“Nick was a guest at Vi’s estate, not a student,” Kit explained.
Nick turned to Kit, surprised. Only a few days ago, he was telling Nick in a desperate hiss to keep that to himself for his own sake. Kit might have warned Nick that the rebels would likely try to use him to trade for something, but he clearly didn’t think that Nick’s safety here was linked to his ability to cast that spell on his arm.
“Didn’t you go there to get a witch’s student?” Seche raised a brow.
Kit’s tail twitched. He cleared his throat, eyes sliding towards Nick. “There was a misunderstanding.”
“I told you I wasn’t,” Nick said dryly.
“If you had not stolen another’s shirt, I would have believed you.”
“Borrowed.”
Kit regarded his too-tight shirt. “A habit of yours.”
Their eyes met, and Nick marvelled that he could feel amusement about it all. Perhaps it was the jovial atmosphere, or perhaps it was seeing Kit at ease, that put him at ease in turn.
Ios looked at Nick with newfound intrigue. “If you’re not a student, who are you?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Everyone looked at Nick with varying degrees of curiosity.
“I don’t even know how to go about answering that,” Nick admitted.
“As a guest of Vi’s, you must be someone of prominence,” Ios pointed out.
“No,” Nick objected. “My brothers’ friend Sam is dating Vi’s nephew, so my entire family was invited.”
There was a pregnant pause. Shifting doubt among the faces, and Seche directed a troubled look at Kit. “Vi’s nephew?”
“Yes,” Kit said.
“The merman.”
“Yes,” Kit repeated, a note of defiance in his voice.
“So the reason every trader from here to the north pass is dragging their ships onto shore is because…” Seche’s gaze slid to Nick, a humourless smile curving his lips. “You napped a family friend of the merfolk.” Kit’s hand tensed on his fork, but he didn’t interrupt.
“Kit only did that because of Lady Desre,” Ios cut in, his friendliness replaced by a firm undercurrent of steel. “We will explain it to them.”
“Sure. Jump into the water. I wager you’ll get one word out before you’re drowned,” Seche replied. They all spoke low enough that those outside of the group wouldn’t be able to hear, not with the music and hum of other conversations in the hall.
“What was he supposed to do?” Ios scowled. “This is why I said we should have taken him before they left Aridia, like we’dpreparedfor.”
“We’d prepared for Kit to set off, not forherto be on board with him.” Seche’s tail flicked, showing his irritation. “We would have lost.”
Nick wondered about that. There were so many here, and he got the impression this rebellion had more than those in the hall in its numbers—among all of them, how could there be nobody able to best her? Was the only solution to resist her the symbol on his arm? Idly, Nick brushed his thumb over the mark. Drawing it onto Kit hadn’t worked, but now that they weren’t under immediate threat, perhaps a different solution was possible?
“Is Desre the only reason you haven’t overthrown the council yet?” Nick asked. “And her power?”
There was an uncomfortable silence. Kit inclined his body towards Nick. In the small dispute among them, Kit’s tail had found its way around Nick’s leg, and it latched on tightly now as if for comfort. “The other members are…lacking.” Seche raised a brow at Kit’s comment. “They can be overcome, not without difficulty—their guards are skilled, and their control in Aridia is uncontested—but she has been undefeated. I will not be told the details because of the risk, but I imagine that there has been considerable progress against them since Desre departed Aridia with me.”
Ios made a confirming noise in his throat, and Seche smacked his thigh with his tail. Ios hissed, and Seche met his animosity with a calmly raised brow.
Nick moved his attention from Kit to Seche. “The spell that lets me resist her—I can have it drawn onto you and your men.”
They all straightened.
