Brightly Woven
Page 76

“Don’t say that, and don’t apologize,” he said gruffly. I felt him shift slightly beneath me. “I deserved it, every last word.”
I pressed my lips against the line of his jaw softly, not pulling them away until I felt the tension there slowly abate.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered again. It was his warm breath on my face that made the moment real; it was the light touch of his fingertips on my neck that nearly reduced me to tears. I tilted my face up expectantly.
The sound of two dozen boots raining down on the deck above us broke the spell. A moment later, Oliver appeared on the steps, his shape outlined by the setting sun.
“Wayland!” he called.
North cleared his throat but made no movement to stand, let alone move. I let my head rest against his shoulder once more.
Oliver stumbled around the crates and bedding, stopping short of us. Even in the darkness, I could see his eyes widen at the sight of us.
“We could only find guards and broken carriages,” Oliver said. “Who else was there?”
“The king,” I told him. “A few of the nobles and priests…and Reuel Dorwan.”
“So he is involved?” Oliver asked North. “It wasn’t some lie you spun to avoid the war?”
“Do you really believe I would do that?” North asked, and there was real hurt there.
Oliver looked away. “I checked the records. I wasn’t able to find any trace of him, let alone track his movements.”
“He’s not a ranked wizard, so there was no trace spell placed on him, remember?” North said. “You were there when he confronted my mother about it, weren’t you?”
“That was justified,” Oliver said. “He was raised by hedge witches. His ranking is forbidden in our code of laws.”
“It’s more important you try to find him now,” I said. “There’s a chance he didn’t make it off the mountain at all.”
“And you’re positive the king was there?” Oliver pressed. “This may change everything.”
I nodded.
“Only if he’s dead,” North said. “If Dorwan was there, I doubt he would have let the king die. Not when it was advantageous for him to keep the king alive.”
The thought was almost soothing to me, as if the lives of a few men being saved by Dorwan made me any less of a murderer. Of a monster.
I ducked my chin against my neck and closed my eyes. North seemed to sense my thoughts, because his hand came up to press my face against his shoulder once more.
“You did what you had to,” he said. “You’re alive and we’re together again. That’s all that matters to me.”
“I wish…I wish there could have been another way,” I mumbled. “None of those men were like Dorwan.”
“The other way would have been death as well, only it would have been yours,” Oliver said. “And that’s no more honorable than what you did.”
North and I were silent.
“And in any case, if the king is dead, the war will be over before it even began,” Oliver said.
I felt North nod once before resting his cheek against the top of my head again.
Oliver hesitated a moment before leaving. “Are you going to…put it back on?” He looked at North, lifting his wrist slightly. I felt North shift beneath me, and I realized what he was asking.
“Yes,” I said. “He’ll put the bracelet back on.”
Oliver relaxed. “I’ll be on the upper deck, then.”
“Commander Swift,” I called as he began his ascent up the staircase. “Thank you for coming.”
He shrugged halfheartedly. “I didn’t come for you. I came for my friend.”
I waited until Oliver was gone before looking up into North’s face.
“You don’t think he meant the queen, do you?” North said. “Because that would ruin a rather touching moment.”
I elbowed him. “When things settle down, you should try talking to him again.”
He leaned his head back against the wall.
“And I do want my bracelet back,” I told him.
“I can hardly believe that,” he said.
“You gave it to me.” I could still picture it in a coiled heap on the floor of the queen’s chamber. “Of course I want it back.”
“With or without the magic?” he asked.
I bit my lower lip. “Either way you think best,” I said after a moment. He reached into the pocket of his trousers, retrieving the thin chain.
“Just to hide your magic,” he promised, fastening it over my wrist. “To contain it. I’ve added a clasp, so you’ll be able to take it off if you need to.”
He drew me closer to him once more, his fingers stroking my loose hair. The boat released a beastlike groan as the anchor lifted from the water. We felt the exact moment the wind caught our sails and set us in the direction of home.
I let my eyes drift shut, perfectly at ease. For a moment or two, I thought North might have fallen asleep.
Just then, he whispered in my ear.
“Syd,” he said. “What did they do to your hair?”
After less than a day at sea, we reached Provincia. We landed in the courtyard of the palace, at the bottom of the stairs. The Sorceress Imperial was pacing the length of them, accompanied by a few members of the Wizard Guard. I remembered standing there several days earlier, seeing the queen for the first time. It seemed like a distant memory now.