Echoes of Silence by Elana Johnson

  “What is it?” he asked.

  I cocked my head to the side and closed my eyes. I hadn’t felt magic like this since leaving Castillo. This energy sang to me, though my ears heard no sound. I heard Castillo’s rich baritone singing that binding spell. My magic surged through me the way it had when we’d bonded.

  “Castillo is here,” I said, though I didn’t wish to explain how I knew such a thing.

  “Impossible,” Cris said. “It hasn’t been long enough to achieve our plans.”

  I flung off the blankets and stood up. “Come, we must get ready to receive him.”

  Before Cris could move, a booming knock sounded on the door. We exchanged a glance before he went to answer it. Once again, I found myself wishing I had Matu’s magic and could sense who stood in the hall.

  “Open the door!” Fury pitched the High King’s voice into hysteria. Cris murmured something placating in response.

  The High King’s face purpled in his rage, yet Cris stood strong against him, not allowing him entrance. Castillo’s magic lingered close, so close. I used every ounce of willpower to keep from running into the hallway and demanding to see him.

  I moved closer so as not to miss any more of the exchange. As I did, Cris increased the volume of his voice so I could hear better. “Father, I don’t care anymore. The price is too high.”

  I wasn’t sure what old argument this was, but the tension in Cris’s shoulders bled into me.

  “For us to control the chaos, some have to die.” The High King’s eyes deepened in color and that flicker of orange fire breathed life into his face.

  “No,” Cris said. “I don’t want to control the magic that way. It’s too dangerous.”

  I muscled my way next to Cris. “That is what this is about?” I couldn’t stop the surge of magic as it painted my voice. Castillo was so close. If he were to speak, I wouldn’t be able to stop my voice from joining his. “Power over me? Over others? More magic? Is that what you promised my sister to get her to come here?”

  The High King switched his sharp gaze to mine, his lip curling into a sneer. “Your sister acts on her own accord.”

  “What did you do to her?”

  “I did nothing.” The High King leaned away from me.

  Cris slid his arm along my waist and murmured in my ear, “Don’t listen to him, dearest. His voice has a way of muddling the mind.”

  “So does mine,” I whispered back. I returned my attention to the High King and his entourage in the hall. “I must beg for one more day. I’m not feeling well enough to begin the training today.”

  Cris started to bring the door closed, and I tore my gaze from the High King’s to look for Castillo’s face among the crowd. His magic called to me, sang notes in my head. I took a step back into the bedroom to keep from rushing into the hall and calling his name.

  “One day,” the High King threatened when only a slit remained in the door.

  Cris returned to his paperwork. He labored nonstop, but I had nothing to fill my time. I longed for the days in the compound, when Lucia and I would scurry into the sewing room. My chest tightened at the memory of her friendship and the knowledge that I’d never see her again.

  I retreated to my suite and sang a protective ward on the door so I wouldn’t be interrupted. I hummed a location spell, weaving my sister’s image into the notes. The rebound came quickly, and showed Olive arranging Nythinian blossoms. Her attention to detail remained unmatched, and she looked as content as I’d ever seen her.

  Still, I didn’t trust that the High King hadn’t poisoned her, somehow, and I promised myself to find out all I could about why he’d really brought her here.

  #

  That afternoon, after I’d finished cleaning up, I went to Cris’s side of the tower. He stood to greet me, a smile spreading across his face. “You look lovely.”

  “Thank you.” I took a deep breath. “I would like to discuss Mari with you.”

  Cris remained impassive. “Oh?”

  “I don’t wish her to be my assistant.”

  He blinked several times. “Who would you like for an assistant? I don’t think we can trust anyone in my father’s house.”

  “She is in your father’s house.” I sighed. “I think the best way to get rid of her would be to claim I don’t need her.”

  Cris looked at me a moment before glancing toward the door. “Meaning?”

  “I don’t desire an assistant.” I crossed to him and slid my arms around his waist. “I know how to dress myself. I did it for many years. I can manage my own hair. Now, as for the makeup, I’m not skilled with a brush the way Greta is.”

