Category: fantasy adventure

The walk back to the palace felt longer and much more unpleasant barefoot than the chase out had been. I didn’t have urgency to drive me across cobble and refuse, and therefore had to drive myself. When I recognized the street where the Lute and the Bowl was located, I was genuinely tempted to divert and borrow shoes from my brother if he was in. I didn’t, however, but kept pace with Druskin. In the nicer parts of the city Quill and the other captain fell in with us, and we reshuffled without any discussion so the captains walked together ahead and Quill and I walked behind. We didn’t talk, but Quill arched his brow at my poor feet and I made a face. Back at the palace gates, the guard wordlessly handed me back my dressing gown, but I kept the cloak for the walk through the palace. It was probably less notable than the dressing gown at this hour.

My feet ached and were black with grime, but the four of us went to report to the King. It wasn’t the kind of bad news you waited to tell.

*

It was the same receiving room where I’d waited on the Countess last night. King Keleman and Queen Olyami sat on the thrones, still as stone, their faces closed. The only movement was the occasional shuffle from the retinues, and the gentle flicker of the lamps that betrayed the many hidden entrances.

When the Countess and Hadella arrived, the room shifted to face them and they both hesitated just a beat before crossing the room and curtsying to their aunt and uncle. There was an odd assortment of people in the room, and they both noted it. Domonkos’s guard captain, but not Domonkos, Druskin—stillin his clothes from the night before—myself—barefoot—and Quilleran. Besides a lord and lady each attending the King and Queen.

“What is it, Kiraly?” asked the Countess. “Has something happened?” She was dressed and had some light make up on, but it had clearly been thrown together hastily—at least by Angari standards. I wondered what phase of preparation she’d been summoned out of.

“Adelheid, Hadella,” the King nodded to his nieces. “I summoned you here to hear the latest in the investigation on the threats on your life.”

The Countess perked up, “Has there been news? Can we get an antidote for Galo?”

The King’s gaze shifted to Hadella as he said, “There is no antidote. There is no need. Galo is recovering well. It was a ruse.”

The sisters stared at him with nearly identical expressions of incomprehension.

“We sought to drive out the one who hired the assassin, believing that they were still decent enough to save an innocent, or try.”

Now Hadella’s eyes closed.

“My investigators followed this person directly to a man who she had clearly met previously, and overheard a conversation in which she asked to set up a meeting with the assassin she’d hired.” The King’s voice grew harder as he watched Hadella’s face. “Do you have anything to say for yourself, Hadella?”

The Countess’s mouth fell open and she looked at her sister.

Hadella lifted her chin. “Only that I acted to preserve Wuhnravinwel, Kiraly, as you should have. This marriage is an insult to our land, our blood, and to Tirien herself. My sister,” she spat the word, “Has betrayed us body and soul. You, my liege, should have prevented this.”

“Hadella.” The Countess covered her chest with her hands as if she’d been stabbed. “How could you?”

There were tears glittering in both sister’s eyes, but Hadella set her mouth. “You could have said no,” she said, “When he asked you to give up our land. The land our ancestors bled for. The land given to us by Tirien. When he asked you to give our blood away to those elves—you would bear a half-breed who would taint the land forever!”

“I’m not giving anything away,” said the Countess, her eyes wide.

“You’re a traitor.”

“No,” said the King, “It is you, Hadella. Tirien gave us the springs and the land around it, but she didn’t forbid us to share them. You will go to this meeting you’ve set up and you will withdraw your assassin.”

“I will not,” said Hadella.

“You will,” growled the King.

“You cannot make me.” Tears were running down her face now and her voice shook. I had no doubt she was thinking of the ways kings usually got what they wanted.

The King’s jaw worked. He was thinking of those things, too. And probably thinking about Hadella as a child in his sister’s arms. “Take her to the dungeon,” he said at last.

Hadella turned white, but didn’t struggle when the captain and one other guard took her arms and escorted her out of the little chamber.

The Countess stood alone before the King and Queen, her mouth open like a fish stranded at low tide, her hands clutched over the heart wound she’d been dealt. The Queen extended her hands and the Countess stepped forward and into her aunt’s embrace. The room was utterly silent.

*

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

Hadella went first to her rooms, when she emerged, she was carrying a dark bundle. I kept a distance, moving at a hopefully innocuous pace but keeping just a glimpse of Hadella in sight around this corner or that. I picked my hair out of my night braid in case she’d noticed me in the Countess’s chambers. I’d look a little different out of the corner of her eye. Druskin wasn’t far behind me. He made more noise than I did since I was still barefoot and he was wearing boots. I was also still wearing the dressing gown cinched closed over my rumpled night stalking attire. Thankfully, though, the entire Palace was making up for their late night of dancing and lack of lunch entertainment, we saw very few people and mostly servants.

Hadella left the Palace through the main gate. I hesitated in sight of it. Here I wished for shoes and a coat or cloak. But if I lost her now, I had no way of finding her again. Druskin caught up with me where I stood, peering around a corner at the courtyard and gates. “Did she go out?”

