Page 39 of Curse of Thorns
Questions I can’t answer. How am I supposed to answer them?
“You all right?” Ty asks, patting me on the back.
I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. “What am I supposed to say? When people ask me about the cure, about the Schorchedlands?”
Caelynn drops the window curtain, her entire attention back on me. “Change the subject. Brush them off. It’s none of their business.”
I press my palms to my eyes. “It's fine,” I say, more to myself than them.
“Make a joke,” Tyadin suggests. “We can come up with something witty. ‘Schorchedlands were great, I met your mom there’.”
Caelynn laughs but grimaces and smacks Ty on the back of the head. “Mom jokes, that’s what you’re resorting to?”
He shrugs but already the pressure on my chest has lessened.
“Just pull the dark and brooding thing. That’s what I do,” she says.
“You do have that role perfected. Got any tips?”
She shrugs but then considers seriously. “Keep your face flat, no emotion. Helps if you focus on the things that make you angry. Look off into the distance when people talk to you. No smiles. No jokes. Keep moving through the crowd like you have somewhere to be.”
“It’s better than mom jokes.”
Caelynn snorts, and Ty hollers. “Hey! I coulda come up with something better, I was just warming up.”
We laugh and take another round of shots; my blood warms and heart is comforted. My stomach still squirms uncomfortably, but I take long looks at my friends and know this is a moment I’ll keep with me forever, no matter what else happens.
Caelynn
The carriage glidesso much smoother than I’d have ever expected. I assume magic steadies the wheels and cabin because even a car couldn’t ride this smooth on this kind of terrain in the human world. We pull back the curtains and watch as we pass through the crystal gates and onto palace grounds. The massive trystine towers looms over us. The colors vary, deep purple at the base into an amber in the middle and then a light lavender at the topmost tower.
I can’t believe this place is real.
“Did dwarves build this palace?” I ask.
“Not the outside. A lot of the palace itself is natural, just enhanced, and carved out to become inhabitable. But you’d find many dwarf-mined gems decorating the inside and even the grounds. The sugilite pathways and banisters were dwarf made. Even so, the palace is very impressive.”
