Page 16 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

I cut him off with a terse laugh. “And get that drenched too? No. I’ll put on my cloak when we set off again, but I’ve been through worse.”

The tightening of Casimir’s jaw suggests he isn’t happy to hear that, but he glances around at the others. “We should all put on our cloaks for the rest of the ride. There’s no need for the journey to be completely miserable.”

Stavros tips his head obligingly, looking faintly amused by the courtesan’s concern.

I bite into the roll, even though I can’t summon much sense of appetite despite my gut’s grumbling. As I swallow the sticky lump, thoughts of everything we’ve been through in the past day whip through my mind.

My spirits sink like the fading of the daylight. I force down the rest of the roll, but it sits like a boulder in my belly.

“This is my fault,” I say.

All four heads swivel toward me. Alek knits his brow. “What do you mean?”

I wave my hand vaguely. “I showed my magic in front of the king. Now he wants all of you imprisoned—or executed. You’ve had to run for your lives; you’ve had to leave everything in your lives behind…”

A pang of guilt brings a burn to the back of my eyes. “I think I hurt one of the guards while we were escaping. King Konram is going to be even angrier with me, which means the same for you too.”

“Ivy…” Casimir slips his arm around me and presses a kiss to my temple. “I have no regrets at all about being here with you. The only alternatives were letting the scourge sorcerers slaughter the royal family or turning on you.”

“And neither of those are remotely acceptable,” Stavros says. He takes a step closer to me and hesitates, his dark gaze searching mine through the dimness.

It’s only been four days since the former general and I finally made a real peace with each other. Since he told me he loved me… and I found I could trust him enough to believe it.

We haven’t had much time on solid ground before our equilibrium was upended all over again.

Stavros’s jaw works before he goes on. “You fought for the royal family with all the loyalty they could deserve. You put your life on the line over and over to infiltrate the scourge sorcerers and end their conspiracy. It is my honor to be standing with you, ensuring you’ll get all the recognition you deserve.”

I wish I found it easier to accept those words. How do I shake thirteen years of seeing myself as a monster because of my magic and the harm it’s done?

Then Alek eases past Stavros to stop in front of me. A little hope quivers into being at the determination etched on his scarred face.

He touches my cheek, his gaze intent on mine, his voice equally intense. “You know I’ve made more than my share of awful mistakes. I can say beyond a sliver of doubt that the only one I’ve made today was failing to convince King Konram of who you really are while I had the chance.”

A lump rises in my throat. “I don’t think anyone could have.”

“And I don’t see any way you could have handled what happened today better than you did. What did I leave behind? Books and papers? I’d rather have you still in my life than the entire royal library.”

A laugh hitches out of me even knowing how huge a statement that is from the scholar.

Alek captures the sound with the press of his lips against mine. More warmth flows through my chilled body, washing away the worst of my anguish.

When he draws back, I lift my hand to echo his caress. My fingers trace the ridges of now uncovered scars that ripple across his cheek. “In case you need the reminder, I like you best without any kind of mask.”

Alek smiles at me so brilliantly that I could almost believe everything is already fine. But as he drops his hand, Rheave shifts on his feet.

The daimon-man focuses on Stavros. “How intently will the Crown’s Watch continue pursuing Ivy even while they have their other enemies to deal with?”

Stavros swipes his sleeve past his mouth. “We probably have at least a few days before a particularly invasive search begins. The Crown’s Watch won’t venture very far beyond the city. It’ll be the wider army we’ll be contending with. But with the attack on the palace, standard protocol would be for all soldiers in the area to ensure the royal family’s safe passage to one of their secondary residences before anything else.”

“King Konram will be leaving the city too?” I ask.

“It’s possible he and his family already have. There are secure routes out of Florian that are accessible only to the royals and their guards.” Stavros exhales in a rush. “After that, I suppose it depends on how large of a menace the scourge sorcerers continue to present themselves as.”

Casimir turns to the daimon-man. “Rheave, you’ll know more about that than we currently do. You indicated that the leader of the conspiracy is still alive.”

Rheave nods, his chocolate-brown curls swaying with the movement. “Not the one Ivy knew who worked in the college.”

A fresh chill washes over me. “Ster. Torstem.” The man we thought was running the entire so-called Order of the Wild.

---