“Navar was the hand that dealt the blow, but she wouldn’t have been out there if it were not for…” she nodded back toward the cubby she called home, “…him.”
“His name is Ree—”
“I have no need to know his name.” Her lips twisted with hate.
Kera refused to believe Navar’s actions had changed Signe’s sweet, gentle nature. Her friend was mourning and she had chosen Reece to pour her misery onto.
“Don’t do this,” Kera said, but Signe refused to acknowledge her. Kera wouldn’t let her friend off so easily. She spun in front of her, stopping their impromptu stroll. “You know he’s not to blame.”
“It is pointless to help him. He is cursed.”
“How do you know that?”
Signe pushed away, refusing to make eye contact, and Kera groaned. “You cursed him?” How had Signe found the means to buy a curse?
“I cursed everyone who had anything to do with Lani’s death.”
“Then you cursed me.” The rash action of her friend was completely out of character.
“No.” Signe’s red hair bounced against her freckled cheeks as she shook her head.
“Yes,” Kera insisted. “I was there and did nothing.”
Signe shook her head harder. “You could never have stood up against Navar. Not then.”
“And neither could the man lying helplessly in your bed foresee the future, yet you are willing to punish him.”
Signe frowned and bit her bottom lip.
“Reverse the curse. If not for him, then for me,” Kera begged, gripping Signe’s work-roughened hands.
Signe glanced down the passageway, her heart clearly at war with her head. After a moment, her grip tightened. “There isn’t a curse. Only the one I say every night before I sleep. And like me, it has no real power.”
Signe stepped free and wound her way through the underground marketplace. As Kera followed, the cold of the caves struck her. The deep recesses of the caves had always been lit by families; now there were more dark nooks than lit ones. She rubbed down the chill on her arms and wondered if living in such a stark, cold place had infected Signe’s heart. If so, why had she never seen it before? She refused to believe her friend had changed so much in such a short time. “Signe, stop. Stop!”
They came to a sudden halt in front of a stall that sold a variety of tinctures and rubs. “Has your kindness all but evaporated?”
“You ask much of me,” Signe said.
“He doesn’t deserve to die. Nor to suffer. Not like this.” The perpetual frown that marred Signe’s forehead deepened. Kera leaned forward, placing a hand on her friend’s arm. “Are you safe? I heard talk of a war, but there is none that I could see.”
“Rumors, mostly. When Navar was killed, so was the protective spell that kept the Lost King’s disappearance a secret from the nations surrounding Teag. We suddenly became ripe for invasion.”
The council had ruled for years, and even though Kera’s father had been one of them, he never approved of the cloaking spell, believing a strong defense lay in seeking another ruler and forming lasting treaties. Her father had actually been pleased when Navar stepped forward. He had trusted the warlord. How wrong he had been. Yet her father was a good man.
“Does my father still bring you what you need?”
Signe’s nod was slight, and the crease between her eyebrows eased a bit. “If not for him, I fear what would have happened to us. But he is not you.”
“My father can do more for you than I can, and we both know it. I’ll be back once Reece is fully recovered and take him home.”
“What do you mean?” Her friend’s body grew rigid. “You’re leaving?”
Kera pulled away. “I have to.”
“Stay.” The desperate plea in Signe’s voice wasn’t hard to miss.
“I can’t. What Lani did, it’s causing the barrier to disintegrate in far too many places. Real monsters have entered the human realm. I have to do something before they cause any more damage. And God knows what else has crossed—”
“Look around you,” Signe cut in and motioned to the people who wandered aimlessly. “Do you not see what is happening here? Nothing has really changed.”
The people were scared. They’d lost Lani and countless others whom they had depended on. If Kera left again, they would continue to endure hardships. But what was she to do? No one trusted her. That was apparent by the welcome she’d been given. “I understand their grief, and I share it, but—”
“Do you? You look well fed and rested for someone who has lost a dear friend.”
Kera choked on the stillness in her lungs until the air burned and its ragged escape filled her ears. “That is unfair,” she whispered. “Unkind even. It’s not like you to be so harsh.”
“It’s unlike you to abandon us,” Signe shot back. “You spouted all sorts of promises before you left. Where are they now when you have real power? Dust on your shoes, is where. How can I tell them the one they saw as their savior is leaving? Again.”
“I never asked to be their savior.”
“I know. It was thrust upon you. Much in life is that way.” She grabbed Kera’s hands. “I stay not because I have no choice. I stay because I refuse to leave even one behind to suffer. I thought you felt the same.”
Kera pulled her hands free, feeling trapped by Signe’s words. “Yet you are willing to let the human realm suffer. They are defenseless against magic.”
“So are we.”
“Not completely.” Why was Signe being so stubborn? “Magic is from our world. We know what threats exist. The humans don’t. I’m asking you to let me do what is right. I caused so much of this.”
“It will never end,” Signe said. “One day you will have to choose where your allegiance lies.”
“With you,” Kera said. “Never doubt that, but I’m begging you, treat Reece as you would any other innocent man whose only crime was one of ignorance.” She took a deep breath and said, “I think he loved her.”
The bristle of Signe’s anger faded and she buried her face in her hands, covering her misery. “I always feared Lani’s impetuousness, yet I loved her for it, too. I miss her so much.”
Lani was gone, and now Signe believed Kera was abandoning them. She wasn’t. Her responsibility was to two worlds, each vulnerable. Why couldn’t Signe see that? Kera gently touched her friend’s arm. “I have not forgotten you, nor will I ever.”
Her friend turned away. There was nothing more Kera could say. Dragging Reece back to the human realm was out of the question. If Signe refused to care for him, Kera would have to find someone else—her father maybe? When Signe turned back around, Kera eyed the tin in her friend’s hand.
“To ease his pain and draw out the remaining poison,” Signe said.
“Then you will help him?”
Signe nodded. “I doubt either of us could get him off my bed.”
Kera hugged her tightly and whispered a heartfelt “Thank you.”
Her friend pulled away and tucked the tin in her pocket, not yet ready to accept Kera’s gratitude. “You will fight your new battles and love your new love and you will forget us…and I shall be stuck with your human castoff forever.”
“I’m sure once he finds out Lani is gone, he won’t want to stay.”
Signe escorted Kera to the caves’ entrance, her silence the sound of disapproval.
Though the sun’s rays inched through the clouds, Kera couldn’t feel their warmth. She was now a stranger to her own kind. “I can’t pass through the spell any longer. Halim had to bring me through. You should keep a closer eye on him.”
They both knew that was useless. The boy did as he pleased.
Signe played with the necklace that held her birthstone at her throat. “If not for his wandering about, how will we know when you return?”