CHAPTER TWENTY

The silence of the woods at night felt otherworldly to Eadric. Here, the sigh of pines and the whisper of wind along the eaves replaced the faraway shouts of patrol guards and the gurgle of pipes beneath the floors. The occasional wild howl rolled through the twilight, hungry and alone—so was it strange that a part of Eadric would rather surrender himself to the perils of the forest than confine himself within these walls?

Then Luna nestled closer to his chest and he told himself that everything would be all right so long as she was at his side. Almost everyone else had already gone to bed, but he was more than content to spend the rest of the night in front of the fire with her snug in his arms, although sitting on the hard oak floor had caused him to completely lose the feeling in his legs an hour or so ago.

He adjusted his position, wincing, and watched as Luna gazed into the fire. “This is nice, isn’t it?” At the palace, their duties constantly got in the way of seeing one another. She hummed distantly. He brushed his thumb along her jaw. “What’s on your mind, darling?”

She sighed and shot a glance at Quinlan, who had passed out cold on the sofa behind them. “I shouldn’t be here.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not like the rest of you. I’m not powerful.”

“So? That didn’t stop you before.”

“I know, I just …” She laughed to herself. “Never mind, it’s silly.”

He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “No, tell me.”

She looked away. He waited patiently, until at last she spoke. “Magic comes to all of you so easily, but I’ve always felt like something is blocking it from me.” She bit her lip in frustration as she searched for the words. “Like a locked gate that I don’t have the key to. I hoped that leaving the palace for the first time in my life might have changed that somehow.”

Eadric frowned. “Like how?”

“Well, powerful parents usually make powerful children, don’t they? And since I never figured out who my parents were … I just—I just so badly wanted to be like all of you,” she admitted softly. “And there’s a part of me that keeps thinking that I could be, if only I had that key.” She stopped and shook her head with a rueful smile. “Listen to me. I sound crazy.”

“Not to me,” Rose said. Luna and Eadric jumped, neither of them having heard her reenter. She had a towel wrapped around her head and smelled of lemon soap. Folding her legs beneath her with all the grace befitting a queen, she sat across from them on the other side of the coffee table. “Apologies. I didn’t mean to startle you.” She tilted her head at Luna. “But you should always trust your magic. Trust how you feel it should flow. If you think there’s something more, something to unlock, maybe you’re right. One of my professors at the Academia Principalis always said that magic is as much a part of you as any organ or bone. When something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what was the Academia like?” Eadric asked eagerly. The Eradorian school was the most prestigious magic academy in the world and internationally renowned for its contributions to the study of magic. Located within the inner city of Eradoris, admittance was nothing short of a miracle. It surprised him a little that Rose hadn’t just studied with tutors as Asterin had, but he supposed that if the kingdom’s future queen had wished to attend the academy, it probably hadn’t been too much of a struggle to dredge up an acceptance letter.

“Brutal.” And then, cheerfully, she added, “I got expelled.”

“Expelled?” Luna blurted. “You?”

Rose nodded and began tracing shapes into the floorboards with her index finger. “I helped my classmate pass his end-of-year exam. Twice, actually. I should have been expelled the first time around, but my mother gave them hell over it. And I was one of their best students, so I was given a second chance … which I botched the following year. But I didn’t care. Consequences be damned,” she growled, startling them with her ferocity. “The examination system is merciless—the less powerful are at a severe disadvantage, no matter their other skills.”

“Well, it is a school for magic …” Eadric couldn’t help but point out.

“Magic is much more than just strength,” Rose said. “It’s about patience, focus, and keeping an open mind to all the possibilities.” She snorted quietly. Fondly. “Not that he was great at any of that, either.”

“Who?” Luna asked.

Rose’s shoulders tensed. “My—my classmate.” Her nails dug into the floor. “He was expelled, but I managed to get him a place to stay in the inner city anyway.”

Luna’s eyebrow arched. “You did all of that for a classmate?”

Rose ducked her head. “That’s all I was to him, apparently, so … yes. In any case, I learned a lot from that experience, and to be honest, I think I ended up better off than I would have if I had stayed. Knowledge can be shared, but it is purest when sought.”

“Why couldn’t you just let him fail, though?” Eadric asked.

“Failure is unacceptable at the Academia,” Rose replied, voice flat. “People who fail not only face automatic expulsion, but banishment from the city. That’s why I had to help him.” She flicked a bit of cinder off her boot. “And, unfortunately for me, I would do it all over again for him in a heartbeat.”

A sudden chill brushed against Eadric’s skin at the unforgiving ire in her expression.

Luna, Immortals bless her, yawned loudly, breaking the tension with her usual sweet smile. “Well, I’m beat. Shall we get ready for bed?”

Eadric smothered the fire with a few shovelfuls of ash, and the three of them trudged up the stairs, leaving Quinlan to his sleepy mutterings on the sofa—something about dueling with carrots. They kept the same sleeping arrangements as they had in Aldville, except Rose had the room at the end of the hall to herself. Eadric could hear Orion snoring softly from within their room. Luna tiptoed past him to the room she shared with Asterin, next to his—the door was ajar, but the lights were out. From Harry’s room across the hall came only silence.

Just as Rose reached for her doorknob, the question that had been burning on Eadric’s tongue since before they had even left the palace finally slipped out. “Why are you helping us, Your Majesty? You and Quinlan?”

Rose’s hand stilled on the knob, her back to them. She didn’t answer for a long while and Eadric wondered if he had overstepped.

At last, she released a heavy sigh. “As Queen of Eradore, it is my duty to protect my kingdom and its people at all costs. All I can tell you is that by being here, I am trying to fulfill that duty.” She turned to face him and Luna. “Nothing is certain. All we know is, as the only heir to the Axarian throne, Asterin must survive. She is fair and kind, and her people like her. That alone could make all the difference. In times of great difficulty, Asterin Faelenhart will be a star in the darkness for not only the people of her own kingdom, but for people everywhere. They will look to her as a leader—as their ruler.”

Eadric hadn’t the slightest idea how to respond to that—but Luna only smiled. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, we already knew that.”