Hollis
"No, anchor your fingers at your ear." I yank Ty's elbow back until his fingers are at least near his ear. The young noble from Tansy Beach trembles.
'It's like he's never lifted a fucking weapon.' I growl at Zain.
'He probably hasn't,' Zain replies. 'Tansy Beach is weird about human fighting.'
"Breathe and release," I say to the kid anyway.
His breath shudders out from between pursed lips, and his fingers slip off the string, knocking the arrow loose. It falls in the grass at his feet as the bowstring twangs.
"Ow!" he yelps.
"I told you to watch your grip." If I stick with him a second longer, I'm going to take his fucking head off, so I turn to the next delegate in the line of archers Zain and I are ostensibly training with.
Training? Certainly. With, not so much.
The noble from Oakspring Dunes releases a little more steadily. His arrow thuds into the ground, point buried in the dirt, almost a dozen feet away.
"Good work," I say through gritted teeth.
"Makai," he supplies like I was looking for his name.
Then, like there aren't arrows flying wildly in the loose direction of the targets Zain and I set up after the revitalization this morning, he bounces forward to go pick up his arrow. I grab him by the collar and jerk him back.
"These people might not be trained marksmen, but until you get the all-clear, you stay behind the fucking line," I snarl.
Makai flinches. "Sorry."
I force myself to release him. This archery practice is the plan Zain and I came up with to actually get to know some of the other delegates, maybe figure out who the hell is looking to start a war, but it's quickly spiraling out of control. After two more days of revitalization, small swirls of gray darken the grass like poorly mixed dye, but almost everything else is alive. Now, they're trying to spread the magic to the furthest reaches of the kingdom, and with nothing right here to look at anymore, all the other delegates are restless. What was a small group of nobles we invited is now a wandering line of almost twenty shifters, some of which haven't even reached the age to enter the Haze yet, struggling against the lightest bows our guards packed for the trip.
Worse, I've only been able to see Candace for a couple of moments every day. Not nearly long enough for us to actually fucking talk about anything. Just enough to taste her and know she wasn't actually running away after our night together.
Zain walks up and claps me on the shoulder. 'Break soon? Or would you rather start this famed war by killing someone's crown prince?'
I suck in a deep breath. I crave her so badly I smell her blackberry-and-sunshine scent on the wind when she isn't even around. 'Break. Let's-'
The smell grows stronger. Too strong to be my imagination. I glance around and spot a head of pale blonde hair disappearing between two tents. She's here-and it looks like she's headed to our spot.
'Let's split up so I can cool off. Take them to the Lilywind camp.'
Zain looks at me disbelievingly. I stare back at him.
'Whatever.' He claps his hands. "Hey! Water break at the bar."
Nobles shuffle after him, immediately lured by the temptation of alcohol. They're all going to be even shittier shots by the time I get back.
Candace is worth it. I take off after her, trying to be subtle.
Really, I should just stop trying. Two envoys from Whaleberry Harbor stop me for a "quick chat" that I definitely piss them off getting myself out of, and when I try to flatten myself against a tent like the scout trainer at home is always telling people to, I catch my foot in the ropes holding it up and tumble ass-over-teakettle into the dirt. A few ladies walk by, snickering.
At this point, I'll look more normal just walking through camp like myself and letting the rumor mill do what it wants.
Luckily, I could pick Candace's scent out of a perfumery. I track her through the warren of tents striped with different family colors to the edge of the campground then pause before stepping into view. She might want privacy.
"You're right," she says.
"I always am," a woman replies in a voice I don't recognize.
She's talking to someone. All the way out here. Who-
A soldier in Dun's Crossing silver and blue marches past the two tents I'm tucked between. I duck back. Of course. Rowena Solberg's prison wagon is out here. Which means I really should leave. Eavesdropping is the coward's path, as Father says.
"But what do I do?" Emotion cracks Candace's voice. "He's my mate."