“She did.”

“Come with me.” Druskin strode out toward the gate, heading directly for the guard house. I followed him, dressing gown and all. He said something to the guard and the man disappeared into the guard house and then reappeared a moment later with two cloaks. When I reached Druskin he handed a cloak to me and donned the other. The guard watched wide-eyed as I shrugged out of the dressing gown, my knives catching the late morning sun. It was barely cool enough for a cloak, but I slung the cloak over my shoulders to hide the knives and my un-Angari clothes. I handed the dressing gown to the guard, “Thank you.”

He nodded, dumbstruck.

When we stepped out of the gates, I couldn’t see Hadella. Druskin pointed and said, “There.” I followed his gaze to a dark hood moving steadily down the paving stone street away from the palace. Hadella’s dark bundle must’ve been a cloak of her own. We set out after her.

The city was awake and bustling, and I was grateful for Druskin’s height and ability to pick Hadella out in a crowd. My own ability to find Quill immediately was rather less useful in this moment. We left the sweeping architecture of the palaces and surrounding buildings behind, heading into more modest parts of town.

Hadella pressed on at a brisk pace. She knew where she was going, and she was in a hurry. The modest homes and businesses gave way to narrower streets with buildings that had seen better repair. This was a part of Gar Morwen I hadn’t yet seen, the part with the poor and the toughs. And the trash. I became even more grateful for Druskin’s bloodhound focus as I could pay more attention to my unshod feet than where the dark hood bobbed off to.

Abruptly, Druskin’s hand snaked out to grab my elbow. I stopped mid-step; I’d been avoiding a pile of refuse. “What is it?”

He jerked his chin at the building across the street. A sign painted with a boar with an apple in its mouth hung over a wooden door. With a glance at the people in the street I crossed and entered the tavern like I belonged there.

*

The tavern was reasonably well lit by the late morning sun, and thanks to the wedding not as quiet as it should’ve been at this hour. Most of the people lounging around were Angari and armed. Some hooded. One or two were half sprawled across tables as if they’d slept here. Steeling myself against the tackiness of the floor, I prowled further in like I was searching for just the spot to nurse a drink and watch the door. Hadella was sitting at a table in the darker recesses, her back to the entrance. There was a man sitting across from her with long gray hair combed neatly over his shoulders. Beside his empty plate and tankard was a spread of papers that suggested he’d been here for hours. Or possibly owned the place.

I stole a glance over my shoulder to make sure Druskin was close and took a seat with my back to the man so I could see the entrance. We were close enough to overhear if we strained. Druskin sat across from me, face grim.

“…need to speak to him.” Hadella was saying.

“Hian,” said the man, measuredly, “At best I could only introduce you to the broker—and that is highly irregular.”

“I don’t care—” her voice dropped too low for me and I studied Druskin’s face.

If possible, he looked even more grim. He hadn’t really believed us when Quill and I had told him our suspicions last night. It had been particularly difficult to persuade him to lie about Galo being poisoned and I’d been worried he’d back out.

“For a fee I will set up a meeting for you,” said the man, his voice hard and irritated.

I couldn’t make out Hadella’s words.

“Today?” the man—it had to be the intermediary Jemin’s broker had mentioned—snorted incredulously.

“Yes, today!” snapped Hadella.

My eyes drifted around the room, noting the others present before coming back to Druskin. He was drumming his fingers on the table with pent up anger. A large bald man approached our table, wiping his hands with a sad looking towel. “What’ll you have?”

“Breakfast,” I said, and the man nodded and walked away.

Druskin tossed me a look and I shrugged at him. I’d blended in, got rid of the man, and procured food. I hoped he carried coin in that outfit because I hadn’t exactly had the chance to grab a money purse this morning.

“Someone dying is a normal consequence of hiring a killer, hian,” the gray-haired man’s voice was cold. “I will reach out today and you may come back here this evening. Maybe he will be here. Maybe not. Good day.”

There was rustling as Hadella got to her feet and I could see Druskin’s eyes tracking her movement. She would recognize Druskin and I had no idea what she’d do, but I wasn’t ready to be given away to the intermediary. I grasped Druskin’s hand hard enough that he looked at me, and then I leaned across the table—he leaned closer, unsuspecting. Tipping my head so my hair fell like a curtain, I cupped his face with my other hand and kissed him. He didn’t react for a solid breath, which gave me the chance to get a grip on the back of his head. I felt the tremor of a restrained flinch, then his other hand came up to my face, and he embraced the ruse. Or, at least, gave in to it. I was highly aware of Hadella behind me, then as she moved past and back through the tavern toward the door. Apparently ignoring the couple seated nearby, too lost in each other to bear looking at. I released my grip on Druskin and we pulled away from each other.

Flustered, Druskin snapped, “Why?”

“Because the game isn’t over,” I said, again leaning across the table so I could lower my voice.

