Page 67 of These Divided Shores
A handful of kids kicked rocks into the air, giggling at the inevitable rain of stones when their friends overshot.
Vex sat there, elbows on his knees, fighting wave afterwave of tremors. His eye went beyond the kids, to Kari, Fatemah, and the angry woman, who were all watching the game. Kari and Fatemah smiled, and the woman—she still looked distrustful, but she didn’t come raging into the group to chase off the Argridian kid.
“Huh.” Edda lowered into a crouch next to Vex. “Diplomatic.”
Vex rolled his eye. “I got ’em focused on something fun. It won’t stop the war.”
“If I remember, though, doing this almost got you killed once.”
Vex squinted up. The sun cut through the cloud cover, shining a sliver of light across Ben. Beside him, quiet and sullen and the very definition ofbrooding, stood Gunnar.
It’d been years since Vex’d figured out that the statues of the Graces in Elazar’s palace office had removable heads. And when Elazar had found him popping the head of Grace Biel, the Grace of the pillar of chastity, from foot to foot to ankle to knee and ankle again—
Ben had sat on the carpet in front of Vex the whole time. And after Ben’d gotten out a few rounds of“We shouldn’t be in here—my father doesn’t like me to be in here without him—he says those statues are holy, Paxben, we shouldn’t—”he’d laughed until he couldn’t breathe when Paxben had started kicking the statue head around.
Vex was so close to making a joke about it, but behind the humor on Ben’s face, it was clear half his mind—morethan half, likely; most of it—was on this war. Just like Lu, off making permanent magic to create an army of supplemented raiders. And Kari and Fatemah, who would go on to secure Port Mesi-Teab and send out people to assassinate Elazar. All these people, doing things and making plans that would bring real, true safety to the world.
Like Rodrigu had tried to do.
Vex rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. He couldn’t help but smile when Teo kicked a rock twice in a row and pumped his arms into the air with a cheer.
“What did Fatemah give you to do?” He angled the question up to Ben.
“Help a group scout Fort Chastity.”
Vex nodded. His eye cut to Edda. “We can do that.”
Edda gave him a considering look. “You’ll need Lu to cure you first.”
That truth dug into Vex’s chest. He could tell Lu what they were doing. Maybe he could convince her to come along, even. To abandon her dangerous weapon.
Ben sat next to Vex. “Shaking Sickness. When did Elazar—”
Vex dropped his hand over Ben’s knee. “Doesn’t matter. Your father’s tried his hardest to kill me, but I gotta say, he’s really bad at it.”
Ben gave a brittle chuckle. He hooked his hand around Vex’s, and they sat in silence beside Edda, Gunnar a shadow behind them, watching kids play a game from their childhood.
16
THE SHACK NAYELIfound for Lu was overflowing with supplies. Here, Lu had watched Fatemah and Cansu cook down the Budwig Beans to search for Milo. Now it was filled with Tuncian spices; begrudgingly given details about how Emerdian stones were made, process and temperature and ingredients, from Pierce; and various plants. Nate, Pierce, and Rosalia were still looking for Visjorn bear blood, if they would be able to find any on Grace Loray at all.
And they were still looking for Tom.
Lu sorted her supplies, willing her mind to stay focused. Were there other ways to prepare magic, other ingredients that changed the plants’ uses? Argridian, Grozdan—the options were innumerable, but she had enough to start experimenting.
She set aside Narcotium Creeper, Bright Mint, and Drooping Fern. Back on theRapid Meander, when Vex hadtaken the potion to help him remember what plants had given him Shaking Sickness, he had thought of two: Aerated Blossom and Croxy. Lu had given him what she hoped was the cure for Aerated Blossom back then. Now she made a concentrated dose of Narcotium Creeper, to counter the Croxy.
That was the way to cure Shaking Sickness—how Lu had inadvertently healed herself as a child: by offsetting whatever plants had been taken in excess. But what else had the Church given Vex? The mystery was why Lu made another Bright Mint and Drooping Fern paste, the same one that had helped loosen Vex’s mind before. He mightn’t need it, though—he could ask Ben what the Church had given him. But if Ben didn’t know?
As night fell after the meeting, Lu knew the voices outside the shack were those of Vex and Kari, demanding to speak with her. She gave Nayeli the vials to pass on, explained how Vex should take them, and told her not to let anyone through.
Lu didn’t relax until the voices faded. Even then, her body felt on edge, braced for attack.
How quickly could she work? How long would she need to test any concoctions? What had Tom already created—and how could she counter it?
The echoes of knife cuts ached on Lu’s skin. Her mind beat itself ragged remembering the way Vex had looked at her in the office and said,“Not like this.”She listened hard atevery noise that passed her door, hoping Teo would come, if only to yell at her.
Vex didn’t want her to make this potion. Teo wanted her to promise him that she wouldn’t leave. Kari disagreed with her.
