CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
When Kiva woke the next morning, she was in her bed, the blankets snug around her. She cast her mind back and realized Jaren must have carried her to her room and tucked her into bed.
A mortified groan left her, but then a hard knock on her door had her shooting upward, with Caldon calling through the wood a moment later to say it was time for training. The last thing she wanted to do that morning was work on her fitness — not when she was so anxious to find Nanna Delora — but knowing the prince would hunt her down if she tried to skip their session, Kiva hurried to change into her training clothes.
“I hate dawn,” she said upon meeting him in her sitting room.
“Good morning to you too, Sunshine,” Caldon returned, tweaking her nose.
She pulled a face and followed him outside, whinging all the way. As if to punish her sour attitude, he made her do double the amount of box steps and added an extra two running laps, leaving her in agony but also feeling proud of herself when she only vomited once.
“I think I’m getting better at this,” Kiva panted after they finished their final lap.
“We’re not done yet, Sweet Cheeks,” Caldon said, his breathing perfectly steady.
Kiva was about to object, partly because she was exhausted, and partly because she wanted to get to Blackwater Bog, find her grandmother, and return to the palace before anyone realized she’d been gone.
But then Caldon revealed two wooden swords, and her excitement at holding a weapon, childproof or not, made her swallow her complaint.
“You’re not ready for real steel,” the prince told her, “but we can start practicing some basic forms, getting you used to the feel of it in your hands and building on your core strength.”
Kiva tossed the blade from hand to hand. “It’s a bit light, isn’t it?”
Mirth filled Caldon’s expression. “Let’s see if you’re still saying that
when we finish.”
Kiva was naively confident when he guided her through some introductory moves, reminding her to retain the correct posture he’d been drilling into her for days. He kept his own wooden blade sheathed, making her slice into the air, her abdominal muscles squeezing as she turned her hips at his command, thrusting and parrying with snail speed.
“It’s all about control, about balance,” Caldon told her. “With a heckuva lot of repetition.”
Within minutes, Kiva’s muscles were burning — all of them. At any one time, she had to be in complete control of her body, while still listening carefully to Caldon’s merciless corrections: “Look up!” “Back straight!”
“Watch your feet!” “Slow down!” “Tighten your core!”
Toward the end, he ordered her to speed up, forcing her into a set of quick steps, lunges, and constant footwork that demanded perfect balance and concentration. When he finally said she could stop, she wasn’t only physically shattered, but mentally, too.
“That wasn’t terrible,” Caldon said, looking down at Kiva, who had collapsed spread-eagled on the ground. “But we have a lot of work to do.”
Kiva whimpered. “Would you care if I told you the only part of me that doesn’t hurt is my hair?”
“I’d care,” Caldon answered. He grinned and added, “Because as long as any part of you doesn’t hurt, that means I need to push you harder tomorrow.”
Kiva didn’t have the energy to reply. Or cry, which was what she really felt like doing. Never before had she been more grateful for Rhessinda’s quick-acting muscle relaxant powder that was waiting in her room — if only she could summon the strength to get there.
“All right, Sweet Cheeks, I’ll help you out, just this once,” Caldon said, hauling her up to her feet.
“You’re too kind,” Kiva groused — or she tried to, but her words ended in a pain-filled groan as she sought to keep her legs from crumpling beneath her.
“Usually, yes,” Caldon agreed. “But today it’s also for self-serving
reasons.”
“With you, it usually is.”
“Be nice,” Caldon said, “or I won’t play tour guide.”
It took Kiva a second to realize what he’d said. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Your boyfriend felt bad about leaving you,” Caldon informed her, wiping a speck of dirt off his training shirt, “so he asked me to entertain you while he’s gone. Show you the city, introduce you to the best of Vallenia, that kind of thing.”
The pain fled Kiva as dread took hold. “That’s really not necessary.”
Quickly, she added, “And he’s not my boyfriend.”
Caldon waved a hand. “Semantics.”
“Seriously,” Kiva said, “I’m fine keeping my own company.”
“Be that as it may, I made my cousin a promise,” Caldon said, collecting her wooden sword and nudging her toward the training yard exit. “Until Jaren returns, you and I will be spending some quality time together. Lots and lots of quality time.” With another easy grin and a quick wink, he finished, “Consider me your new best friend, Sunshine. Where you go, I go. Doesn’t that sound fun?”
For the next few days, Kiva couldn’t sneeze without Caldon being close enough to offer her a handkerchief.
Each morning, they continued their training, with Kiva only surviving the new sword practice thanks to heavy doses of Rhess’s pain-killing muscle relaxant. As soon as Caldon declared their sessions over, he barely gave her enough time to clean up and change before he was upholding his promise to Jaren by whisking her off into the city.