He twitched to look toward the door, then back. “You were right,” he growled, “I can’t believe you were right. And you would just let her walk free?”

“She’s headed back to the palace, we’ll catch her there.” I scanned the room again, Quill was standing by the bar, and Prince Domonkos’s guard captain was elsewhere in the room dressed in plain clothes and looking like someone had spat in his drink. The King had been skeptical of our suspicions and our plan but sent a witness with us who could read lips, which was fortuitous. Getting both Druskin and the other captain close to the table would’ve been difficult to do without being suspicious. I laid my hand on the table. Druskin looked at it with distrust, “Besides, if we leave without eating breakfast the intermediary might think we were following her and then we’ll lose our chance at that other meeting.” I narrowed my eyes at him, and he got the message.

Placing his hand in mine he said, “Is this necessary? Displays like this aren’t civilized.”

“Does this look like a terribly civilized place?” I asked, amused. “Trust me. And try to look less like I’m forcing you to do this. Pretend I’m Galo.”

He looked pained, but then he shifted, unfurling his limbs a bit so he took up most of the table space. His legs brushed mine. “Quilleran is going to kill me.”

My eyes flicked inadvertently to the bar where Quill sat. He wasn’t looking at us. He had undoubtedly seen the kiss and the idea of him being jealous was too much to think about. It made me think about kissing Quill instead. My body grew warm. “Hardly,” I said to Druskin, “Subterfuge is a professional hazard.”

The bodyguard regarded me for a long moment. “Your world is foreign,” he pronounced, as if he was the nicest thing he could find to say.

*

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

When I finally returned to the Countess’s chambers, I was exhausted. We had done what we could, and now there was nothing but to wait till morning. The guards let me past, and the female guards in the sitting room nodded to me as I knocked on the Countess’s bedroom door and then let myself in.

There was a single lamp lit by the bedside, and the Countess was still awake, sitting up against the pillows, a book open in her hands. She watched me enter and close the door. One of her brows climbed as I crossed the room and shrugged out of my dressing gown. I glanced down at myself. I’d entirely forgotten to go to my room first and change into night clothes. I sighed, unbuckling the harness and continuing to the bed. “I apologize, Grofnu, I had much to do.” At least it wasn’t splattered in gore.

The Countess pushed back the covers and swung her feet the floor. “Were you marauding the palace, Zephra?” she grabbed two pillows and moved to the foot of the bed.

I grimaced, unbuckling my jerkin. “Something like that. There may be new rumors about me providing you the chance to dismiss me from your service after this is all settled.”

The Countess grimaced. “What have you been about?”

Pausing my search for a place to put the jerkin and dressing gown, I turned back to her. “I reported to Quilleran, visited the infirmary, tried to follow up on a lead.” I’d told Quill about Bel’s confession. He’d looked at me hard and then we’d tracked down the rooms of the Daiesen delegation—many in the delegation had already returned to bed, so we uncovered nothing but the fact that Lucius Tene, another man who knew both our faces and true names, was also in attendance. He was probably here for the horses. “Galo is still alive,” I said. The doctors said if she made it through the night, she’d recover.

I saw from the Countess’s face that she knew this already. She looked about as willing to hope as Druskin had. He’d been by Galo’s bedside in his finery, his ruddy face eerily pale with the terror only love brings. It was a despair I knew well, and I turned away to deposit the jerkin and dressing gown on a chair.

“Tirien have mercy,” murmured the Countess. Then, as if forcefully changing the subject she said, “I heard that one of the men from the Empire kissed your hand at the ball tonight.”

I looked up at her as I tucked my entire harness of knives under the pillows. “Word gets around.”

She tossed a grin at me and crawled under the covers at the foot of the bed. “Did you know him before, or did you just make an impression?”

I sighed again, “Both, apparently.” I doubted the kiss had been meant to convey Bel’s continued attraction. I wondered how much the Countess knew of Daiesen’s customs.

“But not mutual.”

I doused the lamp.

The Countess’s voice floated from the darkness, bodyless and smiling, “No, of course not. Not with Quilleran walking the world.”

 I slipped under the covers. Talk, indeed. Though not—I thought of Quill standing close enough to share breath, the campfire throwing deep shadows around us—unfounded.

“You lied to me when you said you’d never been in love.”

“I don’t have time for love.” My words lacked conviction and even I could hear it. The lie was rote and lacking the cavalier flip that sold it in taverns around the continent. My scalp tingled with the memory of Quill’s hands in my hair this afternoon.

The Countess hummed skeptically, then cut off as if startled.

I tensed. “Grofnu?”

“…When I look at you…” she began speaking slowly, “…I see fire, and darkness, and water.”

Instinct roared me to wakefulness before I could rationalize. Reeling myself back, I forced dryness, “Salt water or fresh?” As if it mattered.

“Fresh.” She said with complete confidence. “There is an underground river that ends in a beautiful cavern of white stone and hewn pillars. It is an homage, and a heartsore, and there the veil between planes is very thin.”

