Page 91 of Magick and Lead
Don’t give in to him, Dear Heart,she said. It’s true; there is something wrong with me. I can feel it. But don’t bend to this snake just to save me. Remember, it’s not so easy to kill a dragon.
Not so easy from the outside, I knew. Their scales could turn away fire and blades and even most bullets. But from the inside? Perhaps Othura’s will could hold off the prelate’s dark curse for awhile—but Kortoi did have the power to destroy her. The dragon I’d seen in my childhood was proof of that.
“So? What will it be, Essaphine?” the prelate asked. “Kill me and let your dragon die? Go and save your foreign boyfriend? Or take me back to Dorhane and save Othura? If you do the latter, I swear on all the princes of the void that I will make sure you take the throne.”
“You would really support my rule?”
He nodded.
“Why? You led a coup against my mother.”
“I wanted to overturn the existing order,” the prelate said. “That has been accomplished. But you, Essa, can be at the head of a new order. Bringing you back into the fold has always been our hope. Nay, more than our hope. We need you. There are still a great many people in Maethalia who are loyal to you. And until the crown, the Brothers, the nobles, and the Skrathan are all reconciled, there can be nothing but division and civil war in Maethalia. And it is the people, the common people, who will suffer most. You know it’s true. So, come. Join in the new regime. Lead it. And so much blood can be spared. Together, we will win the war. End the civil unrest. Satisfy the nobles. Banish the golenae. Give the Skrathan their rightful place of honor. And make a new, brighter world.”
It was a pretty speech. But did I trust him? Believe him?
Not at all.
And yet, for Othura, for Maethalia, what choice did I have? I did not have to trust Kortoi. But I did have to play the game.
“So?” the prelate prompted again.
I glared at him, pushing my chair back and rising to my feet. When I spoke, I heard my mother’s steel in my voice.
“On your feet, prisoner. It’s time to fly.”
41
ROHREE
Night hung over the world. Gray, moon-silvered clouds swept past above, bringing with them the scent of coming rain. Sounds of the forest hummed everywhere: the chirping of frogs and the droning of insects, the occasional hoot of an owl, the rummaging of raccoons and harts in the underbrush. But sprites, even those who had grown up in cities like Rohree, were always a part of the forest, and she moved through it with ease, even as foot-weary and exhausted as she was.
A sprite’s legs bent backward like the back legs of a deer, and they were as springy as new-cut maple boughs. Now that her legs were growing strong again after her time spent in the box, Rohree felt she could navigate the woods for ages with ease.
Dwarves were a different story. Clua was stouter than Rohree, and her legs were shorter, less adapted for long hikes over grasping foliage and slippery stones. Still, what she lacked in physical adaptation, she made up for in determination. She trudged on, wincing with every step, a look of grim discomfort on her face, but she showed no signs of slowing.
Rohree watched her as they walked. Even with her brow crinkled in determination, even with lips curled in a grimace of pain, Clua’s was a pleasing face, Rohree thought.
The dwarf caught her staring.
“What?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” Rohree said. “Just checking on you.”
“I’m fine,” Clua huffed.
“We could rest,” Rohree suggested. “Until morning, at least.”
Clua shook her head. According to the dwarf’s estimates, they were nearing the village Essa and company had been using as their base, and they’d decided to trek through the night rather than risk camping in the open again. Neither had discussed their reasons; they didn’t have to. The memory of the last village they’d visited hung over them, casting a shadow like a pair of dark wings.
But it wasn’t just that. Something was coming. Rohree could feel the dread of it, like an ache in her bones, a shiver at the base of her neck. And one look at Clua—at the haunted, desperate glimmer beneath her stolid resolve—told Rohree that she felt the same way. Something was following them. And it was getting closer.
Still, rushing through the night would avail them nothing if they dropped from exhaustion before reaching their destination.
“I think I recognize that hill. We’re not far off now,” Clua said, pointing ahead.
And sure enough, as they crested the rise, a flicker of firelight appeared in the distance below through the screen of tree branches. Rohree and Clua began to move faster, both because of the downward slope and because the thought of what awaited them sparked new energy. A soft bed. Warm food. And friends.Essa!
Rohree’s heart ached at the thought of her. She never understood quite how much she’d come to care about that bratty girl-turned-woman until that moment. Essa was the little sister she’d never had. The friend she’d always wanted. And the queen her kingdom deserved.
