Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(61)

“How can you say that? You were nearly murdered by some pirates navigating a ship in the air. You think that’s not sorcery? If I had the elixir, you would have never been in danger. Now, more than ever, I will do everything I can to prevent this infection from spreading.”

“Then focus your efforts on the desert. Consult that book you told me of, with the visions. See if there is more information in there.” And perhaps I could find a way to examine it as well, and discover what secrets it held of the desert, and this elixir, before my husband did something I would regret.

“Impossible,” he said, waving his hand. “The book was destroyed.”

“Destroyed?”

“Yes,” he said. “Along with the trivatis who had the visions in the first place. His visions were sorcery. But I’m sending Danae to the desert to uncover its secrets. If anyone can find this elixir, it will be her.”

“Then stop persecuting people here.”

“I cannot,” he snapped. “We caught one of the pirates, and she will be made an example of when we’re through interrogating her.”

“Why?”

“So my people see that we respond to such sorcery decisively. They killed almost a hundred soldiers, and more workers besides—she cannot be allowed to live.”

I shuddered as I realized why he had been so occupied, and what it meant that he was interrogating her. If the others on that ship were any indication, she was probably just a girl and they were torturing her.

But I knew he needed a better reason to spare her. “So you would have your people see that one woman caused so much destruction? You would be aggrandizing the very power you’re trying to stop.”

He glared at me, and my heart pounded. “You think I should, what, let her go? She committed treason, and she will answer for her crimes.”

“Fine,” I said, standing too. “But privately. Don’t make a spectacle of it. Give her a fair trial and help the country move on.”

He came to me, staring at me for many moments before sliding his hand over my cheek. “It’s a good suggestion. And what about you, wife? What spectacle, what trial do you need to move on?” His fingers stroked my skin. “I can’t ask you to forget what you know of me. But can you stop hating me? Or will you keep turning to my brother, crying in his arms?”

My breath caught.

He laughed, his hand still on my face. “You thought I wouldn’t find out?”

“There’s nothing to find out, Calix. I was upset, and he was there when I didn’t have my own brother to comfort me.”

Even as I said it, the idea of comparing Galen and Kairos felt false. However I thought of Galen, it wasn’t like my brother.

I took Calix’s hand from my face, holding it. “I need to know you still have compassion, Calix. I need to know you’re still a good man, despite everything I know of the past. Stop torturing the Elementae, and that will go a long way in proving it to me.”

“I don’t have to, you know,” he told me, his voice soft and his face close. “It changes little, whether you hate me or not. We’ll still be married, you will still be my queen and mother of my children.”

I looked away from him. I knew that too. My threats, such as they were, were hollow and empty.

“But I don’t want that, Shalia. I don’t want our children to have parents who hate each other. I want your care, and I want your esteem.” A hopeful breath filled my chest as I met his eyes. “I can’t let them go completely—their powers are illegal and confirmed. But I will halt the experiments on them. Does that please you?”

“And you won’t experiment on any others?” I asked warily.

“No,” he said.

My fingers curled around his, and I nodded. “Yes. That pleases me a great deal, Calix.”

“Good,” he told me, moving forward for a kiss. I accepted it, hugging him and instantly missing the gentle comfort of Galen’s embrace.

“I’m sure you’re tired,” he told me, pulling back and holding my hands. “But I want you out of this city as soon as possible. The rest of your Saepia have arrived; I’d like for you to leave with them now, and I’ll follow as soon as my business here is done.”

“I don’t think I could weather another boat,” I told him honestly.

He nodded. “I’ll get a carriage to take you the land route. The trip will take a few days.”

“That’s all right,” I said. “I’d prefer it. Galen will stay here with you, I assume?”

His hands on mine tightened. “I know that there were other things at play, and bigger issues between us, but hearing of you in his arms—it burned me, wife.”

“Calix, nothing—”

“It’s not a discussion,” he told me. “There is work he can do here for a few weeks, or longer. He will stay here, and we will return to the Tri Castles. And I will not hear his name on your lips again. Are you ready to leave?”

I nodded, and he let one of my hands go to bring me to the door, opening it. Galen was outside, his arms crossed, watching the door from the other side of the hall.

“Is everything ready?” Calix asked.

Galen bowed his head. “The Saepia are prepared to escort the queen.”