Page 86 of Jeweler to the Blessed
Hart and I left The Storm and walked in silence to the path. As we returned to the Oldwood, its presence made itself known.
“Well?”
It probably wasn’t the first time he’d asked me something. I turned toward him as he towered over me. “I don’t know.”
I tried to focus. He was asking about the settlement. What had happened with Alysa. Her offer was … perfect. The fact that Hart knew it would be confused me. How long had he planned to take me there? Why had Alaric never done the same?
Hart arched a brow. “Did she ask you to join them?”
I rubbed my temples as if to ward off the delirium sinking in. “If you know, why are you asking? Why did we even pretend to leave you out of the conversation?”
I wanted to return to not trusting Hart so that I could think the whole thing was a setup. But I knew it for the lie it was.
“Are you upset?” he asked. “I thought you’d be happy to know such a place existed.”
I didn’t know how to explain. I was out of practice at explaining the complexities of emotions. “I am. It’s exactly what I needed. I just …”
He stepped closer. “What is it, Chaos?”
I shook free of the magic’s hold. “How did you know I wanted that option?”
Hart’s lip tilted into a smile. “I’m not sure it’s that option you do want. My job is to make sure you know you have many.”
That might be worse. I compared Hart and Alysa’s choices. They both had the same gruff exterior but had taken opposite paths to deal with the mess that was Kavios. She worked outside the system. Hart had chosen to work against it from the inside.
“Why do you work against the Blessed?” I asked.
He canted his head. “You think it impossible to work against my own supposed interest?”
“Your words. Not mine,” I said. “I’m just trying to understand.”
“Is it so hard to imagine that I don’t believe a third of the population’s comfort should come at the cost of the rest?”
Well, when he put it that way …
“As I said yesterday, it doesn’t take an impeccable moralcompass to know what Rodric does is wrong. The use of his calm like a drug for the masses is bad enough. Everyone deserves to make the choice about where they want to live and why.”
He sounded so rational when he said it like it was the easiest decision he’d ever made. Not the most dangerous.
On the walk out here, I thought I’d already put all my trust in Hart, but with the Oldwood’s magic pressing down on me, I knew there was something more I must do. I hadn’t truly let it overtake me since that day with my Mother. The experience had scared her, scared Alaric, and I hadn’t thought to try it again.
I fought to free another question from my lips as the Oldwood’s magic surrounded me. “What you said about the magic here. Was it true?”
He didn’t hesitate with my meandering topics. It’s like he was aware of my current internal struggle.
“I don’t know. Some say the forest is sentient. I don’t thinkthat’strue.”
His voice centered me and would keep me from venturing where he could not follow.
Leaves rustled, and his pace quickened as he closed the distance between us—his mouth now inches from my ear. “I like to think what I told you is true. It’s magic balances what Rodric has done. It tells us what we need to hear, away from the calming influence.”
I couldfeelthe smirk curl his lip as he said his next words. My senses were alive not to the Oldwood but to him.
“What is it telling you, Chaos?” A pause. “Are you ready to hear it?”
That couldn’t be true, could it? I had no reason for my reaction to the Oldwood, the same way I had no reason for my immunity to the Blessed’s magic. Hart baited me like Alaricdid. Like he knew I’d have to test what he offered. If I wanted to … explore his taunt, I acknowledged there was no safer time than with Hart at my side.
I could trust Hart with this too.
