Page 79 of Godsbane
“Old Charles felt snubbed after the last Ascension. He never could get past the hasty way the Diamond governor was crowned king or the mysterious way his former seat was gifted to the Lord General. Marks promised Father whatever he wanted in return for putting him on the Amethyst Throne. Cost and country be damned.”
“And you wanted to stop him?” I ask. “You didn’t want to join him?”
“You know how he was. His treatment of me when we were kids was just the tip of his cruelty. I played the dutiful heir in public, but I never stopped hating him in secret. What he made me do to you …” Kieran’s voice cracks, the muscles in his jaw tightening as he whips his head away from me. “I couldn’t sit idly by and take it any longer.”
“When have you ever satidly by, Kieran? He was an asshole, but don’t make excuses for your behavior.”
“You think you know everything, Ivy, but you know nothing.” He faces me again, the faintest hint of silver rimming his russet eyes. “You don’t know what he did to me. I tried to give you an out, a way for you to save yourself and your people despite the fact that I love?—”
“You think marrying you would have saved me?” I interrupt. “Are you delusional?”
Marks wanted this marriage to secure the vote, but chaining me to Kieran was the cherry on top of the Lord General’s fucked up little sundae. Living day after day in a region I couldn’t control under the dictatorship of my enemy would never be torture enough for him.
“Marks doesn’t want you to know what you’re capable of. He can’t touch you or he would have eliminated you from the game already. As far as he’s concerned, the longer you’re around Murphy, the bigger the risk of you finding out who and what you are. That’s why he raided your region—to force you to go home. He doesn’t want you to know about your own power, let alone that there’s a resistance that has their own. And we’re willing to do anything to stop him.”
“Awhat?!A magical resistance … that you thought I wouldn’t want to be a part of?”
A resistance with magic. A lifetime living in secrecy and fear of my own power while the people around me knew. They knew and never said anything. Pain pricks at my temples and I curse the weakness.
“Worse, you thought I’d just give up the title I’ve trained for my entire life? The one that made me Poison Ivy, the vilified heir? That I’d let you have my vote?”
“The plan was always to stop Marks before the vote. I knew you’d be upset when you found out, but I grossly underestimated how Murphy was going to react. From where I stood, leaving him and abandoning your journey to marry me was the only way you walked away from this, Ivy.”
“I was never walking away from this, Kieran,” my voice cracks on his name, magic rattling in my bones to be released.
Shadows creep to life in the corner at my rising emotions. Dark magic swirls, awaiting my command.
“I know that now, and for what it’s worth, I’m not either. You can trust me, Ivy.”
I don’t want to. I want to push him off this fucking boat and leave him behind. For lying to me, for keeping secrets, for trying to poison me ten years ago … but my magic trusts him and Cal must too. He wouldn’t be alone in this room with me otherwise.
The cabin door swings open with a loud bang, Cal’s form blocking the doorway from prying eyes.
“I’ve got the perfect opportunity for you to prove your loyalty, Rollins.”
We both look at him quizzically. Nothing about this feels planned.
“We could use a littlepush.”
“I’ve convinced the ship’s captain to give us five more minutes before he calls for everyone to disembark and wait for more favorable conditions,” Cal explains as we climb the stairs back up to the main deck. “I don’t know what Marks said to him, but he’s watching me like a hawk. I can’t wield the wind needed while he’s questioning me, so I need you two to summon it.”
I follow Cal out of the hatch to find the air completely stilled. Not even a hint of a breeze lingers to move the thick clouds that hang motionless in the morning light.
“Cal,” I groan as the captain snaps his head towards me in a hurried motion.
“Stay out of sight. Be quiet and be quick.” His gray eyes echo the seriousness of his tone and I know this isn’t up for discussion. I nod once in understanding.
Kieran, now above the hatch, grabs my arm and pulls me towards the railing.
“If we want to get across the Alloy quickly, we need a strong northeastern wind. How well can you direct?”
I pause for a moment contemplating my reply, but my silence gives me away.
“Don’t tell me you can’t direct,” he growls lowly.
“Would now be a good time to tell you that I can’t summon air?” I fake a smile to soften the blow, but it doesn’t work.
Kieran’s nostrils flare and his next words are spat through gritted teeth. “What. The. Fuck.”
