Dara and Quirin’s only child worshiped the General and his cause. And yet the General hadn’t bothered to tell him that his ability could never be strengthened like those of his other warriors. Renley would never be more than he currently was.
I could think of no reason for the General to withhold the truth other than to manipulate Renley, providing an incentive for his avid service. So how could I ever trust such a man?
“If I agree to join you right now,” I said, “will you remove my neutralizer?”
I kept my voice bland and my lips slightly curved, as if the answer to the question was no great matter.
The General chuckled. “Have I mentioned that I like you, Airlie? But I’m afraid you’re going to have to prove your loyalty first.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And how do I do that?”
He shrugged. “I’m sure an opportunity will present itself.”
I stood. “Fine. And in the meantime, I’m sure you’ll let my guard know that I had a good reason for treating him so poorly?”
The General chuckled again before his face fell into more familiar stern lines. “None of my warriors will give you trouble. Once you’re one of us, you’ll see that we look out for each other.”
I nodded my thanks and took my leave. But as I left—by the door this time—I reflected that his noble sentiment didn’t extend to Renley.
Chapter 13
Cadence
Someone must have gotten a message to the wagons to stop because they were waiting for us less than an hour downstream despite our original plan to stay on the river all day. A hive of activity surrounded the stationary vehicles as servants pitched tents for all the dignitaries.
“They’re sending written messages on powered gusts of wind,” Zeke said when he saw me watching the scene with a crease between my eyes. “It’s an effective way to pass around messages when you’ve got this many elements mages on the water.”
“I imagine everyone will be glad to feel solid ground beneath their feet,” I said, approving the decision to stop early after the attack. “Do you think anyone will refuse to get back on the barges tomorrow?”
Zeke considered the matter. “If the king and queen are willing, everyone else from Tartora will be forced to follow their lead. And my mother would never choose to appear weaker than another leader. She’ll be the first on board. And once she goes on, the other tribes will feel obligated to do the same—especially with a change of monarchy coming up.” He gave me a sympathetic look. “So if you were hoping to get out of the rest of the river trip, I’m afraid you’re out of luck.”
“Honestly, I don’t even mind,” I said, after a moment’s thought. “If we survived what just happened, we can survive anything, right?”
He grinned at me. “That’s the spirit.”
Bryce stumbled over to take up a position near the gap in the railing where we would soon be disembarking. “I’m never getting on another boat again,” he said in a pained voice.
I gave him a sympathetic grimace. “Were you sick?”
“On Master Augusta,” he whispered.
“Ouch. Rough.” Gia joined us, looking back to her normal self. “We must have missed that part.”
“Regretting being chosen over the other apprentices yet?” Zeke asked Bryce with a wicked twinkle in his eye.
Bryce glared at him, and I gave Zeke a light shove.
“Leave him alone. Being sick is not fun at the best of times.” I turned to Bryce. “Unfortunately, we’ll be back aboard tomorrow.”
Bryce blanched. “Surely not after that attack!”
“We don’t know it was an attack,” Nikolas said. “While the timing was suspicious, we can’t be sure it wasn’t just another example of the border breaking down.” He gave Zeke and me a significant look. “At least that’s the official line.”
We bumped gently against the bank, servants leaping forward to secure the barge. They tied it with ropes to the temporary wooden poles that had been hammered into the shore in preparation for our arrival.
“The rogue protections are part of the reason the delegations are here,” Zeke said, his voice serious this time. “It’s happening in the nomad kingdom, too. We’re going to have to do something soon.”
Bryce, his full focus on the docking process, jumped ashore with an expression of fervent gratitude. But the rest of us hesitated.
“I wondered if that was the case.” Gia sounded unhappy. “I suppose your mother has already talked to our parents about it?”
Zeke nodded. “And you can be certain they’ll be doing a lot more talking after this. If the raiders have weaponized the rogue protections, then the problem just got a lot bigger.”
He didn’t look at me, but I felt the weight of his words. His mother knew the truth about my ability. Would she tell the king and queen? She, at least, didn’t seem to feel any animosity toward me. Would she keep my secret in the hope of luring me to her own kingdom so my ability could be used exclusively to protect the nomads?
If the problem of tainted power leaching across the border was growing, and if I was truly the only one who could stop it, then that must offer me some protection. Surely no one would want to have me killed just for possessing a power affinity if it was the very ability they needed. But by the same reasoning, King Marius was going to be extremely reluctant to release me to the nomads if I decided I wanted to go with Zeke.
I bit my lip, the questions churning in my mind as I followed the others onto solid ground. Worst of all was knowing that I couldn’t actually do what they might demand of me. I’d managed to help with the recent attack, but I had no idea how to deal with the situation on a broader scale.
Somewhere along the river, we had left behind a damaged, twisted section of forest because I hadn’t been able to dispose of the tainted power, just move it. And even that had nearly killed me. Before I could help the Tartorans or the nomads, I had to work out a more effective way to deal with the tainted power. But the only person I had met who had known anything about my ability had been a raider.
It wasn’t exactly a hopeful outlook.
“Come on, Cadence.” Gia poked me, a grin on her face. “It isn’t all bad. Whatever that was, we survived intact. Apparently none of the barges lost a single person. Father is pleased about that, at least.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “It makes our elements mages look good to the visitors.”
I smiled weakly back at her as she led the way into the small village of tents.
“And you seemed to get less sick the longer we were on the water,” she added. “Even with all that pitching around. So hopefully you just needed an initial adjustment. You should be fine tomorrow.”
I shook my head at her usual optimistic outlook. Although in this case, she was right. Even without my shield, I could feel only the faintest traces of tainted power—leftovers, perhaps, from the attack. So I certainly hoped I would feel fine the next day.
“At least I wasn’t sick all over one of the Triumvirate,” I said, unable to help grinning a little at Bryce’s expense now that he wasn’t here.