Seeing is Believing (11 page)

"I would eat that, unless they've laced it with suppressant," Reid advised cheerfully.

Ty frowned. That didn't make sense, unless Reid was still counting on him for a part of his escape plan. He could always ditch Ty later.

"If they leave you alone later, rest too."

"I know," Ty muttered, frowning across the clearing at Ytha's tent. The king's mage was likely doing just that.

"If you keep your temper, you should be clear of the suppressant at some point tonight," Reid drawled. "If you lose your temper, maybe an hour at tops."

"That's it?" Ty asked, startled enough to look at Reid. "What then?"

"I couldn't say," Reid said thoughtfully, smirking. "Did you really kill someone?"

Ty jerked his gaze away, a lazy curl of irritation twisting in his stomach. Of course Reid would be flippant about it.

"Yes," Ty confirmed tersely.

"You should probably keep that to yourself when we get over the border," Reid said thoughtfully. "I know a fair number of people who won't like that."

"And you're not one of them?" Ty asked bitterly, wiggling his fingers as the tingling began to wear off.

"I can't be throwing stones from my glass house, if you get what I mean," Reid informed him cheerfully. Ty blinked, confused until the metaphor clicked. Startled, he twisted to look at Reid, who just took a large bite of his sludge.

"Oh, that's awful," Reid complained, but he took another bite. "Aw, no suppressant to make it tasty."

Ty hoped that was a good thing and played right into Reid's hands. He wasn't sure what he'd be able to do with his magic. The day it had manifested in prison he hadn't done anything impressive with it, he'd just made his blanket hover. That hadn't generated any sparks, either; maybe the sparks only appeared when working with the higher-level magic.

Ty tentatively took a taste—it
was
an attempt at porridge, but it was undercooked and especially bland. There was no trace of the bitter taste of suppressant in his, either, so Ytha was probably just waiting him out. If Reid could figure out how close he was, she probably could too.

"What do I do when it wears off?" Ty asked quietly, watching Jensen, the closest guardsman. He wasn't standing very close, but Ty didn't want to chance him overhearing a single word.

"Depends on how it wears off," Reid said with a grin, setting aside his bowl. "Did you get a chance to play with it before they dosed you the first time?"

Ty shook his head, frowning. "Can I do a teleport spell like you did?"

"No," Reid denied immediately. "You probably don't have the right affinities for that, and I doubt you could master such a high-level spell so quickly. Wouldn't want to leave half of yourself here."

Ty winced—that sounded very probably fatal.

"But you'll probably be able to knock everyone on their asses so we can make a run for it," Reid said thoughtfully. "Just be sure to take out the chains when you do."

"I'll keep it in mind," Ty muttered, focusing on clearing his bowl. "Should I wait for it to wear off or try to make it wear off quicker?"

"Are you still stiff?" Reid asked, shifting to lean against his tree comfortably. "Because if you're too stiff this isn't going to work."

"I'm fine," Ty muttered, even though that wasn't precisely true. His leg ached no matter how he sat, and he didn't want to think about how unhappy his arms were after being twisted behind him the entire morning.

"Uh-huh," Reid drawled, unconcerned as he shut his eyes. He crossed his arms over his stomach and his legs at the ankle, looking like he had no cares in all the world. Ty rolled his eyes, faintly irritated again.

At least it didn't seem like Reid was in any hurry to abandon him yet. Ty finished his porridge without tasting the rest of it, not that there was a taste to notice, setting the bowl aside and staring thoughtfully at the tent across the clearing.

He wasn't going to ask Reid who he'd killed. That would open Ty up for a similar line of questioning, and Ty just wanted to pretend that Reid hadn't heard any of it. He was curious about the comments Ytha had made on how Reid had come by his scar—if the look on Reid's face had been anything to go by, that wasn't a great topic of conversation to start either.

Perhaps it would come up, or perhaps he could ask Ari or Caj about it if they were able to meet up with them later. Hopefully they'd gotten away completely, since they weren't the mage's prisoners now. Unless she'd disposed of them somewhere, and Ty didn't really need to think on that either.

