Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
No! I smile with as much politeness as I can muster. “I surely can’t impose on your—”
“You’re my guest of honour.”
I dart my eyes around for another excuse. Nothing to offend. I wouldn’t want him tossing me out and affecting the judgement of others. I need to get back to friendship forging.
I raise my fingers to my forehead and feign a wince when Quin looks over at me. “Warm,” I say croakily. “Might be coming down with fever.”
“Oh dear,” he says. “Let me guess, you want to magic it away yourself, but you’ve indulged in too much wine?”
I cough in surprise. Has he caught on, or is this true sympathy? I hope for the best and nod. “I should hate you to catch anything.”
“And I should hate you walking to your accommodations in this cold.” His smile gleams. “Stay here. I’ll have a vitalian tend—”
I hold up a hand, silently begging the heavens for him to stop. “False alarm. Must’ve been the excitement.”
Quin’s lips twist and he raises his glass. “In that case, here’s to an evening getting to know you, Calix Solin.”
A slinky nervous shiver steals down my middle.
Akilah comes flying through the curtains, catching herself on the table. She quickly takes in her surroundings. “Calix,” she says a little woodenly. “There you are!” Her eyes swing between Quin and me, and she continues, “That popinjay told me I was highly improper for a gentleman. Gosh, what would he say if—”
I elbow her and she oofs. “Right. Yes. This aklo told me you were invited up here for drinks.” For the first time all evening, she’s wary as she eyes Quin.
He lounges in his chair, watching us, the rim of his cup delicately balanced between two fingers. His brow lifts, and I introduce ‘Ilios’, who he acknowledges barely, his gaze rooting on me.
Akilah sends a look my way and I shake my head minutely.
Quin eyes our silent exchange and then smiles at ‘Ilios’. “Another drink?”
Another and she’ll be done for. I have her wrist under the table; already her pulse is sluggish with drunken fatigue.
Akilah sees wine as a silver lining of this predicament and greedily accepts the cup. If she does pass out . . . maybe I should join her. That at least would be a way out of this.
I hold my cup out for a refill. Quin eyes it calculatingly and smiles as he pours. A meagre slosh only. I stare at the disappointing volume.
“Tell me more about where you come from, Calix.”
The closer I keep to truth, the better. Maskios and I didn’t talk much about his background, now that I think about it. I bring up every detail he ever gave me about Hinsard, but I’m just firing the same frustratingly short answers that he gave me when I asked.
“I’m also familiar with Hinsard,” Quin says, and my heartrate spikes. I squeeze my cup and remind myself it doesn’t all have to be lies. I visited Hinsard as a child; I can use my own memories.
“The rivers, the woods,” I murmur. “There’s even violet oak.”
Quin’s stare lingers, and he sinks back. “There’s a particular festival there. You must know it.”
I swallow.
Quin clicks his fingers searchingly—“What’s the name of it? Remind me?”
There’s a dark twinkle in his eye, and my heart rams in my chest. “Hinsard is a wonder of the kingdom,” I hedge. “Just about everything is famous. Like, the lovelight festival.” The entire kingdom celebrates that—it’s not the particular festival he’s fishing for, but as long as it moves the conversation on. “It’s second only to our capital. Have you given your lovelight?”
“Why? Are you interested in receiving it?” Quin asks, his voice dropping just enough to send heat surging to my cheeks.
I choke on my wine, coughing violently.
He pours me a cup of water, and I think I’d rather choke. But Akilah’s head hits the cushion of her curled arm. I glance sideways. Her eyes flutter shut. The pulse in her throat beats strong, but her breaths are deepening. She’s out cold. I snap up the opportunity along with the cup.
I drink heartily and rise dizzily to my feet, gesturing towards my friend. “I should—”
“Sober yourself first.”
I feel the impulse to be stubborn, but in fact, the room is swaying a little too much.
I resettle reluctantly and pour another cup of water.
Quin runs a fingertip around the rim of his cup, his eyes never leaving me. “You’re here for the examinations. What draws you to vitalian magics?”
Muddle-headed, I give him my own answers, not whatever Calix Solin might say. “Great-grandfather . . . a royal vitalian. Worked in the palace for many years, before setting up his own practice.”
“You want to follow in his footsteps?”
I rub my temple. “He wrote many books and passed them to my grandfather. He said anyone who can help others has the responsibility to do so.”