Now I didn’t know what she was talking about and it chilled me.

“Does any of that sound familiar?” asked the Countess.

“I…have more than one memory of fire, darkness, and water,” I answered, trying to choose my words carefully, “But the cavern is unknown to me.” Not connected to a river, anyway. There were white caverns Under Daiesen, and I’d been in a few really fancy cisterns over the years.

“If you find it someday, be careful. Death waits there.” After a pause where I probably should’ve said something brave, the Countess continued, “Zephra, I know that I’m the lunatic giddy with new affection, and I can see that there is much more to you than perhaps I have a right to know, but I think that you should give love a chance. Despite everything. Perhaps because of everything.”

“I’ll think about it.” I stared at the darkness above our heads. Eloi. It was as if the gods themselves were personally invested in shattering the control I’d had for years. Quill. The Breaker. Bel. Seers spouting incomprehensible pieces of time and space that connected to you.

I had a job; I was a blade. Here, I was also a shield. That was more than enough work for me.

*

I slept lightly. My mind drifted on the currents of the river, darting like a fish at imagined sounds and shadows. Morning was a relief, and I felt far more awake than I expected when the sun finally grayed the room. The Countess didn’t stir, but I got up. I moved quietly, warming up my body and then putting myself through stretches and then the forms of swordplay and knife work. I kept my breathing even, losing myself in the technique and movement. Eventually, I grew tired and sat down on one of the chairs. The sun had warmed to gold and the Countess was still sleeping. I checked to make sure she was breathing and looked well, then returned to sit.

Today was the last day before the wedding. I couldn’t remember all it entailed but I thought it started later and involved luxurious baths and extensive preparations for the ceremony to follow.

I woke with a start to a knock on the door. I scrambled to my feet and snatched up my dressing gown, then belatedly rushed to the bed for my knives. The Countess stretched, waiting for me to slip on the knives and the gown, before calling, “Enter.”

My eyes fell on my jerkin still draped over the back of the chair. There was nothing I could do as the door opened and Brell came in. “Good morning, Grofnu,” she said, recovering quickly from any surprise at me standing next to the Countess’s bed. She was carrying a tray with a silver tea set and quickly set about pouring tea for the Countess. “Did you sleep well?”

“As well as I could,” replied the Countess, accepting the tea.

She had barely taken a sip when a commotion rose in the outer rooms. I headed straight for them, arriving in time to see Druskin, still wearing the clothes from the banquet last night, standing limply in the center of a knot of leanyodi. I noticed Hadella, and Karolya both among them. When he saw the Countess he said, “Grofnu,” and his voice broke.

The Countess put her hand to her mouth.

“She has taken a turn. They found poison on the arrow…they don’t know what it is…her wound is…she is feverish and raving. If they could find the antidote she might be saved, but her life is wasting away.” His face crumpled. “She’s dying.”

I felt a similar crumpling in my chest. The leanyodi around us stood stunned, then slowly the horror hit them. They reached for one another, burying faces in shoulders. Brell put her arms around the Countess. Hadella accepted an embrace from Karolya, her mouth hung open a little, but the rest of her face was blank as the dead.

I thought she might yell at the Countess again, but she didn’t. She looked like she was going to be sick. I looked away quickly at the thought. Druskin was excluded from the churn of comforting gestures. I walked to him and brazenly reached out to squeeze his hand. He dropped his head, his dark braid shifting over his shoulder. He was shaking a little, and when our eyes met I could see a cool, righteous, anger growing inside him. He shifted and I just caught the edge of Hadella’s long coat as she left the room. I squeezed his hand again and went after her.

*

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

My feelings were a storm. His confession meant that my capture would almost certainly lead to his. Even the shadow of suspicion could be enough to destroy a man in the Empire, especially if that shadow was thrown by me. I snapped at Bel, “Why risk this? Why approach me if you didn’t mean to capture me? Are you just eager to thrust your life into my hands?”

“I wanted,” he broke off and looked at the crowd, “I don’t know what I wanted. I wanted to talk to you again. As you. Not…as her…Maybe to see how much I had really known you back in Dalyn.” He shrugged dismissively, but the gesture was obviously untrue. “I also thought I should tell you I knew, before you knifed me as a precaution.”

“Now if I knife you, at least you’ll know?”

Bel gestured palm up with one hand, surrendering the point. Perhaps also showing he was unarmed.

“You’re a fool, Bel Valredes,” I said.

But something in my tone caused Bel to smile, just faintly. “I’ve no doubt.” He bowed, and taking my hand, lightly kissed the back.

Then he left the alcove.

And I let him. Partly because I was stunned. Partly because knifing him, or even kidnapping him, from the banquet would be difficult to explain. I could always find his rooms later if need be. And yet…I traced my fingers around and around my wineglass and tried to sort my thoughts. My carefully boxed and ordered feelings had received so many kicks of late that I was scrambling to catch first this and then that before it splashed out over everything. I did not have time for feelings.

