Page 69 of Winter's Fate

Hawk was the king. And he feared Callum? Callum was no one. He led at the king’s favor only. He’d been demoted. Disgraced.

And yet. And yet, Callum had been able to steal the Etran delegation by his word alone. Edmun had known from the beginning that Callum had no authority to lead the mission, and he’d come along anyway. How many more of them would have done the same?

Hawk thought Callum might stage a coup. Worse, he thought it might actually work. All this time, maybe even since Magnus’s death, the king had been playing a game, when all Callum had wanted was to prove himself.

He didn’t have time for this.

“Did you kill King Magnus?” Callum asked. “Did you kill your father?”

He knew the answer. He had to hear it, anyway.

Hawk set the book down, the fear on his face stark now. His eyes were flashing with it. But he faced Callum anyway. “No.”

“Hawk wanted you at the pool,” Thaddeus said, ignoring Hawk’s warning glare. “He wanted you to see the tru?—”

“You have to help her.” Callum rounded on the younger prince. Thaddeus was still sitting on the floor, robes pooled around him like a black puddle of fabric. Thaddeus could play peacekeeper later and fabricate as many stories of Hawk’s wish to reconcile as he pleased. Now, there was no time.

Thaddeus blinked up at him over the rims of his spectacles. “Help who?”

“Laena.” Callum practically choked out her name. Was she still breathing? Was Katrina keeping her alive? Could her voice call her sister back from the depths, or was it too late?

It would do no good to panic. He took a breath, painful as it was. “She has… she used magic. Not a heart-tithe. Something else.”

Part of him expected Hawk to deny any knowledge of such a thing. Instead, the king straightened.

“How much did she use?” His voice was sharp now.

Callum shook his head. “Everything. All she had, I think. She froze an entire army into statues.”

Hawk looked to Thaddeus, who shook his head. “It took us weeks to learn the little we do know. It would take months to research the effects of fully depleting one’s magic. If the information survives at all.”

That explained the stacks of books, the obsession they both had with studying.

It might even explain why Thaddeus had joined the poisonkeepers in the first place. He’d wanted to access their archives, their knowledge. And Hawk hadn’t wanted to let him make the sacrifice. Puzzle pieces drifted together, the pieces clicking into place.

And none of it mattered. Not compared with the sorrow in Thaddeus’s expression. “I can’t help her. I’m sorry.”

Callum refused to accept it. Hewouldn’taccept it. He pointed at Hawk, though his attention was still focused on Thaddeus. “You gave him something. At the pool.”

Thaddeus rose, finally, and stepped over the books on the floor to come nearer. “I gave him herbs, for grounding. It’s like a tether. The theory is that the magic brings your mind and body partially to another realm—not the Miragelands, this is Vales magic, so?—”

“I don’t need the full history of the herb.” Callum could practically feel Laena’s life leeching away while they talked. “I need thecure.”

Thaddeus rolled his eyes. “I gave you the same herbs for your hangover. But they won’t help her if she’s never had them. The books say?—”

“It was her hangover,” Callum interrupted. “Get them.”

Thaddeus and Hawk shared a look. “Callum,” Thaddeus said, “it’s not as if we don’t know your weakness. They could cause her more harm than good. You need to believe me.”

As if he’d ever felt the need to hide his vices. Callum wanted to shake them until their teeth rattled. “By the mages, itwas. Your general called her a whore, and she drank an entire city’s worth of wine. Now are you going to help me, or am I going to have to make you?”

Alarm bells rang out as if in answer to his question. The bright noise cut through the silence of the monastery and vibrated the very walls around them. Mages, but they were loud. Callum supposed they would have to be, but still.

He repressed the urge to demand the herbs from Thaddeus and run. There was no time for interruptions. Laena had no time.

“The watchtowers,” Thaddeus said.

Hawk was already at the door. Together, they ran, Hawk’sguards falling into step behind them as they rushed through the corridors, Callum still following in the hopes of procuring the herbs and running back to Laena. There could be an entire army waiting outside those gates, and Callum would fight his way through it. There was notime.

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