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“Desert roses.” She smiled. “Too much?”
Quil shook his head, and she walked ahead, adding a sway to her step, satisfaction surging through her when she caught him looking.
She felt a twinge of guilt, too. She was misleading him for information.For Hani, she reminded herself.For all the orphans Tiral murdered. For all those who still live.
“Reports of wraiths out here tonight,” Quil said. “Have you seen one yet?”
Aiz shook her head. “Karinna told me about them. You have to chop off their heads, she said.” Aiz unsheathed her scim. “She’s trying to teach me. But I don’t think I have the way of it yet.”
“Hold the blade with more flexibility in the wrist than you would a dagger.” Quil slowed and came around to her side, wrapping his whole hand around hers and tightening her grip. “Like this.”
She glanced up at him as he looked down at her. Aiz let her eyes drop to his mouth. She should have looked away quickly, kept him on edge. Instead, she found herself fascinated at the shape of his lips, the top one fuller, a stark contrast to his square jaw, his overly sharp cheekbones.
Quil cleared his throat. “We can practice tomorrow,” he said. “With wooden swords.” He pointed to a rocky hill ahead. “Good view up there. Better than anything in Antium, anyway.”
Aiz suppressed a frown. She thought he’d kiss her. He must be shyer than she realized.
“Was Antium really just boring meetings?”
“Sort of. My aunt’s pulling me deeper into the running of things. Shewanted me to stay longer,but Tas and I convinced her to let me go.”
“What’s his job in the Tribe?”
Quil laughed. “Embarrassing me and breaking hearts.”
“Breaking hearts. Not something I have to worry about with you, I hope?” Aiz looked up at him through her eyelashes, smiling to herself when he reddened and shook his head.
“Your aunt,” she said. “She’s young, no? Does she expect you to rule soon?”
“She never wanted to be Empress.” They trudged up the hill along a well-trod trail. A ravine fell away to their left. To their right, the hill rose in a jumble of rocky crags, blocking the view of the Saif encampment. The wind prickled at Aiz, as if in warning, and she kept away from the edge of the ravine.
“She’s told me since I was a child that she’s holding the throne for me.”
“Do you want it?”
“No one ever asks that.” Quil looked at her in surprise. “I don’t know. I—I suppose I don’t have a choice.”
“This makes you unhappy.” She watched his face. “Because you will not be with the Tribes?”
“I’ll be in the capital. Antium. Eventually I’ll marry and have heirs, and…try to be as good a leader as my aunt. I’m afraid I won’t be, though. I’m afraid I’m not even a fraction of the ruler she is.”
It was the most honest thing he’d said to her, and she was both moved by the sincerity of it and determined to get more out of him.
“Because you feel unprepared?” she pressed. “Or because she was trained as a Mask, and you weren’t?”
Quil looked at her in surprise and Aiz cursed herself. Perhaps the conversational leap had been too great.
“She trained me as a Mask, even if I don’t wear one.”
“They are strange,” Aiz said. “Metal, but…not.”
“Liquid metal,” Quil said. “Elias always hated his. Took it off before it could join with him.”
“The metal,” Aiz pressed. “Where does it come from? And is it…alive?”
Quil nodded. “No one living knows where it’s mined. And it’s sentient, according to Elias. He might still have his mask. I’m sure he’d show it to you if you asked. I’m guessing Ankana doesn’t have anything like them?”
Aiz shook her head. “We have seers. We don’t need Masks.”