Eventually, at a moment when a dance was in full swing and I stood very little risk of being asked, I left the shelter of the alcove and I strolled through the room looking for the Countess. I found her with Ilya Terr still, standing a little aside from the dancing, wineglasses in their hands and their heads bent close.

Finding a spot by a pillar to stand where I could see them but not hear them, I settled in to wait out the night. I watched the faces of the people who looked at the happy couple. I didn’t think about anything in particular. I watched the servants and the guards. I watched the elves and the Angari lords and ladies. I watched the delegation from the Empire. As my emotions subsided, I felt again the deep sense of betrayal from my dreams and a clawing certainty hooked deep inside. I couldn’t prove anything, but I could lay a trap.

Eventually I saw Quill exiting the dance floor, bowing gracefully to the lady he’d partnered and then excusing himself. He snagged a drink from a servant and strolled to my spot next to a pillar. He stopped and sipped from his glass, merely a ship at the same dock. “Leanyod.”

“Quilleran.”

Fornern’s Fists I had a lot to tell him.

He bent close—far too close for Angari comfort, I was sure—and whispered, “Anything?”

I slid a false smile into place and tipped closer to him, beads clacking, “Hadella inherits. And Hadella controls the Wuhn treasury.”

*

The Countess left the ball after midnight again, though there was still a large crowd dancing, and we trailed her back to her rooms. Hadella wasn’t among us. As before, we handed the Countess off to other leanyodi and retired to our own chambers. It took much less time to remove the beaded headdress and step out of the gown than it had to put them on. With the clacking of the headdress gone the world felt delightfully quiet. I washed off the white make up methodically, enjoying the sensation of warm water and oil cleaning the powders off my face. When I was finished, I smelled faintly of nuts and roses and I looked like myself again. For a few long moments I stared at my face in the glass, as if it held the answers I wanted if only I looked hard enough.

With a sigh, I braided back my hair and went to find my own clothes—my darkest breeches and shirt, a leather jerkin, and over that the familiar weight of my knife harness. I left behind my boots for the sake of stealth, and threw a dressing gown over everything. If the palace was to have rumors, perhaps they could be only of a promiscuous leanyod.

I left my rooms, nodding to the guards outside the Countess’s doors, and padded through the halls.

*

Quill wasn’t in his rooms yet, but Eliah was in hers. I was startled when she opened her door wearing a wrinkled nightgown, blonde hair mussed prettily, looking softer and gentler than I’d ever seen her—but then she opened the door wider to show that she was standing like a warrior, a large hunting knife naked in her fist.

“Come in!” said Eliah, stepping back to let me past. Her room was much like Quill’s. Sparse, but elegant with a bed, a couch and a wardrobe and floors covered in thick woven rugs.

I walked in and sat on the little couch at the end of her bed, my dressing gown falling open to show my sleek dark clothes that were very much not for sleeping. “You retired early,” I said, eyeing the rumpled bed.

Eliah closed and locked the door, then crossed the room to retrieve the knife sheath from the bed where she’d left it. “I did.” I could hear the sleep in her voice now, and noticed that the fire was quite low. She’d been in bed a while. I got up and tossed another log on the embers.

“I skipped the ball,” explained Eliah, tossing the knife on the bed and rubbing her eyes, “but you’re here, so that means it’s time for me to get up.” At my questioning look she continued, “I’m going to prowl. See what Hadella does at night.”

“You’ve spoken with Quill, then.”

She nodded. “Right after he spoke with you this afternoon.” Turning, Eliah opened her wardrobe and started pulling out clothes, “Did something happen at the ball? Why are you here?”

I sighed heavily. I was here because Quill and I were going to talk to Druskin about our suspicions and how to prove it. But… “Bel Valredes says he helped nymphs escape the Purge. As many as he could.”

Eliah stopped in the middle of pulling on breeches under her gown. “Bel Valredes? Isn’t that the man who fell in love with you that infamous winter in Dalyn?”

“He didn’t fall in love with me,” I said.

She flapped a hand dismissively and finished pulling on her breeches. “You. Pretend you. Why were you talking to Bel Valredes? And why were you talking about that?”

I opened my mouth and closed it again.

Eliah propped her hands on her hips, the gown bunched weirdly over the breeches. “You didn’t approach him, did you?”

“I didn’t! I’ve been avoiding him. He’s here with Ambassador Menrellos. Invited to the wedding.”

“But…”

“But…he approached me.”

“He recognized you under all that paint?”

I grimaced. “He saw the fight on the river.”

“So, we’re going to kill him tonight, then? Do you want help? What do we do with the body?”

“Eliah. He claims he has no plan to reveal me.”

Eliah snorted. She turned away and shucked the nightgown, pulling a dark tunic on in its place. “I’d claim the same if I were facing your glare.”

