“Ren,” said Rhy, crossing the room. “What did I tell you about bothering your uncle?”
“But he’s awake.”
Rhy turned, and saw Kell, and several emotions flickered across his face before he hauled the princess into his arms.
“Go find Alucard,” he said, kissing her hair. “Tell him I said you could have three stories.”
He set Ren down, and she bounded away, the rabbit hopping in her wake.
“That should buy us a little time,” he said, watching her go.
“What happened?” asked Kell. His voice felt raw, as if he’d been screaming.
“What do you remember?”
“Nothing,” said Kell, but the way his brother looked at him said they both knew it was a lie.
“How do you feel now?” asked Rhy.
Kell shifted, and sat up. His muscles were stiff, but nothing hurt. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. Tes did all the work.”
Kell’s head shot up. “No.”
Rhy held up his hands. “We’re both alive. So that is something.”
“You shouldn’t have risked it.”
“It wasn’t a choice,” said Rhy darkly. “It was that, or keep you drugged forever. Not that I didn’t enjoy the high, but I do have a country to run.”
Kell’s hands tightened on the sheets. “Rhy—”
“Don’t thank me yet,” he said, lifting a candlestick from the table. “We don’t know if it worked.”
He held out the unlit taper.
Kell stared at the candle, but made no move, and for a terrible moment the years fell away and he was standing before the ice house game in the lightless fair, terrified to test his power only to find it broken. He was in his narrow cabin aboard the Barron, tearing himself apart, certain if he only tried hard enough, he would break through the pain. He was fighting beside Lila, swords in hand, determined not to reach for that ruined magic, trying to convince himself it wasn’t there. He was right here, right now, sitting in his royal bed, afraid of what would happen if he reached for the power and it did not come. Afraid of the pain he’d feel if it did.
But Rhy had risked his life for this. A chance to be restored.
Kell knew he had to try.
He reached out, and cupped his hand over the unlit taper. Called the warmth to the wick.
The candle sparked.
It wasn’t effortless, the way it had been once, when he was young. There was a resistance, the difference between drawing an arm through water instead of air. But it worked.
The fire bloomed under his fingers, and then, all around, as every taper in the chamber lit at once, bathing the room in flickering light. Rhy sucked in a breath, but Kell’s attention hung on the candle between them, the fragile flame growing hot beneath his palm. He stared at the fire until the pain finally came, not a wave rolling through him, only the burn of a candle against bare skin.
Kell heard Rhy hiss and he pulled back, shaking the sting out of his own hand. He looked down at his singed palm, the skin pink from the heat, and broke into a smile.
Tears slid down his face.
It was the most welcome pain Kell had ever felt.
* * *
Over the years, Lila had explored most of the soner rast, from the five ballrooms to the secret halls that ran between the royal chambers, the sunken baths and the training grounds, and the courtyard. But there was one place she always went out of her way to avoid.
The queen sat at a table in the middle of her workshop, her back to Lila and her head bowed over a notebook, and yet, as Lila slipped, silent as a thief, between the counters piled high with papers and pieces of half-formed spells, Nadiya Loreni cleared her throat.
“Delilah Bard,” she said without looking up. “What brings you to my chambers?”
“Well,” said Lila, running her hand over half a dozen stoppered jars. “You keep inviting me. I thought it was time to take you up on the offer.”
The queen stopped whatever she was doing, and rose to her feet, turning as she did to face her. “Is that so?” Her voice hovered on the line between distrust and curiosity.
Lila shrugged, continuing toward her. As she did, her hand slipped into the pocket of her coat.
“I heard Tes’s work on Kell was a success,” said the queen. “I would have liked to see the process for myself.”
Lila’s fingers closed around the metal pooling in her pocket. “Yes, well,” she said, drawing out the two gold chains, “it turns out she and I have something in common.”
Nadiya’s eyes dropped to the glinting metal. “And what is that?”