The Heart Forger (The Bone Witch #2)(24)
I couldn’t see how Aenah and the other Faceless would be willing to give up so much for immortality if they might die in the attempt anyway. Take five into lightsglass? Boil bezoars? First Harvest? It read more like a recipe for those suspicious “cure-alls” sold in the shadier parts of Ankyo. And yet…
None of the spells talked about severing links with azi either, and with the unexpected relief came guilt.
I browsed through the rest of the book and discovered some pages were torn out. Aenah might claim to help me, but it was apparent some spells weren’t meant for my eyes.
I turned back to the Scrying spell. My promise to Fox held; I had only sworn not to use spells I had not yet tried.
Faint flickers of thought surrounded me, an unexpected smorgasbord of stray minds. I soon realized just how complex the rune was; without a specific target, its magic harnessed all nearby thoughts for sampling. Aenah had not needed to know of Garveth the guard to have access to him.
I followed the path back to Fox and found him at the training grounds, attacking one of several straw dummies in the field. His mind felt warm and familiar—a calm clear pool that suggested more depth than it presented.
He was quicker, stronger than I remembered. His body spun and whipped about in ways my clumsier form could never perfect, and his sword blurred, crackling like lightning as he scored decisive blows until he struck his straw opponent’s head off its shoulders with one final stroke of the blade.
Not bad, I heard him think, but still not enough.
Cheers rose from the onlookers at the sidelines, and I watched embarrassment march through my brother’s thoughts.
“Three dummies in a week. Ten minutes in your care and they are demolished, when they would have lasted months with others. Your blows are deadly, Sir Fox.” Commander Lode of the Odalian army came into my view, smiling.
I am still not strong enough to protect Tea, my brother thought but only said, “I do so under your excellent tutelage, milord.”
“Modesty is well and good, but acknowledging improvements to one’s skills is as necessary as acknowledging improvements to one’s character.” The man clapped him on his back. “Though I must admit, you’re faster and stronger now than when you were on patrol. We will find that damned daeva and get revenge, Fox.”
“Looking forward to it, Commander.”
“Good work. You’d be a match for even Lord Kalen, and that’s saying something.”
The men feared Fox, his ability to withstand injuries that would kill others, when we had first arrived. Many were old comrades he’d known before the savul killed him. But Prince Kance told me how the soldiers of the Odalian army were the best in the world, that skill and courage were lauded above all else, and that Fox would be welcomed despite his ties to bone witches.
Thinking about Prince Kance sent a lump to my throat. I closed my eyes, willing away my own emotions before I alerted Fox to my presence.
As the commander moved on, I caught a sudden flash of gold and a whisper of silk. A veiled girl stood half-hidden behind a pillar, staring at me. Our gazes met.
In the next instant, she was gone, darting through an open door leading back to the palace. Within Fox’s mind rose memories of lavender and perfume.
“Is this for me?” She held up a simple silver pin, a silhouette of a fox dotted with small crystals.
“I’m sorry. It’s not much.” The tiniest of the turquoise gems in her hair had probably cost twenty times more than the trinket. A soldier’s paycheck did not offer many options.
The princess of Kion laughed and hugged it to her chest. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll wear this forever.”
Fox blinked and looked up into the sky. “Tea?”
I flushed at the private memory. I’m here, Fox. Sorry. I woke up and saw you were gone.
I’m training with the guys. Want some company?
No, just checking up on you. I paused. I think I should get more rest anyway.
Good. Don’t overexert yourself.
Gently, he nudged me away from his mind, and I retreated guiltily back into my own head, focusing on my bed, my room, the book on my lap. The Scrying rune had opened up a new link between us—I had better access to Fox’s thoughts, which made it easy to stumble into his mind without meaning to.
I thought about my brother and the Kion princess. I thought about how our laughter sounded that night after the engagement announcement. My infatuation with the prince was a one-sided affair. I imagined promises the prince never whispered, knew enough of myself to understand that I could catch him no more than I could catch a shadow on the wall.
But without selfishness clouding my judgment, I saw how Fox mourned a relationship with the princess. His grief was sharp, and it sliced him deeper than any aeshma’s spike could, in places my magic could not heal.
Khalad had said memories were no one else’s business but their owners’. And as close as Fox and I were, some memories were too private to be shared.
Trembling, I stared at my hands. Learning these runes was surely a lesser transgression than hiding and abetting an azi. I could tell Mykaela at least. I could…
I paused. Mykaela was too weak, and she didn’t need this stress right now. Polaire then? Altaecia?
Polaire’s words drifted to memory. To wield anything that the Faceless would, from the most terrible of daeva to the most innocent-seeming runes…there must be no compromise.