"Stop thinking and go to sleep," Reid grumbled. Ty made a face, leaning against the uncomfortable tree.

"If I go to sleep, one of the guards will dump a pot of water on me," Ty said after a minute. Reid snickered, flashing him a grin that made Ty's cheeks warm a little. Ty ignored that, watching Jensen, who was pacing in a wide circle, getting closer to where they were chained.

"Oh, shit," Reid cursed under his breath, glancing towards Ytha's tent. "Ty, get angry now."

"Why now?" Ty demanded, sitting up straighter. Reid rolled his eyes, still half-distracted by whatever had drawn his attention to Ytha's tent.

"They gave me a weak suppressant," Reid said with a sharp grin. "It just wore off, but I don't have the energy to kick a puppy."

"Why—" Ty began, but dismissed the weird phrase. "They're going to dose you again?"

"You're not focusing," Reid said, shaking his head and tsking. "You know this makes you the damsel in distress, right?"

"I am not helpless," Ty snapped, and Reid smirked that smug little smile, eyeing him speculatively.

"You look like a girl," Reid taunted and Ty focused on how utterly
obnoxious
Reid was, only that wasn't going to be enough, not in time—Ytha had left her tent, clutching another of the little vials filled with shimmering suppressant.

Clenching his teeth, Ty instead focused his thoughts on the one thing that never failed to make him angry—Kelian Cloud. The man had waited until most of the scandal over his father's death had passed to make his move on the Tyrone's mother. He'd seduced her, made her love him, married her—and then squirreled her away once her money was firmly in his grip.

She was still tenuously connected to scandal, and an aspiring lower chancellor couldn't have that hurting his chances at a high council seat. She was briefly useful again once she fell ill—firmly Kelian's fault. She'd
loved
him, and it wasn't hard to hate him as he watched his mother wither away, and to hear all about
poor Chancellor Cloud's ill wife
.

It had been easy to do in the end, though Ty hadn't thought about it beforehand. The funeral had been blanketed in tulips, a flower his mother had been allergic to, but Cloud had proclaimed them her favorite. He'd been a great actor, lovingly spinning lies about Ty's mother that sounded fantastic but were far from true. The worse part was the love he professed he would always have for her.

Cloud hadn't suspected anything when Ty asked for a private word at the reception. He'd been sickeningly cheerful, overly friendly when Ty had never exchanged more than polite words with him for his mother's sake.

Ty's fingers and toes were tingling, and he glared at Ytha as she approached. Ytha was just as bad as Cloud. She just wanted more power, no matter what the price.

The tingling spread up his arms and legs, and Ytha paused a few steps away. Her fingers loosened around the vial of suppressant and it tumbled from her grasp as she turned away from Reid.

"Careful," she murmured, stepping close and kneeling down next to him. "Don't want to explode when it wears off."

"Yes, I do," Ty told her darkly as she pressed her hands against his chest. He didn't bother to twist away, ignoring Reid watching blankly and Jensen and the other guards backing away discreetly.

Cloud hadn't suspected a thing, not until he'd seen the knife. Then he'd tried to stutter some excuse about Ty's mother not being worth killing him for.

Ty was tingling all over now. It was a strange feeling, but in the wake of the tingling came a warmth that sunk into his bones and Ty felt … whole, almost, and then everything shattered.

*~*~*

"Holy shit," Reid breathed, gasping for air as Ty half-dragged him through the stream. The fire wouldn't cross the stream, hopefully. Ty glanced over his shoulder, nearly tripping when he saw the flames creeping up the trees.

"I didn't actually think I'd explode," Ty said faintly.

Reid laughed breathlessly, shaking his head. "Well, if you had any other type of magic, you probably wouldn't have."

"Type of magic," Ty repeated, frowning. "There are types of magic?"

"Yes," Reid said impatiently, glancing over his shoulder. "Do you mind if we discuss this a little further from the flames and the guardsmen who are going to come after us at any minute?"