“The fool sought me out and told me he’d been smuggling nymphs out of Dalyn, offered it as assurance that he wouldn’t reveal me. ‘To avoid being killed,’ he said.”

She was buckling on her belts now and paused to give me a pained look. “How can you know he’s not important enough to be safe even if you labeled him a traitor? All part of an elaborate entrapment.”

I rubbed my hands across my face. My life was so orderly before this damn job. “I can’t.”

“Did you come here for my advice?”

“No. I’m waiting for Quill, we have to talk to Druskin and convince him to go along with our plan.”

“Ah,” Eliah picked up the hunting knife. “No advice, then. And no night stalking of Dark Empress Lackeys for me. Cruel princess, getting my hopes up.”

Now I snorted. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about Bel, yet, Eliah. I’m already being as careful as I can. Besides, I think watching Hadella is a better idea tonight.”

Sitting on the bed, Eliah pulled on her boots—soft leather meant for sneaking, not riding. “You know, if he’s telling the truth, he might be useful.”

“Maybe,” I kept my tone reserved. There was a big gap between inaction and action when lives were at stake.

“Have you told Quill?”

“Not yet.”

Eliah finished with her boots and studied me. “You didn’t fall for Valredes back then, did you?”

I shook my head. “I was so young, and there was far too much going on. Night raids and broken ribs and rebellious activities…I was concerned with staying alive.”

She looked at me a moment longer. I couldn’t tell if she was waiting for a confession or just sorting through her own thoughts on the matter. Then the corner of her mouth kicked up in a half smile, “Just staying alive? There wasn’t an enigmatic kingling or a charmingly competent guard captain?”

She headed for the door as I snapped, “You weren’t there!”

Her grin was a wicked slash.

*

*

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

The atmosphere in the feasting hall reminded me of the time my grandfather brought us out to watch him feed the sharks. The giant fish had known he was coming, and were milling restlessly near the ledge, the feel in the water so entirely different from when we’d met the sharks before. I sat with Karolya and Brell, but watched the high table where Hadella sat beside the Countess. Her sister.

They were ignoring one another.

Hadella hadn’t come with us from the Countess’s suite, but had entered and sat at the high table right before the food was served. I watched her hands, making sure they stayed in her own space and did not touch the Countess’s food or drink. I didn’t know if I could move fast enough if she did, but I was fully prepared to try.

“Zephra,” Brell’s tone was sharp, as if she’d been trying to get my attention for a while.

Reluctantly I dragged my eyes away from the table and look at Brell.

“What are you looking at?”

I looked back at the high table. Hadella was eating pieces of potato.

“Are you watching Hadella?”

I glanced at Brell. “Yes.”

Brell blinked at me. “Why?”

“Because she yelled at the Countess this afternoon?” asked Karolya, incredulous.

“Because she is the Countess’s sister.”

Both women scoffed. “She would never hurt the Countess,” Karolya poured herself some more wine. “Besides, what could she possibly do?”

“Well,” said Brell pragmatically, “There is poison. But she wouldn’t. She was just upset about Galo. We all are.”

I tapped my fingernails on the table, then decided to damn manners and just ask. “Are there more siblings?”

“No, it’s just the two sisters,” replied Brell.

“Who inherits if the Countess dies?”

“Hadella, of course, and she would be a wonderful Countess, she loves Wuhnravinwel dearly—” Brell stopped and gaped at me, “You can’t seriously think Hadella would hurt the Countess?”

“Keep your voice down!” hissed Karolya.

“Hadella?” repeated Brell, much quieter and leaning toward me. “Of all people?”

I pursed my lips and looked between the leanyodi. “I haven’t ruled her out.”

“Hadella was on the barge with us, and she’s no great archer,” said Karolya.

“Whoever it was hired someone,” countered Brell.

“Could she pull together six thousand gold?”

Both leanyodi stared at me. “Six thousand?”

“Thereabouts.”

“Only if she raided the coffers,” said Karolya, clearly equating raiding the coffers with stealing the moon.

“Who manages the coffers?”

They were silent for a long moment and looked at one another. “Hadella is the steward of Wuhnravinwel,” said Brell at last. “But she wouldn’t do something like that.”

I looked back to the head table in an attempt to hide how much I was unmoved by their assurances.

“I wouldn’t recommend asking the others about this,” Brell’s voice was low. “Everyone is upset, and I don’t think they’d handle it well.”

“Of course,” I agreed smoothly. I hadn’t meant to bring it up to them at all.

*

I might have been the only bodyguard who relaxed the moment Ilya Terr swept the Countess onto the dance floor. I’d seen his instincts with a knife on the trip here, and knew that he could and would take care of both of them.

I lurked on the edges a little removed from the dance floor, keeping a goblet of wine in my hand to dissuade anyone from asking me to dance. I saw Druskin come in, dressed in the evening’s deep red, and looking as if he were carved of wood. He checked in with the other guards and then left again.

“Do you not dance?”

