He slipped out of the alleyway and left Livius to his fate.
It wasn’t long before he realized that Maddox continued to trail after him. He glanced over his shoulder. “Don’t blame me for this.”
“Livius is going to kill me.” Maddox didn’t say this with fear, more with weary acceptance. “He’s always promised me he would if I disappointed him enough.”
“Yes, well, then that’s an excellent reason for you to escape, now that you have the chance.”
“Escape?” Maddox stared at him as if he didn’t understand the word.
Magnus kept his pace swift as he moved away from the alley, scanning the street for the tavern he’d somehow managed to misplace. “Yes, escape. Leave hastily and without explanation. Go somewhere else, away from the person who torments you.”
Maddox rolled his eyes. “I know what escape means. Do you think it’s never crossed my mind before to do just that?”
“I don’t honestly care what your problems are or how you choose to deal with them. I’m on an extremely tight schedule today”—another quick glance at the sun confirmed it had lowered a fraction since his last check—“and, quite frankly, you are only an unwanted nuisance now. So . . .” Magnus flicked his hand at the boy. “Go away.”
A pained screech came from the alleyway behind them.
Magnus cringed.
I wonder if they chose his right or left eye? he thought.
Maddox continued to walk next to him, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, his face pale.
“You don’t understand what you’ve done,” Maddox said, shaking his head. “Your interference today is going to ruin everything.”
“How?” Magnus frowned. He didn’t know much about traveling through time thanks to wrinkled witches and enchanted statues, but meddling with history might indeed have dire consequences when it came to the future.
“Livius knows where my mother lives,” Maddox said. “He’ll kill her.”
“So go there and protect her.”
“You make it sound so simple. I can tell you’ve never had such difficulties in your life.”
“You can tell that, can you?” Magnus absently touched his scarred cheek. “What if I told you my father, the king, did this?”
Maddox’s gaze went to his cheek as if seeing the scar for the first time. “Your father did that to you?”
Magnus gritted his teeth. “Forget it.”
“Did you say your father is a king?”
“I did.”
“So that makes you, what? A prince?”
“Brilliant deduction.” Magnus then swore under his breath as something occurred to him. “I left my cloak in that alley.”
“Well,” Maddox said grandly, “a prince like you should easily be able to replace it with ten equally fine cloaks, don’t you think?”
“Forget it,” Magnus said, still searching for the damn tavern and currently his only lead to find Samara Balto and get the blade back. “Clearly you don’t believe me.”
“Apologies—I’ve never been face to face with such high royalty stealing bags of coins from nobodies. Prince of what, may I ask?”
Magnus looked at the boy defiantly. “Of a kingdom of ice and snow that I’ll rule one day.”
“Mm hmm.” Maddox nodded. “Sure you are.”
“This land is ruled by a living goddess, from what I’ve heard. I’m surprised you don’t believe anything is possible.”
Maddox frowned. “Why do you refer to her as a living goddess?”
“Because Valoria is nothing but a page out of history for me, and in my time, she’s long dead.”
“Dead? The goddess is immortal. You make no sense whatsoever.” Maddox just stared at him. “Perhaps you’re nothing but a blithering fool who speaks nothing but gibberish.”
“Is this why Livius enjoys beating you?” Magnus muttered. “For your stellar and engaging personality?”
A shadow crossed Maddox’s expression. “A beating is the least he’ll do to me after this.”
“Clearly, he needs you. Whatever you did in that inn seems valuable to him.” He probed his memory. “What exactly is it that you do?”
Maddox didn’t speak for a moment, then cast a defiant look at Magnus. “Well, prince of snow and ice, I have a fantastical secret of my own I’m sure you won’t believe: I am able to vanquish spirits.”
Magnus stared at him for a moment, speechless. “Spirits, as in . . . ghosts?”
“Yes, that’s right.” Maddox raised his chin and looked at Magnus with a challenge in his dark eyes. “I can trap a spirit in a silver object so that spirit can’t haunt innocent people anymore. Spirits are drawn to me. Don’t you believe me?”
“Sure, of course I believe you,” Magnus said drily. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Maddox’s eyes narrowed. “It’s true.”
Magnus sighed with impatience, but then something important occurred to him. “The witch boy Bella mentioned to me.”
Maddox’s eyes widened.
Magnus blinked. “Is that you? Are you the witch boy?”
“What if I am?”
“If you are, you can help me.”