Page 17 of A Court of Truth and Thorns
“Leave us,” Raza snaps at Copa. When he opens his mouth to protest, the princess rounds on him. “I thought you reported the prisoner secure, Lieutenant. Is she, or is she not?”
“She is.”
“Then I wish a private word.”
Copa brings his heels together in a salute. “My men and I will be just outside, then.”
“Fifteen paces away,” Raza counters. “When I sayprivate, I do not mean I wish for the illusion thereof.” Copa stiffens. I do too. “One more thing, Lieutenant.” Raza extends her hand. “The wand, please. That wasn’t a suggestion.” Copa’s face flushes, his eyes darting to me once before he unhooks a leather pouch from his belt and holds it out to the princess. The moment the leather leaves his hold, he motions for the soldiers to follow him out. They do, all avoiding my gaze.
Very deliberately avoiding my gaze.
Raza squats in front of me, just out of my reach. “I knew you’d be somewhere here, Lady Lianna. Once I saw him, I knew,” she murmurs and unties the pouch, pulling out a wooden dowel with a crystal the size of a small walnut worked into a setting at one end. It looks like a flower, except that the crystal is black and opaque. “Do you know what this is?” she asks.
“I presume it’s some breed of living crystal,” I say with anevenness trained into me over a dozen years. “Though I’ve never seen a black one before.”
She twists the flower between her fingers. “It used to be a healing crystal. They are powerful little things. So much potent magic compressed into such a small gem. But this crystal is dead now, its walls but a shell that will neither give birth to additional magic nor refine what’s inside. Do you know what unrefined magic feels like? It is difficult to describe the effect. Here, let me show you.” Swinging the wand forward suddenly, Raza jams the crystal against my skin.
I hit the wand away.
No. Itryto hit it, but my muscles fail to obey.
My mind is just registering the shock of paralysis when the pain comes. A sudden infernal burn that coats my nerves in searing oil. I try to scream but the muscles to open my mouth and make the noise ignore me. My body convulses, flailing in violent silence on the ground. My lungs burn, desperate for air that won’t come. My vision darkens. Raza pulls the wand away and steps back.
Breath. Sweet, wonderful, easy breath. I gulp air hungrily. My heart pounds, sweat forming at my temples and running down my cheeks. Raza squats to my level again, holding the wand out of reach. “It’s called a stim crystal. The effect varies slightly based on the breed of living crystal it starts out as, but you comprehend the general idea. I imagine you’ve not seen one before. In a country that kills off its whisperers, you’d have no one advancing the field.”
“What do you want?” I rasp.
Raza’s face darkens. “I want to know what you did to my brother to make him choose your life over mine.”
“What?” The fog of shock hangs thick around me, but I try to make sense of Raza’s words.
“I was in the palace gardens when the Holy Guardattacked Delta. Three of my guards died within minutes.” She takes a breath. Delicate fingers reach up to touch the bandage on her head, her uncovered eye losing focus. “I waited for Rune. Searched for him. I was certain that only death would keep my brother from coming for me, from seeing me safe from rogue blades. But it wasn’t death, was it? It was you. He chose to bring you to safety over me. When I saw him today, I knew to look for you nearby. How right I was.”
I shake my head, humorless laughter bubbling inside my chest. If Raza bothered to watch her brother for more than two moments, she’d know that Trace is through with me.
The wand twitches in her fingers. A wave of fear rushes through me. “He didn’t choose me over you,” I say quickly. “There was no time to choose. It was happenstance. We happened to be in the same room when the coup started. That’s all.”
“It wasn’t happenstance,” Raza snaps back. “He left Delta to look for you, to bring you back. That is why you were in that same room of yours. And when the violence started, he saved you. Not me. I saw you all run, you know.”
I’d explain it if I could. If I understood any of it myself. But I don’t, so I gather the words I know to be true. “He loves you, Raza.”
“Not enough.” She stiffens. Her eye refocuses on me. With deliberate care, she reaches behind her head to untie her bandage.
My breath catches, bile rising high in my gullet. I swallow. Look away. Swallow again.
A deep, guttural growl escapes the girl. “It was a knife,” she says. “A knife thrown into my eye. Then dragged out.” Stars. I steady my breath as Raza covers her face again.Stars.“Say something, whore,” she demands of me. “What lies did you feed him to allow this?”
“Your wounds are the fault of Bahir’s terror mongers, not Trace,” I rasp. “He couldn’t have stopped that knife.”
Her nostrils flare. “He could have healed my eye!”
“No.” I shake my head. “A knife to the eye would have—”
“He could have healed me!” Raza shouts, spittle flying from her mouth.
I pull back, heart beating fast. My hands come up with a loud clank of chains, palms out. “All right,” I breathe quickly. “You know better than I.”
She takes a breath, which I take as a positive sign. “Your companion is badly wounded,” Raza says, her tone sounding too normal for someone who’s so clearly crazed.
