Page 6 of A Court of Truth and Thorns
Ionly hear the haggard breathing because I’m up to relieve myself and have headed as far away from Luca, who stands watch outside the cavern, as practical. Peeking silently around a tree trunk, I find Trace on his knees. He scrubs his hands over his eyes and sits back on his heels, gulping deep, desperate breaths. I take a step back as quietly as I can. Trace tilts his face to the sky, his hands shaking as he runs them over the spots on his legs where my bones were once shattered. I wonder whether the phantom pain that still haunts me claims him as well. Stars, what a nauseating web of violence and grief.
Silently, I return to the cave. I’m about to slink back into my shadowed corner when I see that Calvin is awake as well, sitting beside my blanket. He opens and closes his hand with pained slowness, while the others’ soft snores promise that at least some of us are getting sleep.
“I fear the weather will turn soon,” he says, turning hishand over. “My joints are a more reliable indicator than I would wish.”
“Is there anything I might do to help?” I ask, kneeling beside him. “My sister gave me a heat crystal, which can ward off aches. We could have Alexa tune it for us.”
“I’ll manage.” Calvin pats my hand. “But thank you, girl. It was a kind thought.”
The blood freezes in my veins. “What did you say?” I whisper.
“I said thank you. For offering a heat crystal.”
My mood for games is nonexistent. “The other part,” I hiss through gritted teeth.
A soft chuckle. “Does it matter right now, in the quiet of night?”
I lick my dry mouth, my heart still racing like a drum. “How did you know?”
Calvin shrugs. “It’s my trade to learn people’s secrets, to listen to their bodies and actions as much as their words.” He touches my hand again. “Worry not. I keep what I learn to myself. Though I hope you’ll soon find less need for the secrecy among friends.”
I rub my wrists. They tingle with the memory of Trace’s binds.
“You asked me an interesting question a few days ago, before you disappeared,” says Calvin. “Do you recall it?”
I’d wanted to know whether people, the ones who survive, can recover from a questioner’s methods. Calvin claimed it possible—with help. My thoughts stutter. “No,” I answer too quickly, rising to my feet. “I’m afraid I do not. Goodnight, sir.”
“Kal.” The rebuke in Calvin’s voice halts me in my tracks. “Your displeasure with Trace’s choice to detain you by force is understandable. But his motives were well placed, if unkind. And this night, I do think he might value a friend.”
Of course Calvin knows about Trace’s current excursion. And that I found him. And that I left. I don’t know why I’m even surprised anymore. I roll my shoulders before answering. “Trace is fine. He’s just...” I shake my head. “He will little welcome company just now. Especially mine.”
Calvin massages his wrists. “Want and need are not always the same.”
I sigh. There is too much of my sister in the old man. It’s easier to indulge the suggestion than to bear the guilt of refusal. “I’ll go talk to him,” I say. “But if our talking wakes up the dead, it’s on you.”
I retrace my steps to the discrete copse where I last saw Trace and find him gone. The waning moon casts scant light through the clouds, and even with my eyes adjusted to the darkness, it is impossible to make out a trail in the woods. Closing my eyes, I listen to the forest, half hoping I hear nothing to give me direction. Then I can return to Calvin and say honestly that I tried.
The rustling of leaves in the wind fills my ears, an owl’s wise hooting mixing with the thin crackle of twigs as small animals scurry along. But there is another sound too. One that isn’t native to these woods.
Whatever Calvin thinks about the goodness of Trace’s motives, the fact is that Traceforcedme away from Leaf. He took away my choice. Bound my wrists. The raw skin chafes against my shirt in reminder, sending a rush of anger through me, even as the faint sounds of a man moving through the darkness give away Trace’s whereabouts. I follow the sounds, willing them to disappear before I catch up. If making Trace feel better is so high on Calvin’s priority list, maybe he should have gone himself.
“Who’s there?” Trace’s voice demands, cutting off my hopes. Moonlight glitters off the steel pointing toward me.
I sigh and step closer, holding out empty hands. “Someone dumb enough to come after you.”
The steel whispers as it descends into its sheath. “Go back, Kalianna.”
“Walk me back.”
A humorless chuckle. “I think you’ll make it just fine. All of you will.”
There is an odd finality to Trace’s words, and I frown at his silhouette. Wide shoulders, straight back, hair shifting in the light wind. I cross my arms. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Away,” Trace says calmly. Too calmly.
