Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,129

you think I am?”

“I don’t know; you’re the one siding with a woman who singlehandedly started wars.”

“Maybe I’m a fool to think that I could have pretended to be a normal eighteen-year-old. To convince myself I could play the part indefinitely, only to come back to this. It makes things worse somehow. Did you know the first thing Mother said, when she found me on that bridge, ready to fall?”

Tala shook her head.

“‘Where does it hurt?’ she asked.” He looked back up into the sky, blinking rapidly for a few seconds. “Everywhere,” he said simply. “I hurt everywhere. And I still do.”

Tala didn’t think. She reached out, found his hand. “I’m so sorry.” He wasn’t lying. He wasn’t faking his tears. And in that moment, Tala found that she could almost forgive him.

He said nothing for a while, though his fingers curled around hers. “Thank you,” he finally said, looking back at her, and Tala wanted to believe that he had made the first move, that this was a part of his plan all along, except it was she who was leaning toward him before he thought to meet her halfway.

And it was he who paused, hesitated, turned away. “Not like this.” His voice was hoarse. “I don’t want us like this.”

The moment passed. Tala reared back.

He handed her a blanket, refusing to meet her gaze. “Get some rest. I’ve done what I could to stave off the snow, but it can still get cold out here. We’ll have a couple of days before we reach Maidenkeep,” he said, and that was that.

* * *

Tala didn’t get much sleep that night. Her agimat didn’t appear to be interfering with whatever spell Ryker had cast to keep them warm, but she kept half-expecting a ruse; that the boy was biding his time, waiting for the other ice maidens to show up and take her captive. But Ryker wanted her and the firebird in Maidenkeep. Why?

In the silence, she was finally able to assess her current feelings. The puppy-love crush she’d felt for him had faded soon after his betrayal, but she would be lying to insist that the attraction was completely gone. And while Ryker might claim to be exactly where he wanted to be, it also sounded like the bluster of someone who’d never truly been given that choice.

Lola Urduja was still alive. So were the rest of the Katipuneros. And her father. She hated him for not telling her, and she hated that he was the Scourge, and she hated that he had the balls to pretend like everything was fine when he was responsible for so many horrible things, but she gave in and wept quietly all the same, because for all that, he was her father, and also alive.

Ryker was wise enough not to comment on her red-rimmed eyes the next morning. The fat little bird shot the boy a careful, sideways glance, then painstakingly shed a feather.

“Are you not calling for help because Alex is too far away?” Tala asked it quietly, while Ryker was busy dismantling their camp. “Is that why you’re staying and making deals with him?”

The firebird rolled its eyes at her as if to say, no duh.

Together, they looked on as Ryker cast a spell, his hands glowing. The snow around them melted away. “We’re called tempestarii,” he said, catching her watching him. He grinned. “Ideally we can control aspects of the weather, but winter seems to be our best skill. And all it took was a tiny piece of my soul.”

“I’m not sure that’s something to laugh about.” She didn’t want to think about the almost-kiss from the night before. He was right. She didn’t want them like this either.

“You’d be surprised to find how worthless a soul really is. As far as I’m concerned, I’m getting the better deal out of this bargain. And I haven’t given up the entirety of my humanity like the ice maidens, so there’s that.” He looked to the firebird. “Does our agreement still stand?”

It nodded.

“Good. And have you changed your mind about traveling with me?” The words came out guarded, a trifle uncertain.

She could almost believe, Tala thought, that his concern for her wasn’t an act. “I have some ground rules.”

He quirked a brow. “Oh? And what are those?”

She told him.

29

In Which Ken Has Little Say in Anything

I think he’s coming to,” Loki said, as Alex slowly stirred, groaned. None of them had gotten out of the swamps unscathed; though the marsh remained frozen,