  “I don’t like much makeup anyway.” He smiled down at me, and a fluttering started behind my ribs. “I love you,” he said, the smile fading into seriousness.

  It felt like the moment to say it back. But I wanted to mean it when I said it. Did I mean it? When looking at Cris, what wasn’t to like? His kindness? His compassion? His good looks?

  I loved the way he protected me. I loved that he counseled with me, included me in decisions, and made me feel his equal. I loved that he paid attention to what I liked, knew what I wanted, and went to great lengths to provide me with what he could.

  Cris watched me, waiting for me to say something. “I’m dangerously close to loving you,” I said, hoping it would be enough for now.

  He smiled and accepted my answer. “I’ve discovered where Castillo is, and why he’s here.”

  I raised one eyebrow at his blatant topic change. “Oh?”

  “It’s my job to know who my enemies are and what they’re doing.”

  “Is Castillo your enemy?” I disliked the turn in conversation. It felt like the ground might vanish at any moment, and we’d be falling into the unknown.

  “I didn’t mean it to sound like that.”

  “What of Castillo?”

  “He has come back, begging the forgiveness of the High King and seeking a place on the magician’s squad.”

  My mind riddled through this news. Castillo wouldn’t return to Nyth unless he thought it absolutely necessary. He certainly wouldn’t beg forgiveness unless the situation was dire.

  “We must speak with him,” I said.

  Cris clasped his hands behind his back, showing nothing but a stoic exterior. “I agree. He has accepted an invitation for dinner this evening.”

  #

  Olive’s deft fingers worked my hair into an ebony crown ringing my head.

  “Tell me what you’ve been doing here,” I said. Mari hadn’t shown up to help prepare me for dinner, and I wondered if Cris had already arranged her reassignment.

  Olive pulled another strand into place. “When I first arrived, and the High King learned of my limited power, I spent some time in the dungeons. I didn’t receive an explanation as to why I’d been summoned or what I was needed for.”

  I ached to ask her about Grandmother’s house, if the yellow cabinets had weathered the neglect, but I held my tongue.

  “A continual stream of men came and asked many questions about you.”

  I sucked in a breath, but Olive didn’t seem to notice. “Then, one day, a girl took me from the pits, saying I could work in the gardens, make the arrangements for the castle’s décor. I didn’t argue.”

  “Who came for you?”

  “Mari,” Olive said, her voice much cooler, more closed off. I recognized the tone she took when she was nearly finished speaking.

  My heart skipped a beat. “Why would she do that? Did she say?”

  “She said the High King had approved my release, that I was under her supervision, and that in addition to my new florist duties, I’d be helping her attend to a noble.”

  I mulled through her answers as she painted color onto my cheeks and added a diamond clip to my hair. When she finished, she drew me into a hug, something I returned in force. “You are lovely, Echo. Look at what you’ve done for us.”

  I swallowed hard, worrying over exactly what I’d gotten us i
nto.

  #

  When I returned to Cris’s rooms, the dining room table had been set with four places. Crystal goblets held amber liquid, and the white china glinted with candlelight. Fresh roses sat in the middle of the table, white with red weaved along the tips.

  I trailed my fingertips along the tablecloth and jumped when Cris said, “Hello, dearest.”

  I turned to face him, noting that I wasn’t the only one who had paid particular attention to my appearance tonight. He wore his finest black suit, a white shirt with a pale yellow tie. His hair had been combed, and silver glinted at his wrists. My heart pounded at his good looks, his sophistication.

  “You take my breath away,” he said, edging ever closer. He soaked in the crimson of my silk dress, the blush on my cheeks, the gem-studded crown on my head.

  I remained silent as Cris continued his advance toward me. He stopped in front of me and took my hand in his. “You’re beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” I said, turning to look at him fully now.

  Cris leaned toward me just as four raps landed on the door.

  “Matu?” I asked, recognizing the knock.

  “I invited him as well. You did wish him and Castillo to be your guards, correct?”