I stiffened, then turned to flash a smile at Bel Valredes as he came to stand next to me. “I loathe dancing.”

“Really? Have you always?” Bel was dressed in black tonight, and it made his eyes darker and his hair lighter than they were. He was strikingly handsome.

“Always,” I lied brightly. With the Countess occupied I could hardly walk away from him without making it clear I was avoiding him. Fornern’s fists. Why did Bel Valredes have to seize every chance to improve his stable?

“I never got that impression when we danced.”

“We’ve never danced,” I said quickly.

He looked at me, saying nothing, until I looked at him. When our eyes met it was clear he knew. There was no doubt now. I faced him. “What gave me away?”

Bel drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was tense, but not the way he should’ve been while facing a notorious outlaw he’d just unmasked. “Your laugh.” His lips curved up just a little ruefully. “It was enough for me to want to keep an eye on you, and then when you went overboard…I caught a glimpse of you on the other little barge. Wreaking havoc.”

Yes, that would’ve done it.

I grimaced and did a quick scan of the room. None of the other members of the Daiesen delegation were nearby. I didn’t see Quill, either. Rakov was on the other side of the dance floor. I slipped my arm through Bel’s and tugged him toward one of the little alcoves. He probably shouldn’t have come with me, but he did. When we were safely tucked inside, I set my wine on the table and said, “So, do you plan to bring me back to your Empress and collect my bounty?”

“You must hate me.” He sounded…tired.

This irritated me. “I can’t say I’m wildly fond of you,” I replied dryly. “Life would be a touch easier if the wanted placards weren’t quite so accurate likenesses.”

“I’m not the only one who knew you in Dalyn, and not the only one to give a description,” testiness slipped into his voice, which suited me better, “I could hardly get creative without endangering myself and everyone I hold dear.”

I snorted. “You mean to say you would have gotten creative?”

“I have never wished you ill,” snapped Bel.

“Really?” I was incredulous.

Bel picked up my wine glass and put it down again, frustration driving every movement. “All I ever did was try to protect you—when I thought you needed protecting—” he glared as I rolled my eyes, “You shocked me.”

“You told them who I was.”

“You told me in a crowd. Was I supposed to pray no one else had heard? I’m sorry, the risk was too great—and it doesn’t seem to have made a difference anyway.”

I felt savage at that, and pushed the sleeve up on my left forearm. The only scar easily accessible. “No difference at all,” I hissed. Bel blinked at the scar and I pushed the sleeve back down. “Serve your Empress, but don’t pretend that you can do that and have any claim on my regard.”

Bel was silent a moment. He picked up my wineglass again, swirled the wine and set it back on the table. “You’re right,” he said quietly, “I cannot make any claims. But I would have you know that everything I did, everything I do, is to protect my people. And I think that you are the same.”

“The same?” the words came out too loudly, I lowered my voice and tried to paste on a smile for the benefit of the Magadarian couple passing the alcove,“Tell that to all the nymphs in your fleet.” The Valredes fishing fleet had many nymphs, before the Purge.

His lips thinned. “You know I had no part or joy in that.”

“Do I?” I turned to leave, forgetting for a moment in my anger that leaving Bel Valredes at my back was a terrible idea.

“Zare, please.”

My name in his mouth was alarming and I felt it like a blow. I came back. We regarded each other across the little table. Beyond the alcove the dancing continued, and the hum of the crowd provided an undercurrent to the music. It was both like and unlike the last ball we’d spoken at. It wasn’t comforting.

“I have no plan to tell anyone who you are,” said Bel at last.

“Why should I believe you?”

“Because,” pain crept into his voice, “I will tell you a secret: As soon as I learned of the Purge, I sent messages to the boats that were out, warning them not to return. The nymphs in the city were more difficult, but any that could get to my warehouses I’d hide and smuggle out overland. They weren’t all good people, but they didn’t deserve what they got. They were under my protection and I could do nothing for the ones taken, despite the loyalty of house Valredes. And I thought I was saving one innocent soul back then—with you—with Analie. I thought Dalyn would be safer without Tarr Kegan messing with Narya Magnifique, and I thought things would get better once she felt secure.” He stepped closer to me, leaning in, “And before you snap something else about my nymphs, I saved as many as I could, and not a day goes by that I don’t hate myself for all the ones I couldn’t save.”

I stared. I’d known Bel Valredes had a heart, but I hadn’t suspected a backbone. I hadn’t suspected he’dcommitted treason at the same time he was cozying up to the ambassador and helping her with a plan to which he saw no significant downside. “You helped them flee?”

He nodded.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I know who you are, Zare Caspian, and I know that you care. And I would have you think well of me.” His eyes slid down the luminous wine dress. “You could destroy me with that knowledge, if you so choose.”

*

*

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

There was nowhere in the room to easily stash a man—perhaps by design—but we were professionals. Quill managed to shimmy under the bed and I rumpled the bedclothes so they spilled over the side and hid him. Karolya gave the rumpled bed only a glance before going to the wardrobe and pulling out the gown that was dark and luminous as a good red wine.

