Page 16 of Joined By Magic

He kissed my forehead. “Have fun. I’ll see you later.”

And he left. As the door clicked shut, I paced over to the window and stared out over the arid landscape. Restlessness made my skin itchy. Whenever I wasn’t with Leo, I seemed to be killing time until he got back. In this strange, dangerous place, there wasn’t a lot I could do about it, but I needed more. Once we returned to Dexia, I’d need to find it.

With a shake of my head, I shook the thoughts away. Time to put on some Leo-approved underwear and find the girls.

Chapter Eight

Talia

Thetrainwashuge,a line of carriages stretching into the far distance. With the prince’s hair coiled up inside a hat, we’d boarded without incident. Our expensive tickets gained us a small cabin with a full-sized bed, shower, and a vid screen set into the curved wall of the train. The first-class carriage had a bar and restaurant that we couldn’t use. Too risky. As soon as we boarded, I pinned the Do Not Disturb sign to the outside of the cabin.

I stared out of the wide window, watching the scenery blur as we shot past it. The prince had said the train moved fast, but I hadn’t understood just how fast. Another wonder. The farther we traveled from Atar, the smaller and more confining it seemed.

I dragged myself away from the window, my body weak with relief. Safe . . . sort of. For a little while. Fear for my sister was a constant presence, a gnawing pocket of stress in the back of my mind. But for now, I set it to the side. There was nothing I could do.

Lacking other options, the prince and I sat down together on the edge of the bed. Three days crammed into this tiny space began to feel like a long time.

“We’ll have to cut it,” I blurted out. “Your hair. You can’t go around in a hat forever. I can do it. I’ll make you look like an Alarian businessman, as boring as the rest of them.”

Dismay crossed his face before he wiped it away. A smile touched my lips. “I didn’t realize you were vain about your hair.”

He gave me a flat look. “Your description will be circling as well. You’ll have to cut your hair, or dye it.”

My mouth fell open. No. Not my hair. A silly thing to worry about, but still. What would I look like as a brunette? I couldn’t go red. Not with my complexion.

Time for a change of subject.

“What’s it like, your house? I know you’ve never been there, but you must have seen pictures.”

“Run-down. I’d intended to renovate it. The land around it is impressive, though. Green forest; a lake. Quite different to what you’re used to.”

I’d only ever seen the slums and the palace. Maybe escaping Atar could have some advantages. The thought, coupled with the prince’s lightening mood, improved my spirits.

“I can’t wait to see it.” I stretched, then lay down on the bed, curled onto my side. Sitting on my sore ass hurt too much. The prince noticed.

“Uncomfortable?”

“You know I am.”

He let out a short laugh, and I propped my head up on a pillow. Normally, our time together was limited, and busy. Eating, working on his inventions, having sex. Not much time spent doing nothing at all. I felt oddly relaxed, though the silence prickled at me, and I felt the need to fill it.

“Have you traveled a lot?”

He frowned. “Not as much as you’d expect. I saw most of Alaria in my younger days, but my duties have kept me busy since then. I’ve never been further afield. In Atar, we care little for diplomacy, except where it relates to trade. And people who want our tech come to us.”

I paused before asking the question I’d been avoiding. “Do you have a plan for once we get there?”

He rubbed a hand over his face, dislodged the hat, then straightened it with an irritated exhale. “All my equipment, everything I had in place, was at the bunker I’d prepared. I’ll be starting from scratch, with nothing. I’ll have to purchase a field suppressor and some precision modulation tools. It’ll be weeks before I can make any headway. And that’s assuming the power supply at the house flows from a magical grid.”

I took a calming breath. The prince often did this, diving into the details without telling me what he was talking about. His brain seemed to work that way.

“But what is the plan? Overall, I mean?”

He stared at me, then realization dawned. “Of course. Even Garron didn’t know. There’s a device I’ve had in mind for a while, a weapon I designed but decided not to create. Too dangerous.”

A chill ran up my spine. I’d seen demonstrations of the prince’s creations at his testing facility deep in the desert. He brought me along once for an outing. I’d screwed my eyes up at the bright flashes, cringed at the bangs, and felt the searing heat from behind thick safety glass as explosive force rippled outward. What could be too dangerous for him?

“What does it do? This weapon?”

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