  Surprise shot through me as I acknowledged the lengths Cris had taken to please me. I smiled before he turned to welcome our guests.

  Forty

  I watched Castillo as he and Matu entered the room. Castillo startled when he saw me, moving much the way I felt I was—like I was trying to walk underwater. His magic washed over me, singing through my system with such comfort and grace that I thought of the majestic sunsets Grandmother and I used to watch in the evenings.

  “Good evening, Echo,” he said as he drew closer to where I stood next to the dining table.

  “Good evening,” I replied, turning my attention to Matu and extending the same greeting. I stepped into his embrace, relieved to see him whole and alive.

  “Thank you,” I whispered into his ear.

  He held me at arm’s length. “For what?”

  “For saving me in the mountains of Nyth.” I’d never thanked him properly, and now seemed like a good time. Cris remained near the door as if he were the guard trying to blend into the background.

  Matu smiled his gratitude, and I swept over to the door and linked my arm through Cris’s. I tugged him across the room toward the table. “Thank you both for coming.” I nudged Cris toward my chair so he would pull it out for me.

  Ever the picture of perfection, he played the part, even leaning down to plant a kiss on my forehead before he settled next to me. Matu sat across from him, and Castillo sat last, a dozen questions burning through his dark eyes.

  I smiled, more out of nerves than anything else. The tension between Cris and I stretched, and the silence and distance between me and Castillo felt bottomless. I couldn’t wait to excuse myself and lead him to the balcony where we could truly talk about everything that had happened in the past two weeks.

  During dinner, we tiptoed around topics, never talking about anything of substance, yet filling the spaces in the silence with our voices. Cris seemed to have more to say than usual, and he caught Castillo’s eye more than once. Unsaid words passed between them, setting me on edge. Finally Cris tossed his napkin to the table. “Castillo, may I have a word?”

  “Certainly, brother.” Castillo pushed away from the table and followed Cris toward the balcony without a backward glance for me. Something struck me in the chest, something that spoke of secrets I needed to know.

  Matu exhaled as he stood. “Care for a midnight walk in the gardens, my lady?” He offered his arm, but his eyes held more seriousness than amusement.

  I didn’t wish to leave, but I couldn’t deny the invitation. I worried that Castillo would depart before I returned, that I wouldn’t get to speak with him in confidence, that I didn’t seem to be the one he wanted to strategize with.

  Still, I stood and took Matu’s offered arm. “I’m without shoes.”

  “We won’t stray off the path,” he promised, and led me out of the suite.

  The autumn night in Nyth stole my breath away. The air held a crispness I’d missed in Umon, where the tall buildings and suffocating numbers of people kept everything too warm for too long.

  The air went in easy, clearing my discomfort over leaving Cris with Castillo. “How long has Castillo been here?” I asked as we entered the garden and my feet found the cool comfort of grass.

  “He arrived last night,” Matu replied. He didn’t seem interested in conversation, but I had more questions than time.

  “What’s he doing here?”

  “He’s here to advance his magical training.”

  I frowned into the night, the only place that would receive my displeasure without judging me or glaring back.

  “Why is he—?”

  “Echo,” Matu said, his voice firm. “Are we going to discuss Castillo all evening?”

  A hole opened in my chest, and I struggled to find something with which to fill this wide-open sky.

  “I’m sorry,” Matu said. “I didn’t mean to sound so harsh. I simply don’t wish to discuss Castillo all the time. We used to talk about other things, you know.”

  I nodded, still trying to find my voice among the chirping crickets and whispering breeze. We continued through the hedges and flowers, the petals shining silver in the moonlight. I blinked and swallowed, swallowed and blinked, trying to regain control of my raging emotions.

  Matu finally broke the silence. “How well do you know Castillo?” His voice settled back to its usual timbre, quiet and soft, among the foliage.

  Castillo and I had bonded after a short time, but even before that the magic had clouded everything about him. Most of what I knew had come through magical means, things Castillo hadn’t told me himself.

  “Not well,” I managed to choke out, though I knew he loved policies, and politics. I knew he would do anything for Cris. I knew he possessed beautiful magic, and anyone who could get it to transform the way he did couldn’t be bad.

