m Evan Strangward, Emissary of Celestine, Empress in the East,” he said.

Jenna said nothing, just stood, clutching her skirts to either side. Should she say she was pleased to meet him when she wasn’t?

Strangward nodded gravely, as if acknowledging a greeting from her. “I’m told you have a magemark on the back of your neck. May I see it?”

Feeling as trapped as a butterfly pinned to a board, Jenna looked around the circle of faces, at grim-faced Adam Wolf, and sweating Destin Karn, the blackbirds with their weapons, the scruffily exotic Carthians, the king and the thane and the mages. Every eye was fixed on her.

She remembered her conversation with poor Riley on the way to the mines years ago. She’d told him that her magemark meant that she was powerful, and destined for great things. She didn’t feel powerful now. How did a coal miner from Delphi end up here?

“No,” she said, swallowing hard, claiming the only power she could.

The king motioned impatiently to his blackbirds, and as they moved toward her, the emissary said, “Please, Jenna.”

Jenna looked up in surprise. There was something in Strangward’s green eyes—something that might have been sympathy.

“All right,” she said, swallowing hard, “as long as you say please.” She turned, bowing her head so he could get a good look. She felt the burn of his scrutiny, the slow release of his breath in a sigh, as if this confirmed something. Was that good news or bad news?

“Thank you,” he said, taking a half step back. “What have you been told about the mark?”

She turned to look at him. “That I would be hunted and killed for it,” she said.

The emissary’s lips tightened. “Anything else?” he persisted.

“No.”

“Are there any other markings on you?”

“A few scars is all,” she said. She lifted her chin. “What does the empress want with me?”

“I don’t know,” Strangward said.

Jenna studied him, trying and failing to conjure up an image. He wasn’t exactly lying, but— “You’re afraid of her, aren’t you?” she said.

“Anyone who is not afraid of the Empress Celestine is a fool,” Strangward said. He turned back to the king. “I should like to interview the girl in private,” he said.

Jenna was afraid to look at Adam. She could scent his rage and frustration from across the room.

“You can do that after the trade is made,” Montaigne said. “If it is made. We still have not seen this weapon we’ve heard so much about.”

“Very well,” the emissary said. “Let’s go see it. Who is coming?”

What was it about this girl that made her important? Lila still didn’t know. True, she was striking, with her brilliant, multihued hair and golden eyes, but her features were not classically beautiful. She’d not had a close look at the marking, but it likely wouldn’t have helped anyway. Lila was no scholar, after all, and even the scholars seemed stumped. From what everyone said, she had an unimpressive, random collection of gifts.

So what explained this empress’s fixation on her? True, you could never tell what random person or thing a blueblood might obsess about. Or was this some kind of massive hoax? If it was, Lila couldn’t see the point.

She’d know more after seeing the empress’s weapon. Lila was among a handpicked trio that boarded the emissary’s sailing dinghy to travel out to the main ship for a look—Destin Karn, Botetort, and Lila. She guessed Ash would have liked to come, but he was not invited, and the girl, Jenna, was returned to her cell.

The king of Arden, of course, remained on shore with his guard. You could call us the expendables, Lila thought.

Strangward cast off the line and leapt aboard, while the big man, Teza Von, raised the sail. They worked well together, as if they’d done this a thousand times before. This was the oddest team of diplomats that Lila had ever seen.

The emissary touched his amulet, the sails filled, and off they went, even though they were traveling in the opposite direction than they had before.

Destin was still jumpy as a cat. Finally, he found a spot on a bench and sat there, knee bouncing, gripping his jinxpiece.

What’s with you? Lila thought.

Botetort stood at the rail, staring out at the waves. He showed no inclination to chat with a pirate, so Lila filled the void.

“You seem to be a skilled sailor,” Lila said, looking up at the taut sails.

“I was raised on a ship,” Strangward said, squinting his eyes against the spray.

“You must have been a useful person to have around.”