Kiva didn’t have a spare second to even try to sneak away, and while she’d experienced no further magic bursts in that time, she was increasingly aware of the power lurking beneath her skin, like a whispered reminder that it was there — and it wanted out. Recalling how her mother had apparently used “little magics,” Kiva wondered if doing the same might help keep hers from bursting free. But the fear of discovery kept her from any such attempt, and she cast the thought from her mind.
When Saturday morning arrived — five days since Jaren’s departure — Kiva was desperate enough to hatch a drastic plan. Jaren had said he’d be away for four days, possibly more, and that meant he could return at any time. When he did — along with Naari and Captain Veris — it would be so much harder for her to leave the city undiscovered.
During her brainstorming, she’d considered using Silverthorn as an excuse again, just like when she’d snuck away to Oakhollow. But with Caldon shadowing her steps, she knew he would only follow her. Even so,
Kiva had decided that the academy would still help her evade the prince, if in another, more extreme way.
The first part of her plan began when she finished her morning training and Caldon revealed the places he planned to take her that day, starting with the Temple of the Forgotten Gods, then heading over to the Singing Gardens.
After that, they would take a dip in Sarana’s Baths, and finish with a hike up the Warrior’s Steps to catch the sun setting over the city.
Kiva felt tired just thinking about it all, and she used that emotion to turn pleading eyes on him and say, “Do you mind if we stop at Silverthorn on our way? I want to pick something up.”
“Are you being vague on purpose?” Caldon asked, running his fingers along his wooden sword.
Kiva placed her hands on her hips and shamelessly lied, “I was trying to spare you the details, but since you’re such a busybody, I have cramps and want to grab some moonflower.”
Caldon frowned. “You should have told me earlier. I would have gone easier on you if I’d known you were in pain.”
“I’m in pain every morning with you,” Kiva returned, feeling a sliver of guilt at his unanticipated compassion. “You’ve never cared before.”
“That’s different,” he said. “And you know it.”
If Kiva had been suffering from her monthly cycle, she might have been emotional enough to hug him. Instead, she swallowed her gratitude and agreed to meet him after she’d bathed.
The second part of her plan took place when they arrived at Silverthorn, with Kiva loosing a relieved breath at seeing Rhessinda sitting on the same bench as the first time she’d sought the healer out.
“Do you mind giving me a moment with her?” Kiva asked Caldon, gesturing toward Rhess. “I, um, just want to talk to her about some of my, uh, symptoms.”
The prince seemed surprised by her fake embarrassment, and she swore inwardly, realizing that, as a healer, she should have been perfectly at ease talking about all bodily functions. Thankfully, Caldon let it go and halted on the path, leaning against one of the stone arches to wait.
Kiva hurried straight over to Rhessinda, who stood upon her approach.
“What’s with the royal bodyguard?” she asked, tossing her ashy braid over her shoulder.
“Not a bodyguard. More a well-meaning but frustratingly clingy
babysitter.” Kiva shook her head. “Never mind about that, I need your help.
Can you take me to the apothecaries’ garden?”
Rhessinda didn’t waste time asking questions. “Sure. It looks like you’re in a rush — we can cut straight across the sanctuary.”
Kiva turned to Caldon, miming that she would be back in a few minutes.
Part of her was surprised he didn’t follow when she and Rhess set out across the grass, but then she reminded herself that she wasn’t a prisoner — Caldon was spending the day with her to keep her company, something that he thought she would want. That Jaren thought she would want. At any other time, she would have been humbled by their thoughtfulness, and for the hours Caldon was sacrificing to show her the beautiful city.
“Want to tell me what’s going on?” Rhess asked casually as they crossed a narrow brook and passed through a small grove of citrus trees, hints of orange, lime, and lemon scenting the air.
“I need to ask a favor, but I don’t want you to get in trouble,” Kiva answered.
Rhess snorted. “Please. Do I seem like the kind of person who worries about trouble?”
No, she didn’t. And that was why Kiva had come to her for help. “I need to get away from Vallenia for the day.”
“Back to Oakhollow?” Rhess asked as they headed toward an impressive greenhouse. It hadn’t been part of Kiva’s tour the first day, when she’d seen only the apothecaries’ workroom where the medicines were made and readied
for collection.
“Not Oakhollow. Somewhere else.”
As much as Kiva was growing to value Rhess’s friendship, she still had many secrets that couldn’t be shared. But the healer didn’t press, and only asked, “What do you need?”
Kiva quickly explained about Caldon dogging her steps and how she needed to take him out of the equation, finishing with, “I’m thinking a sleeping remedy. Perhaps a combination of moradine and rosaron.” Normally she would only use moradine — like what the queen had given Tipp the night of Kiva’s abduction — but the addition of rosaron would ensure a deeper sleep for a fully grown adult like Caldon.
