“Will it be invisible still?”
“No. Once I relinquish the dagger, it will appear.”
He checked behind us to make sure we were still alone, then reached into his boots and pulled a chisel from one and a hammer from the other.
I took them and placed the dagger in his still outstretched hand. He tucked it into his boot. “Do you need my clothes to wear?”
“No. The windows are impassible.”
He smirked. “Some other time, then.”
I didn’t know how to answer that.
He laughed at my silence. “I’ll keep watch for a swarm of fireflies tomorrow night.”
That was the sign we’d arranged should Alaric’s help be needed when it came time to dispatch the king. Gwenyth and I both carried what looked to be a hardboiled egg in our pockets. In reality, they were filled with magical fireflies enchanted to find Alaric.
“Hopefully Gwenyth can accomplish her task without any assistance.” I’d told myself I was helping with this mission because I wanted to spare the thousands who would die in battles, should renegades decide to fight the king’s troops. But in truth, I didn’t want to lose Alaric. I’d done my best to convince him not to come on this mission at all.
He stopped by the fence. We were sufficiently far enough from the stables that we couldn’t be heard, but he still kept his voice low. “Everything else is going well?”
“There’s been a complication. A wizard I knew…” No, that wasn’t an accurate description. “A wizard I was friends with at Docendum—he’s Warison.”
“You were friends with a wizard?” Alaric’s expression was such that I might have said I was friends with a demon.
“He isn’t as bad as the rest. Or at least he wasn’t at first.” I thought of the villagers at Colsbury. “I don’t know what he’s like now.”
“He’s a wizard. They’re all bad.”
“Technically, I’m a wizard.”
“You’re not the same as the others.” Alaric’s statement curled at the end, almost becoming a question. He wanted reassurance.
“Of course, I’m not like them. My clothes aren’t as fine, and my manners are better.”
He didn’t smile, so I added, “Wizards work for their own benefit. I work to free others. Is that enough of a difference?”
Alaric relaxed a bit. In the dim light, his eyes seemed darker than the sky above him. Warm and earnest. The moonlight caressed his cheekbones and brushed against his nose and lips. If I’d been visible, the two of us would look like lovers at a secret tryst. But I couldn’t let myself think of Alaric that way.
It was perhaps ironic that Wolfson had set out to teach Ronan that love was a liability, and I was the one who had learned the lesson so thoroughly. If Ronan’s ease of conversation with Floris Somerton was any indication, the tutorial hadn’t been seared into his heart like it had mine. He at least had no fear of flirting. Just the thought of taking advantage of the moonlight with Alaric made me want to edge away from him.
“I don’t want to take Ronan’s…Warison’s mark from him. He saved my life once and helped me considerably in other ways. I’m indebted to him for that. Can we accomplish the same means of helping the servants in another way?”
Alaric stared out at the field for a long time before he answered. He was deliberating on my words, but I didn’t know to what end. He might have been contemplating alternatives or he might just be questioning the depth of my resolve.
“We need to go someplace more private,” he said at last. “A place where we can speak face to face.” Meaning a place where I would be visible. He reached out his hand, hovering it in the air like an offering. It took me a moment to realize he wanted to hold my hand.
I hesitated, then wrapped my fingers around his. If Ronan could flirt with Floris Somerton, I could hold Alaric’s hand. “Why must we have privacy?”
“I need to see you while we have this conversation. I need to look into your eyes.”
What, I wondered, did he suppose he’d find in my eyes? I ambled with him along the fence line, farther away from the stables. After a couple of minutes, we climbed over the fence and went behind a large shade tree in the pasture. I became visible, though, in the darkness, I was barely just that.
I pulled my shell charm from around my neck, made it glow so Alaric could see my face, and blinked dramatically. “My eyes are as loyal as ever, true?” More blinking. “Are you reassured now?”
His gaze slid over me. “No. You look pale.”
“Pale is a compliment to highborn women. We powder our faces to look pale.”