Page 45 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

As I grapple with my words, I see Stavros hesitate.

But Casimir speaks up first. “Ivy’s kept control over her magic on her own for all those years. I’d say that’s more than enough proof that she can avoid unnecessary harm.”

“And this might be her only chance to convince the king that she deserves to have a real life,” Alek adds.

Most of the color has drained from Sulla’s face. “The riven don’t get to have those kind of lives. We stay here where it’s safe for both us and the rest of the world.”

I manage to push my voice past the lump in my throat. “You knew I was planning to leave. This is just a little earlier than I expected.”

“Too early. I can’t condone it.”

Who says she gets a vote? Julita mutters. This woman barely knows you.

Casimir speaks again in his gentle way. “You could come with us. You’ve had years of training, so your control over your powers must be impeccable. And you could continue guiding Ivy along the way.”

A rush of hope fills me. I smile at Sulla. “Yes. You could be so much help with your mastery over your magic. We can find another horse for you—we’d make sure?—”

“No!” Sulla cuts me off with a scrape of her chair legs as she springs to her feet. “Neither of us should be going anywhere. Maintaining the right balance in a carefully controlled setting is nothing at all like dealing with a war like what’s sparked out there.”

I stare at her. “Then we’ll figure it out. We’ll be careful about bringing our power to bear. It’s better than doing nothing.”

Her gaze burns into mine. “You don’t know that.”

A little anger prickles through my disappointment. Julita’s right—Sulla doesn’t really know me. Maybe she doesn’t care if Silana descends into a mass of torment and suffering, but she should at least be able to understand why it matters to me.

I push myself to my feet so we can eye each other on an equal level. “You don’t have to join us, as much as I’d like you to. But we need to do this. I need to do it. It’s my country too, no matter what most of the people in it think of me. The last thing we need is another Great Retribution.”

Which could mean even more riven, more sorcerers torn between unbridled power and madness. Has she even thought about that part?

If she’s thinking it now, she doesn’t care about those consequences either. Sulla lifts her chin in a stance haughtier than I’ve ever seen from her. “You won’t listen to reason. Who knows what blunders you’ll make.”

Before I can protest, she sweeps out of the room.

Casimir stands next to me, stroking his fingers up and down my arm in a soothing gesture. “She’s upset, but it’s not her place to choose what’s right for you. Kosmel always supported your quest against the scourge sorcerers.”

“He did,” I say, the thought bolstering my resolve.

Alek looks at Stavros. “How long will it take us to reach Eppun on horseback?”

Stavros’s gaze goes distant with thought. “The college horses are good stock, and they’ve had plenty of time to rest. Depending on the weather and how many diversions we need to take, I’d hope we could cover that ground within a week or so.”

My pulse hiccups at the thought of all the things that could go wrong in a week of scourge-sorcery-driven warfare. “We need to get moving right away, then. It shouldn’t take long to?—”

A clatter from the hall outside interrupts me. We exchange a glance and hustle out of the dining room in a mass.

Sulla is just tossing a shape I recognize as Rheave’s quiver of arrows into one of the smaller storage rooms. As we hurry toward her, she tosses the dagger Alek was training with and the camp pot we used during our trek after it.

“What are you doing?” Rheave demands, rushing to the front of our group.

Sulla holds up her hand to stop him while shoving the door closed with the other. A tingle of magic in the air tells me she’s sealed the room with more than physical force.

She swings her hand toward the far end of the hall as if to lock the door that leads to the higher buildings as well.

“Whatever you brought here is part of the Haven now,” she says in a ragged voice. “You’re not taking any of it with you. And you’re not getting very far without your equipment.”

She’s trying to force us to stay.

My heart plummets. How are we going to get by on a week-long journey without most of the supplies we arrived here with?

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