“That should definitely work,” Rhess said without a hint of judgment.
They reached the outer edge of the apothecaries’ garden, a small picket fence hedging in numerous rows of medicinal plants. Had she the time, Kiva
would have spent hours wandering the aisles and exploring the greenhouse at their center, but today wasn’t the day for sightseeing.
“Where to?” Kiva asked Rhess, indicating the large garden.
The healer hesitated, and Kiva wondered if she was having second thoughts about helping her steal from the academy. But then Rhess stepped over the small fence, striding with purpose toward a mounted signpost.
Seeing it, Kiva realized she could have left Rhess out of her plan entirely, since the sign offered a detailed map of every bed in the garden.
“Moradine and rosaron, right?” Rhessinda asked.
“Right,” Kiva confirmed.
Rhess searched the map, found them both listed in the same garden bed, and led the way in their direction.
“So you plan to drug Prince Caldon and then sneak away from the palace to some unknown place?” the healer said as they wandered along the path.
“Sounds wise.”
“I’m visiting family,” Kiva said.
“I thought you already did that.”
“Different family.”
“As long as my aiding and abetting doesn’t result in you getting hurt,”
Rhess said. “Or lost. Where are you headed?”
Kiva bit her lip as they approached the desired garden bed, realizing that she’d forgotten to consult a map. “Blackwater Bog. Do you know it?”
“Oh, sure, that’s just up north a bit,” Rhess said as they came to a halt on the path.
“Where the Wildemeadow meets the Crewlling Swamplands,” Kiva recited.
The healer turned to look at her, squinting. “You have no idea where
you’re going, do you?”
Kiva sighed and shook her head.
Rhess chuckled. “Don’t worry, it’s really easy to find. Just head north out of Vallenia and follow the signposts. You only have to skate the eastern edge of the Wildemeadow, not travel through the middle of it, so it’s a fast journey.” Quickly, she warned, “But don’t go beyond Blackwater Bog. The swamp will swallow you alive.”
Kiva shuddered at the thought. “Thanks,” she said, fully aware that she owed Rhessinda big time.
The healer shrugged away her gratitude and pointed to the flower bed.
“Here we are.”
Kiva crouched and plucked a few bright red moradine petals along with some yellow-streaked leaves from the rosaron shrub. “Perfect.”
Aware that Caldon could come looking for her at any time — which was also why she didn’t try to take off without him, since there would be hell to pay if he discovered her gone — Kiva hurried with Rhessinda out of the garden and across the sanctuary again. When they reached the prince, he sent a flirtatious smile to Rhess — which she ignored — and asked Kiva if she was ready to go.
“Can we head back to the palace quickly first?” she replied after they said goodbye to Rhess, following the next phase of her plan. “I’m wearing new boots and they’re rubbing. I don’t want to end up with blisters.”
The prince showed no signs of impatience, instead agreeing that she needed appropriate footwear given how much walking their day would require.
Nerves skittered in Kiva’s stomach when they arrived at her sitting room, the most challenging task now before her.
“Why don’t you take a seat,” Kiva said, motioning to an armchair near the window. “I may be a few minutes.”
Caldon followed her suggestion, clearly not in a rush, though he did say, “Just grab your first comfortable pair.”
Instead of heading straight to her bedroom, Kiva drifted over to a tea tray the palace servants kept warm at all hours of the day. With shaking hands, she poured two cups, carefully slipping the moradine petals and rosaron leaves out of her pocket and dunking them into Caldon’s tea, pushing them to the bottom.
After spending weeks with him at the winter palace, one of the few things she knew was that he was very fond of his morning tea. Praying that today would be no different, she turned with a bright smile and walked over to hand him the teacup.
“We could have gotten something while we were out,” Caldon said, accepting the steaming offering. “I was planning to show you this cute little teahouse on the way to the temple. It’s owned by an ex-apothecary, and it looks like half a forest has relocated into her store. I figured you might like to see it, but I guess we can always stop there on the way back.”
He raised the teacup to his lips, and Kiva had to stop herself from knocking it out of his hands. Jaren may have asked Caldon to show her
around the city, but it was Caldon who had spent time carefully deciding where to take her based on her interests. She hated repaying his kindness by drugging him, even if she’d been left with little choice.
Caldon smacked his lips after his first sip. “This tastes different.” Kiva’s heart skipped a beat, until he gave it a deep sniff and asked, “Did you add cinnamon?”
He took another large gulp as he waited for her answer, but the potent sleeping mixture took effect before she could reply.
Kiva had never worked with moradine or rosaron before, neither having been part of her mediocre garden at Zalindov, though her father had taught her how to administer both. She’d given Caldon a large enough dose to knock him out for hours, confident there would be no ill effects aside from grogginess and disorientation upon his waking — which would only work in her favor.