If I can hear them, so can the guards. Does everyone in Dun's Crossing know? I have to stay, to find out what I'm dealing with. Ice flows through my veins, and I exhale slowly, painting the air in front of me with my breath. I might not be used to sneaking around, but Eva and I specialized in making sure tutors didn't know we'd ever left the room. A thin sheet of ice, thickened in the right places, creates the illusion of nothing but shadows in a place. It only works if you've got a tutor dumb enough not to realize he shouldn't let the crown prince sit in the back row, but it's perfect for something like this. It hardens into place, and I relax.
"...Doesn't matter," Rowena is saying. "There is nothing to do. For you. That's why you're here, after all."
Candace blows out a sharp breath. "I'm here because I convinced Kieran to allow me to assign your guards."
Thank the Goddess. But I don't leave my spot. Listening a little longer can't hurt, now that I'm here.
"And because...." She pauses. "Because you're the only one who will understand."
"I do," Rowena coos, sickeningly sweet. "Though I'd understand better if you told me who, exactly, your mate was."
"When you mated with Father, did you know?" Candace's voice breaks on the last word.
My chest aches.
"I knew he was the prince." Rowena lingers over the title like it's candy. "I knew I was blessed to have him."
"Did you know what he'd become?" Her voice is almost a whisper.
There's a long, tense pause. Something hot simmers in my veins. Is she asking if I'm going to become like Gavin Solberg?
"I hoped," Rowena says crisply.
Why King Kieran and Queen Raven haven't just killed her yet, I'll never know. I clench my fists.
"So he might not know about me." Candace's relief is palpable.
I feel like I'm going to puke. There's no one in the world less likely to become her father than her.
"For that, you'd have to ask your father if he knew about me. Oh, wait, you can't. Because your brothers murdered him and locked me up." Rowena laughs, high and cold. "But I wouldn't worry too much-you didn't learn nearly enough from me that there's any chance he doesn't already know what you are."
The simmering something bursts into burning rage. My ice dissolves in an instant as my emotions slip out of my control and my mark screams.
"I'm going to destroy everything," Candace says. "The Goddess declared it."
"I could've-"
Their words fall on deaf ears as I stride out of my hiding spot. Soldiers shout and run toward me, but I ignore them, my gaze locked on the dark prison wagon alone in the middle of the clearing. Smartly, Rowena falls silent. Only the memory of Father's voice in my head, warning me not to start an international fucking incident, keeps me from spearing the wagon with enough ice to slaughter Rowena where she sits.
"Who-" Candace's face appears at the barred window on the door. "Oh."
"Good afternoon." I wave like I was just walking by, but I doubt my face is hiding anything. "I thought I heard you, so I came looking. Sorry to barge in."
"Well, hello." Rowena's voice purrs from deeper in the wagon, but I still can't see her. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure-"
"He's not a threat," Candace says quickly.
The soldiers leveling weapons and shifting around me take a couple of steps back. I didn't even notice how close they'd gotten.
"Let me out," she demands.
"Now, darling, don't you want to introduce me to your... friend?" Rowena asks, sickly sweet again.
Candace ignores her. I clench my fists as one of the soldiers runs over to the door with a jangling ring of keys and unlocks it.
Something moves. A shape I can barely make out in the gloom. Then, it resolves into a woman. I met Queen Rowena at Mother's funeral, I believe, and a few other times over the years, but the dirt-encrusted woman in the darkness of the wagon looks more like a monster out of a fairytale than the icy queen I half-remember.
Candace steps out with her arms wrapped around herself like she's cold, and I jerk my attention to her. I have to get her out of here. Before I actually decide to kill Rowena just to stop her from saying shit like that to my mate ever again.
"Goodbye, Mother," Candace says without looking back. "We have somewhere else to be."
"I thought he was just wandering by." She approaches the window as the guard slams the door shut again. "Come visit again soon, darling. And bring... him."
The last thing I see before Candace pulls me away is her expression, far too sharp to be called a smile.