Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,136

course. Zoe could already imagine the possible political ramifications of that, not to mention the social scandal it would cause. It explained why Tristan’s mother had so very loudly and so very erroneously called her Tristan’s fiancée almost immediately, knowing others would do the same.

But according to the chronology of events she’d mapped out in her head, they’d started dating right after Alex had left the Locksleys’ protection. This wasn’t Tristan on the rebound, was it? She wasn’t his rebound relationship, right?

Right?

She was angry, and hated that she was. “I need to have a talk with him once I get back. A long talk. I suppose people have tried foisting fiancées on you too?”

“You need to be a certain kind of person to marry into my family, and even then, they find it more trouble than it’s worth.”

“I don’t understand. What kind of person?”

Cole’s gaze met and held hers. “Smart and brave enough to look the dead in the eye, for one thing,” he said softly, with a hint of defiance. “If I told you all the rumors about us were true—that we bear the nightwalker taint, that we could raise the dead—would you even consider it?”

The dead shall rise for you, little girl. The dead shall rise.

The Dame of Tintagel had spelled out the exact same doom another seeress had prophesied on her naming day.

Zoe’s gaze dropped back down to the bandages she was winding around his waist.

“Didn’t think so,” Cole said, but with neither anger nor satisfaction. The bitter smile on his face didn’t feel like it was at her expense. “I’m going to stand guard for a while.” His hand found Zoe’s and deposited it back onto her lap, gentle despite the brusqueness in his voice. Moving to stand, he stepped toward the small brook, leaving her alone in the circle of camp light.

Cole offered very little in conversation the next day, and Zoe couldn’t help but feel insulted. They’d almost been friends the night before, and he was now back to being rude as he always had been, answering her with curt, monosyllabic replies.

For what felt like the eighty-seventh time that day, Zoe was tempted to turn back around and return to the swamps. Guilt and fear for what could have happened to the others plagued her again, but she forced them aside. They’re alive, she told herself firmly. They’re alive, and once we enter Maidenkeep, we’ll find them all there; Ken yelling at us for being late, and Loki and Tala and West and Nya.

And Alex. Alex, and whatever secrets he was still keeping from me.

As if on its own accord, her hand reached into her small bag to feel for the firebird feather. She could almost swear it had a life of its own, pulsing gently around her fingers with a warm, comfortable heat.

31

In Which an Explosion Has Three Points of View

This is unnecessary,” Ryker said for about the twenty-eighth time that day, shifting his bound hands.

“I disagree. This is totally necessary.” He was right, though. Tala knew he could freeze the ropes off in five seconds flat, but she was hoping five seconds would be enough for her to get away if she had to, if he’d been lying this whole time. Despite her earlier protests, she knew she couldn’t let him leave her behind, and this was her way of exerting some control over their current situation.

They were almost at Lyonesse. While the frozen city had seemed majestic from miles away, Tala now saw the signs of hard fighting that had taken its toll as they drew nearer. The gates leading into the city had fallen, wrecked beyond repair, and they had to step carefully through the debris to gain entry. The houses, too, were completely covered in ice, with the doors coated in impenetrable layers and the windows frozen solid. Even the ground had a thick sheen of permafrost, and she had to be careful over where she set her feet. As she had feared, there were no signs of life anywhere.

But even without inhabitants, some of the spells that kept Lyonesse running were still in evidence. Bright sizzling balls of light hung suspended above their heads, serving as lampposts to guide their way despite remaining unmanned for close to a dozen years. Tala stared, fascinated, at one of the glowing spheres that had dipped lower than its fellow beacons, her hand reaching out to touch it. It fizzed against her fingertips, like a warm ball of static, then lost its