She hadn’t, however, expected the drugs to kick in so fast, and she had to lunge forward to grab him when he nearly toppled out of the armchair. Both his teacup and hers crashed to the ground, spilling brown liquid everywhere.
But Caldon was out. And that was what mattered.
He would be safe in her sitting room. Tipp would be in the western palace studying with Oriel until early evening, and any servants who entered would just assume the prince was taking a nap. When Caldon awoke, Kiva hoped he’d think the same, but if he had doubts, she would be back long before the drugs left his system, giving her plenty of time to convince him that he’d dozed off while waiting for her to change her boots.
Making sure the prince was comfortable, Kiva quickly cleaned up the mess, then hurried to grab her travel cloak. Just as she was about to leave, the
door to the hallway opened — And Tipp skipped through it.
His face brightened at the sight of Kiva, but then he saw Caldon passed out in the armchair, the spilled tea slowly drying on the floor.
Tipp wasn’t a fool. It took him less than two seconds to take in everything — including Kiva’s travel clothes and the startled look on her face
— and turn to her with accusing eyes.
“What d-d-did you do?”
Kiva raised her hands. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“It looks like y-you drugged C-Caldon.”
Wincing, Kiva admitted, “I didn’t think you’d be back until later.”
“I n-needed a sweater. We’re h-heading out into the gardens, and it’s g-g- going to rain soon.”
Kiva had noticed the clouds while walking back from Silverthorn, but she wasn’t about to let poor weather disrupt her day.
“Now, t-tell me what you’re doing,” Tipp demanded, his hands on his hips.
Aware that he’d worked in Zalindov’s infirmary long enough to recognize that Caldon’s state wasn’t natural, Kiva settled on a half-truth.
“He’s been watching me like a hawk since Jaren left. I just needed some space.”
“So y-you drugged him? He’s been n-nothing but kind to us — all of his family have b-b-been nothing but kind. And now you g-go and do this?” His voice rose. “Why, K-Kiva?”
Kiva used the guilt she was feeling in an attempt to sway Tipp, sharing another partial truth. “There’s someone I need to visit, and I didn’t want him
coming with me.”
“Who?”
It was a risk, Kiva knew, but she trusted the young boy to keep her secrets — if she asked him.
Some secrets, at least. Not all of them.
And so she said, in a whisper, “My family.”
Tipp’s anger vanished. “Your w-what?”
“I have a brother and sister living just out of the city,” Kiva answered, thinking it safer to share about Zuleeka and Tor rather than offer any mention of Delora. Her siblings were well hidden and desired to stay that way, whereas her grandmother was a wildcard. “I want to go see them.”
Tipp’s freckled brow furrowed. “Caldon could have t-taken you.”
“I haven’t seen them in ten years,” Kiva said, lying now. She made her lip wobble — not difficult, considering how dreadful she felt. “I don’t know if they’ll want to see me after . . . everything. And if they turn me away, I’d like to lick my wounds in private. That’s why I want to go alone.” Quietly she finished, “He’s only sleeping.”
Tipp was looking between her and Caldon, deep in thought. “This is
important t-to you, isn’t it?”
Kiva nodded. “More than I can say.”
That, at least, was the truth.
The young boy remained silent for another minute, before finally
nodding. “I’ll c-cover for you.”
Kiva blinked with surprise, but Tipp wasn’t finished. He headed toward his bedroom, talking to her the whole time.
“Everyone thinks h-he’s with you today anyway, so I’ll k-keep Ori out of here, and if anyone a-asks, I’ll say Cal was out late last n-night and is sleeping it off.”
Tipp returned to the sitting room carrying a pillow and blanket, carefully draping the latter over the prince, and lifting his head for the former.
“If he w-wakes up before you return —”
“He won’t,” Kiva said. “I’ll be quick.”
“If h-he does,” Tipp continued, “I’ll tell him you thought he m-might be sick and you left him to r-rest.”
Kiva’s eyes welled with gratitude. “You won’t say anything? About where I’m going?”
“I get the f-feeling you’d like it kept secret.”
Kiva was too choked to do anything other than nod.
“If it’s important t-to you, it’s important to m-me,” Tipp said quietly, walking over to wrap his arms around her waist. “We’re in this t-together, Kiva. Always.”
She pulled him close and only released him when he started to squirm, after which he sent her a gap-toothed grin and pushed her toward the door.
Needing no further encouragement, Kiva hurried outside and headed directly to the stables. Caldon had taken her out on horseback for two of the last three days, so the royal grooms didn’t ask questions when she politely requested they saddle her a mount. Within minutes, she was trotting along the path, waving to the guards as she passed through the front gates, and riding out into the city.
Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief, turning north to finally, finally seek out her grandmother.
