“You were excited? About what?” he asks with mock innocence.
I grip his length, a touch tighter than I usually would, and his stomach muscles spasm.
“I am finally beginning to see that I cannot keep you out of trouble. Despite my every effort, you will find a way to step deep into it.”
“I think I did well last night.” I tell him what I learned from Pan about the true source of the poison.
“So the Ybarisans have allied with mortals.”
“And they’re targeting mortals with terrible keepers and nothing to lose.”
“To start with. It won’t remain like that. Especially not as the elven retaliate. That was the third execution in Norcaster. It might make some of these mortals think twice, but not enough. How long before these gallows and pillories become permanent fixtures in every square in every corner of Islor?”
Which brings me to those prisoners. “The people we saved last night, the mortals you had Gesine mark? We can’t leave them here. You know that.”
He sighs, as if he’s had this conversation too many times. Or maybe he’s dwelled on it too long himself. “What kind of new life can I give these people? What hope? I am a king without a castle or even a home. We are scurrying to Venhorn’s caves because, sadly, that is the safest place for us in Islor, but it is only temporary, and between the saplings and whatever Nulling beasts may still lurk, it will be fraught with danger. How can I bring these mortals there?”
“It could be the safest place for them. It’s not the humans the saplings want, and if they’re marked, they can’t be fed on or turned.”
He pauses, as if considering, but then shakes his head. “We will see.”
I snort. “That’s what my parents used to say when they meant no.”
He turns to study my face. “You haven’t told me much about your parents.”
“That’s a long story for another day.” When we have the luxury of time. Right now, we have more important things to discuss. “What about Jarek? What are we going to tell him about last night? Did he figure it out?” I made those water arrows using my elven affinity, which is no secret, but the blasts of wind that crushed bones and the ring of fire so hot it singed the ends of my hair are not so easily explained. I know he witnessed the latter. He was fighting outside it.
And then there’s still the question of how Pan and I left the camp on horseback right out from under the legionaries’ noses. Jarek won’t let that go so easily either.
“The truth.”
My eyebrows pop. “How much truth?”
“As much as makes sense to share. It is too late for less, anyway. At first, he thought the ring of fire was my doing, but eventually, he saw your eyes.”
“Did they glow?” I picture Gesine, standing at the helm of that little fishing boat with her radiant emerald irises as she propelled us forward on a violent wind.
He chuckles. “I would say so.”
“What color? Blue?”
“No. More a silver. Almost like merth. They were brilliant in the night. There was no missing them. I told him what you are, but the details surrounding the how and why have not been passed along.”
“So he knows I’m a key caster.”
“Yes.”
“Is he angry? Afraid?” Abarrane was afraid when she first learned the truth.
“I do not think he is capable of fear. But I imagine we will feel the bitterness of his temper for some time yet. He is arrogant and prideful, and as Abarrane’s chosen second, he does not feel she should be keeping secrets like this from him.” Zander rolls onto his side to face me, his fingertip tracing my cheek. “I have been so focused on protecting you at all costs that I didn’t properly weigh the option of being honest. I have not given Jarek the benefit of the truth, even though he has given me no reason to suspect his loyalty. He has followed us this far. If he is to keep following, he must understand all that is at risk. We do not have a choice.”
“What about Pan? Do we tell him too?”
Zander snorts. “He will follow you over a cliff, truth or not. We may need to muzzle him so every stranger from here to Fernhoth doesn’t learn the truth before we get to safety. But Jarek … you will need to let him in and win him over. I cannot do that for you, and you need him in your corner if you want the Legion there without fail. There is an odd pecking order among them. Abarrane leads them without question, but Jarek can sway their hearts. They respect him.”
“I was making progress with him before this.” Even with sneaking out of camp.
“Yes, I noticed how much progress you two were making with each other last night,” he murmurs wryly.