  “He isn’t one to be tied down,” Matu said, the words coming too casually to hold only their weight.

  “Has he had the opportunity to bond previously?”

  “Yes,” Matu said.

  “And he didn’t.” I wasn’t asking this time. I didn’t blame him. The broken bond with Cris must have been terribly painful.

  “Cris has changed in the short time he has known you,” Matu said. “For the better, my lady.”

  I felt warm with his words. I’d seen the changes in Cris, had felt them in myself. “Thank you, Matu.”

  “Of course, you must also find a way to work the bond with Castillo.”

  I wondered how he knew of our bond, but I didn’t ask. Castillo could explain why, when he insisted we keep our bond a secret, suddenly Matu knew of it.

  #

  Back in the suite, Castillo waited in the shadows, his face a blank mask. He stood stiffly, his shoulders square and his hands fisted at his sides, the way he had the night he’d arrived on my doorstep.

  “I’ll be right outside,” Matu said, slipping back out the door.

  I didn’t move further into the room, and Castillo also seemed content where he was. “Did you enjoy the gardens?”

  “They’re lovely.” I squared my shoulders.

  “Is our bond secure?”

  I held my chin high and looked straight at Castillo. “If you consider Matu secure, then yes.”

  “I didn’t tell him. He has a way of knowing things about a person whether they speak them or not.”

  I desired to see him, truly see into his soul. “I’ve heard you have had many opportunities to bond, and haven’t taken them.”

  “I said I’d release my magic for you, and I meant that.”

  I nodded, swallowing back the emotion in my throat. “Where’s Cris?”

  “He stepped out for a few minutes,” Castillo said. “What’s been happening here
?”

  “Not much,” I admitted. “We only just arrived a few days ago. Why have you returned so soon?”

  “The villagers aren’t willing to back down so quickly,” he said. “I’m afraid I cannot say more.”

  “You never can,” I said. “I dislike these secrets between us.”

  “Some of these secrets protect you,” he said. “And they’re simply policies anyway. Which you also dislike.”

  “Some of them merely cause me to act without adequate information,” I replied. “And all of them annoy me.”

  He stepped closer, his face darkening. “You hold many secrets yourself, princess.”

  “What is it you always say? Just ask; I’ll tell you.”

  He didn’t speak for several long seconds. “Cris said he’s spoken to you about the necessity of the training.” His voice sounded rich and deep, the same singing voice I’d heard as we worked magic together.

  I heard what he didn’t say: This is your chance! A legion of magicians at your fingertips.

  I nodded. “He has.” I paced away from him. “Is the militia dedicated?”

  He caught my eyes. “Some of them.”

  Classic Castillo. Always speaking only half of what I needed to know.

  Forty-One

  The next morning, Matu came for me before dawn. He brought official magician robes from the High King as well as a plate of blueberry muffins and crisp bacon. I ignored the charcoal robes and tried to quell the jittery feeling in my stomach with the food.

  “You must get dressed,” he said after my third muffin. “Street clothes will do. The robes go over everything else.”

  I didn’t know if I had street clothes, or what such things would look like. But Mari entered carrying a pair of black pants and a short-sleeved black tunic. She set them on the bed without a glance or a word to me. She locked eyes with Matu, and I saw heat in her expression before she spun on her heel and left me to dress myself.

  Matu followed her, raising his eyebrows at me before bringing the door closed behind him. I put on the pants and shirt, feeling very much out of my element and wondering if Mari and Matu were better friends than I knew.

  I hadn’t worn pants since becoming a teenager, when I’d graduated into skirts and dresses. They fit well, and when I shrugged into the charcoal robes, I couldn’t feel their weight at all. The fabric had substance to keep the wind and rain at bay. “Enchanted,” I murmured, wondering if the weaver threaded the magic into the garment at its birth, or another magician bewitched it afterward. The fabric reminded me of the cape I’d been given my first night in the High Castle, and a shudder squirreled down my spine.