Page 17 of Ash and Feather

“I really did create a monster with you, didn’t I?” I muttered.

He yawned, closed his eyes, and snuggled closer to Karys.

Again suppressing my desire to crawl into the bed myself, I turned away and forced myself to leave. I descended the steps outside in a daze, crossing much of the palace with the same lack of focus. My movements felt detached, as if controlled by some unseen puppeteer, but I was still very aware of all the individual thoughts racing through my head. All the possible paths I could travel. All the ways those paths could prove wrong and deadly.

By the time I made it to the entry hall, I’d finally, reluctantly, settled on my next move.

Almost as if summoned by my decision, I heard footsteps in the hall behind me, soon followed by a familiar voice: “You’re planning on going to Galizur tonight, aren’t you?”

I didn’t break my stride as the sound of Mairu’s voice reached me. I wasn’t surprised by her arrival, or that she knew what was going on; Valas had overheard enough earlier, and the God of Winter had never managed to keep anything to himself for longer than a day—if that. Her palace had likely been his very next stop after escorting Karys back to me.

Mai stepped directly into my path, fixing me with an expectant glare.

“I’ve thought about it, yes.” I wasn’t in the mood to discuss this any further. I just wanted to act. To do what needed to be done. “And I’ve already made up my mind regarding it. So your visit is in vain, I’m afraid.”

She set her jaw. “Don’t you think you’re being reckless?”

“I’ve been there countless times since my ascension.”

“Never with the mortal realm in such a state as it’s in now. It’s a mess, and frankly, so are you. Your magic is—”

“Enough.” I didn’t want to talk about what my magic was. Or wasn’t. It was just another complication in a long list of them. I would deal with it in stride, along with everything else. “I’ll be careful,” I insisted. “And I won’t let him see me. I never do.”

Though I’d gone back to my old home countless times over the past years, I hadn’t actually spoken to my brother, Fallon—now the King of Galizur—since shortly after I’d ascended. Given the chaos and bloodshed that surrounded my ascension, I doubted he wouldwantto have any sort of conversation with me. And I didn’t want to speak with him, either.

It was simply easier this way.

Mai was relentless, as per usual. “Let me go instead.”

“You don’t know the royal city or its palace like I do. I can move much more quickly.”

“Until your magic fails to bring you back to this realmquickly. Or at all. What will you do then?”

I shrugged. “I’ll walk back. Do you know I used to be very fond of walking when I was a human? I could journey for miles in the forests around my city, solely on foot.”

“Be serious,” she hissed.

I mirrored the clench of her jaw, started to speak several times, but ultimately decided to keep my mouth shut. I pushed by her and exited the palace, setting my course for the magical waterways that would carry me to the mortal realm.

Mai followed. “Does Karys know what you’re doing?”

I slowed, shooting her a cross look. She’d wielded Karys’s name like a weapon—the only sharp edge that could have given me pause just then.

“I didn’t have a chance to tell her,” I said. “She’s resting at the moment.”

“You’re sneaking away while she’s asleep. Coward.”

“And you’re painfully accurate and aware, as always.”

“I’m only trying to help.”

“If you really want to help, then stay here and keep an eye on things until I get back.”

She clenched her fists against an obvious surge of irritation, her controlling magic seizing the trees around us and makingtheir branches go unnaturally taut. But then she glanced in the direction of the tower that held my bedroom.

The tree branches swayed as she breathed out and released them, several leaves snapping loose and drifting to the ground as she did.

I could see the thoughts churning in her mind, her concern for Karys slowly outweighing her disagreement with me and my plans.

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