Page 41 of The Princess of Nothing
He squinted, lowering his brow. “I’m sure many lunas would, but it’s not bad. We practice the original magic bestowed onto our lands, given to use by the elements we live and breathe. Yours is necromancy.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “It is not,” I retorted. “We use spirit. It’s one of the elements actually. Therefore, I suppose asking for my staff back would be foolish?”
His lips pinched. “Perhaps that’s how you see it, but you get your magic from the dead. You use them,” he replied, ignoring my question.
Color flamed my cheeks. “We don’t use the ancestors. They help us. We are at their mercy. Not the other way around.”
“I’m sure that’s what you believe.”
I ground my teeth, digging my nails into my palm. “It’s not a belief. It’s a fact.” I uncurled my hand and looked at the half-crescent marks left behind. “We worship them, love them. They are our bloodlines. Their spirit lives on in our soil, in our staffs, in our trees.”
He shrugged. “Again, I know you really believe that, which is why I’m not angry you practice it.”
I inhaled sharply. “We have been looked down on for centuries for our magic. I see the judgment has not changed.”
“You haven’t even given elemental magic a try. Our gods gave us the ability to wield the elements. We are blessed.” He held up his index finger. “We are only to use magic when necessary, unlike you lunas who use it whenever you feel like it, for any little thing. That is not how it’s meant to be.”
I wanted to scream at him, but instead, I let my shoulders slump and reminded myself it wasn’t real and how grateful I’d feel to be rid of both Berovia and Kiros soon enough. At the same time, I also saw a boy who was much like me. I was brought up to believe what I knew was right and everyone else was wrong, and now I was seeing the other side of it, I supposed I could have been more forgiving. “Perhaps I could give elemental magic a shot, but you could try to see the beauty in ancestral magic too.”
He grimaced. “Giving elemental magic a chance is all I ask.” He stood and held out his hand.
I grabbed it and he pulled me to my feet. I brushed off a few loose clippings of grass from my dress.
Kiros spun me back. I lost my footing and tumbled into a heap of limbs and fabric on the ground. The air was knocked out of my lungs. I heard a loud yelp and sat forward. “Kiros?”
A white snake with brown dots slithered close to me, hissing with its forked tongue in protest. Kiros rubbed the back of his ankle, his eyes welling when he turned to look at me. “Get back!” he ordered. “It’s a white adder. Not venomous but their bites hurt more than any other.”
His ankle, now on display as he lifted his trouser leg, was swollen and red. I shuffled back, kicking my legs until I was far enough to be able to jump to my feet. It followed me as I darted from left to right. I hurried back toward Kiros, but it wouldn’t relent. “It won’t stop.”
He growled and pointed his sapphire ring at the creature. With a bang, the snake erupted into white flames, and within seconds, it turned to ash. My eyes bugged. “Why didn’t you do that to begin with?”
“It would have bitten you before I got a chance.” He curled his lips behind his teeth, biting down. His cheeks were bright red.
I didn’t know what to say. He’d thrown me out of the way and taken the bite himself. I couldn’t have known he had a protective bone in his body, considering everything. It didn’t make up for the torture I had endured or the arrogance he portrayed, but it was something—a flicker of light in a man I’d painted as the villain.
“Thank you.” I winced when he did, then I sucked in a deep breath when I took a closer look at the two puncture wounds. “We have pixies who could heal this in seconds back home.”
“I’ll go to the infirmary if I can walk. I was never taught healing spells. I’m sure they thought it unnecessary,” he mused aloud. “I should learn a few, hmm?”
I nodded and helped him hobble across the garden. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”
The trip took three times as long as it took us to arrive. A guard spotted us when we approached the doors and shouted for help. He took Kiros from me and propped him up, then carried him toward the three other guards who all rushed to his aid.
I was alone enough, with the guards preoccupied. I could have run, if not for the walls and other defenses. I wished Cedric had come now. At the least, I could get some time by myself in the gardens, but staying by Kiros’s side would have gained the trust I needed for when it really mattered. I cast my eyes down at the ground and hurried behind them as they walked him to the infirmary. My lips curled between my teeth. I wished I could find my staff, but it had probably been broken into tiny pieces or burned. The thought ached my soul.
