Page 161 of War Queen
“Of course. Two times I called you and you didn’t come. I thought something might have happened.”
The faint trace of a smile crossed his lips. “My last visit pulled a lot of strength. My healer can only repair the flesh, so I had to recover the old-fashioned way—sleep.”
She smiled. He was so open with her now, his defenses gone. He trusted her. And she was beginning to trust him. “Thank you,” she said softly.
He gave a small nod.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
He offered her his arm, like a proper man of court. “Walk with me.”
She slipped her arm underneath, and they started down the tunnel. As they went, the walls fell away to reveal a walk along a cliff overlooking the sea. She loved some of the places he took her.
“How did you show me my grandmother like that?” she asked. “That wasn’t a memory, or a vision. I know it wan’t real, but how could I feel her warmth?”
“Don’t break the magic,” he told her.
“But it was difficult for you.”
“It’s the most difficult. More than anything else. As I said, it’s the seemingly smallest of things.”
“Well, thank you,” she said softly. “For that.” She watched him as they walked. “You’re a very powerful traveler, aren’t you?”
“I suppose.”
“Are those staves on your neck?”
His brows drew together. “How do you know about staves?”
“All travelers have them.” Well…all the travelers she knew. Which was two, now three.Close enough.“Are they?”
Slowly, he nodded.
“Can I see them?” She resisted the urge to pull down the neck of his tunic and look closer at them herself.
He paused a moment, then reached between his shoulders and pulled his tunic forward, over his head and off.
Oh, all right then. She hadn’t expected he’d take the whole tunic off, but here they were.
Then he reached down and pulled off his boots.Wait, what was happening? He loosened the ties on his breeches and stripped down to his braies.
“Oh… uh… I didn’t mean—”
But she stopped when she saw him. There were hundreds of them, all over his body—smaller staves grouped together to form even larger ones. He held his arms open, giving himself for her study. Then he turned and showed her his back.
All bashfulness forgotten, she stepped closer, mesmerized. The markings weren’t the same as those the Kharavian warriors bore. Instinctively, she put her hand out to him, but stopped herself.
“You can touch them,” he said.
She refrained.
“What do you know of staves?” he asked her.
She shrugged. “Not much. Only that they protect your body from the strain of your power. And that the more power you have, the more staves you need.” She paused for a moment. “You have more than I’ve ever seen.”
“Alexander didn’t have them?”
She shook her head. “He didn’t… use power like you do. It was more like… he was immune to others’, or something. He didn’t really need staves.” Her mind drifted back to the pool of the Wild where Alexander had overexerted himself. Maybe he did, and he just didn’t know about them. But whatever Alexander was, whatever power he had, she’d never know…
