The Heart Forger (The Bone Witch #2)(115)

“What other question is there but that?” Zoya wanted to know. “We must be quick about it. I don’t like exposing Mykaela to this royal degenerate any longer than is necessary.”

“No,” Mykaela said quietly. “I have been silent enough at previous raisings, despite my own doubts and fears. Many of my fellow asha tried to be kind. They thought my presence would motivate him to speak but also worried what toll his nearness might take on me. Not anymore. Do not treat me like glass—I am stronger than that. What must be asked are questions I was too afraid to have answered, questions that none of you dared ask out of respect for me.” She looked back at her former lover. “Vanor. Did you love me?”

The silence ticked by. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Twenty.

“Yes.”

I jumped, for I had not expected a reply. Death had made King Vanor’s voice harsh, but a strange contrite note laced it, modulating his anger but also imbuing his voice with unspoken emotion.

“Did you love me when you died?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a bald-faced lie and you know it, Vanor,” Polaire began heatedly. “You don’t hide the heartsglass of the person you love for more than a decade and then refuse to disclose its location long after your death.”

King Vanor said nothing, his eyes still on Mykaela. It was as if Polaire had never spoken.

“What do you think, Khalad?” Zoya whispered.

“I’m not sure. The lack of a heartsglass makes him harder to read.”

“Other than stating the obvious, I mean.”

“The dead can’t lie, which means he isn’t lying. But that doesn’t mean he can’t hide the truth,” I said.

“I’m a prime example of that, I guess,” Fox murmured.

“Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way. We say that he hid her heartsglass because he didn’t love her. But what if he hid her heartsglass because he loved her?” I suggested.

“That doesn’t make much sense either,” Zoya said.

“But it does,” Althy broke in, frowning. “What if he was hiding her heartsglass to protect her? What was he doing in the days leading up to his death?”

I struggled to remember my history lessons. “King Vanor was visiting the emperor of Daanoris when he was attacked. That was Emperor Undol—Emperor Shifang’s father. Daanoris was lifting the closed-border policies of its kingdom, and Odalia was trying to negotiate more lucrative trade agreements. It was at first suspected that Daanoris was responsible for King Valor’s murder, but the investigations King Telemaine ordered could find no proof. Daanoris had everything to lose and nothing to gain by assassinating King Telemaine’s brother. The last thing they would want at that point was to gain notoriety by killing the first king to offer a trade alliance with them.”

“There were some theories that circulated, of mercenaries from Tresea killing King Vanor to shift the blame on Daanoris,” Althy said, remembering. “But there was no proof to support that either.”

“Well, why not ask the guy directly while he’s here?” Zoya demanded.

“We did. He’s never responded to that either.”

“Don’t any of you understand? Why? Why answer Mykaela when she asks if he still loves her but not answer anything else? Fox, what are you doing?”

My brother ignored Zoya, stepping toward the dead king. “King Vanor, who first suggested the idea of a trade agreement with Daanoris?”

“It was I,” came the expressionless reply.

“Were you and Emperor Undol on cordial terms?”

“Yes.”

“What did you have for breakfast that morning?”

“Bread and cheese.”

“What is the point of all these questions, Fox?” Polaire asked him. “I don’t see what bearing they have on the questions we wish to ask him.”

“Exactly. Don’t you see? He seems quite capable of answering questions as long as they have nothing to do with his death or as long as you don’t ask him where Mykaela’s heartsglass is. Don’t you see anything wrong with that? The dead don’t lie. I speak from experience in that regard. But if he does love Mykaela, then why wouldn’t he help us?”

“Because he doesn’t trust us?” Zoya suggested. “But Mykaela’s here too.”

“Or,” I said with newfound understanding, “it’s because someone was controlling his heartsglass and compelling him against his will before he died.”

“Someone was compelling him?” Khalad asked, aghast.

“I have some experience in that area too. When Aenah compelled me in the past, I couldn’t tell any of you what she was doing, even though I wanted to, and I was made to believe that I was acting of my own volition. Couldn’t the same thing have happened to King Vanor?”

Khalad was already nodding his head. “It’s possible. In fact, it’s more than possible. If he loved Mykaela, his heartsglass would have remained with her. But if someone had cast a spell on him and compelled him otherwise…”

“Then that would explain why I couldn’t retain my hold on his heartsglass,” Mykaela finished, her eyes widening. “But how could someone keep control even after his death?”

“King Vanor,” Khalad began, “do you know where Mykaela’s heartsglass is?”