"Right," Ty agreed, wishing they'd been able to grab a horse or some supplies. Traveling was going to be difficult without anything to barter with.

"I think they're leaving the fire alone," Reid said, stumbling forward a step with a grimace as his weight landed on the leg Ty had accidentally singed. Oddly, he didn't feel any aches himself, even if it felt like his face was on fire.

"Can you go faster?" Ty asked worriedly, glancing over his shoulder. Three of the guardsmen were splashing through the stream—he recognized Kinsly under the soot, and he thought another might've been the lead guardsman, whose name Ty had never caught.

"I'm trying," Reid muttered. "You may have to leave me."

"No," Ty refused immediately, helping Reid forward another few stumbling steps.

"Well, we're both going to get caught if you don't," Reid said pleasantly. "And I guarantee that Ytha's going to be pissed at you."

"She shouldn't have touched me," Ty muttered and a lick of flame sparked into being in a bush to their left. Reid laughed, and then crumpled with a choked noise. Ty nearly dropped him, going to his knees to keep from falling over himself.

Reid cursed, letting go of him, and Ty stared wide-eyed at the arrow sticking out of Reid's leg.

"I'm not walking anymore," Reid muttered, breaking off the tip of the arrow with a flinch.

"Don't take it out," Ty admonished, glancing over his shoulder. One of the guardsmen had nocked a second arrow to his bow and was aiming it at them. Ty focused for a minute, hoping like hell it would work—and the bow went up in flames in the man's hands.

Reid snickered, wincing a little as he jostled his leg. "That's not going to help much."

"I'm not getting shot," Ty said, frowning as he tried to think of a way out of this—a way out that didn't involve leaving Reid here.

"You're not on your suppressant anymore, right?" Ty asked, frowning. "Do you have enough energy to teleport anywhere?"

"No," Reid replied, reaching down and yanking out the arrow before Ty could stop him. He choked down a yelp, tossing the arrow bit away. "Well, maybe ten feet away."

"I can't do a teleport spell?" Ty asked, glancing back at the guardsmen again. Only one of them was left—in sight, anyway, and Ty tried not to think about where the other two might be.

"Not with a fire affinity," Reid said with a snort. "No teleporting, Ty. You should go before they make their move."

"No," Ty refused, frowning. "I don't—you can't be caught and me be free. That's not fair."

Reid rolled his eyes, reaching out and smacking the side of Ty's head lightly. "I knew the risks getting into this. Go, and come back for me if you can."

"No," Ty said firmly, sitting up straight. "You can teleport if you have enough energy."

Comprehension dawned on Reid's face. "Ty, no—"

"That's the only way you're getting me away from here," Ty declared, crossing his arms and glaring at Reid. "I'd rather you take it than her."

"I can't," Reid protested, his face pale—either from blood loss from the arrow wound or from the idea, but Ty wasn't giving up.

"Can you get us to the border?" Ty asked curiously. "Or maybe over the border?"

"It hurts, Ty." Reid smacked the side of his head again. "It's worse than anything you've ever felt, and it'll linger for weeks."

"Do it," Ty commanded, staring at Reid seriously. "Even if I run off now, there's no guarantee she won't be able to catch up with me again. And you'll get away too. I'd rather you did it than her. I'd also rather you do it before you pass out from blood loss."

"Fine," Reid capitulated after a moment, looking pained at accepting, though that could've been the arrow wound. Shifting closer with a grimace, he hooked his fingers in the collar of Ty's shirt and tugged.

Ty followed the tug a bit apprehensively—now that Reid had agreed, he couldn't help but think about Reid's warnings. But it was the best way, so Ty steeled himself.

"We should stand up. We'll still have to walk through it," Reid ordered. Ty nodded, and Reid unhooked his fingers to let Ty stand up. Ty helped him up after, Reid leaning heavily on him just to stand, and Ty hoped they didn't have to take more than a step or two to go through the portal because he wasn't sure how much he could support Reid's weight.