“Just one more night after this and then she’ll be married,” said Karolya with a sigh. “Of course, then we’ll have another week of celebrations, but the deed will be done and it will just be parties. No point in killing anyone anymore. Everyone will be more relaxed.”

I looked at Karolya sideways. Another week of this after the wedding? I wasn’t sure I could take that. I shot a glare at the bed.

Karolya spread the dress on the bed, then turned to face me. “Let’s get you dressed first, then I’ll deal with your hair.”

Ignoring the man under the bed, I stripped off the plain clothes down to my second skin and pulled the under gown over my damp head. Karolya helped me slip into the red over gown and laced up the back. It was light and exquisitely tailored. Embroidery swept down the bodice into the deceptively slim skirts that swirled like the froth of waves when I moved. Long silk sleeves and a neckline that swept straight from one shoulder to the other…it was a delicious dress. I wrinkled my nose. “This one isn’t worn with a jacket, is it?”

Karolya shook her head. “No, it’s just like this.”

“That makes hiding knives harder,” I sighed. “But not impossible.”

Karolya made an effort not to gape at me. “Yes…I…Imagine it would.” She gestured to the desk. “Sit, I’ll fix your hair.”

*

When Karolya left, my face was painted white as egg shells, my eyes bright with kohl, and lips the color of blood. The headdress that completely covered my hair—pinned into tight submission—was beaded and had little dangling glass baubles that clacked in an extremely annoying way. I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror.

I hiked up the frothy skirts and buckled the thinnest knife belt I owned around my waist and then secured the thigh sheaths from it. The line of the belt was barely obscured under the texture of the dress and my knives wouldn’t be easily accessible. Shiharr and Azzad would have to sit the night out, entirely. This didn’t please me, but was why I owned lots of knives.

I was putting on silk slippers that matched the gown when I remembered that Quill was still under the bed. “Quill?” I turned to the shambled bedding. “Karolya is gone, you can come out.”

There was no answer.

Bending down, I pushed aside the blankets and peered into the darkness under the bed. The glass beads slid in a waterfall of sound and Quill jerked, banging his head against the slats of the bed.

“Were you asleep?” I asked, amused. I could just make out the glittering narrow look he shot me, one hand caressing his head.

“I haven’t had much chance lately,” he rasped, scooting toward me.

I moved back, allowing him the space to escape the confines of his hiding spot. He stood slowly, stiff from the floor. I evaluated him as he dusted himself off and shook out his coat which he’d been using as a pillow. The shadows were deeper under his eyes, now that I looked. “Are you spending all night combing the underworld with Ayglos after spending all day in court?”

He gave me an odd look, “Ayglos doesn’t need my help working the underworld. Especially not with Jemin there to help him. That man is a changeling.”

I nodded agreement, beads rattling. “True enough. So, what’s your excuse then? You’re not sleeping in a marked person’s bed, too?”

His expression grew stranger and I realized belatedly all the possible meanings of my phrasing. I blushed.

“Too?” he asked, his voice hard.

I didn’t answer. I guess I hadn’t told him I was taking the Countess’s place on her pillow.

Quill cursed under his breath. “Eloi, Zare, I will definitely not sleep now.”

“Were you sleeping before?” I asked, something like foreboding stirring inside.

“I…” he turned away from me, rubbing his hand over his face.

I straightened the blankets on the bed just to have something to do.

“When I realized how helpful it would be to have you among the leanyodi I did not think through what it might mean having you among the leanyodi.”

“What do you mean? That I’m the only one of your associates committed enough to trade places with a woman entirely unequipped to deal with someone trying to kill her? I hardly think that’s true. Both Eliah and Athrynel would, and I’m sure you’ve met other female mercenaries who’d help a woman who needed it.”

He sighed, his shoulders sagging. “Since we left Wuhnravinwel I’ve been having dreams. Nightmares. They are different each night, sometimes the knife comes from behind, sometimes above. Sometimes from the side. Always a knife. Always…at someone who turns out to be you.”

I felt a little ill. “Is that why you almost killed me when I woke you the night the Countess was kidnapped?”

“I almost caught the attacker,” he said.

Dreams. “In my dreams I can’t reach my knife,” I forced the words out, even though I had a weird desire to hide them from Quill. He didn’t need to be haunted by my possibly completely nymphish nightmares. “And…I feel betrayed…but it’s always by a gigantic Narya Magnifique,” I added, shrugging as if he could see me, “I sleep lightly.”

He turned back to me, looking troubled. “I don’t dream often. Not like this.”

“My dreams could mean anything or nothing.” I shrugged again. “I’m armed, I’m already paranoid, and Fornern knows I’m also reasonably good with my bare hands. You know that, too, Quill.”

His lips twitched. I scowled at him.

“Well,” he flipped his coat over his shoulder, “I probably won’t sleep again till this is over. But I also need to get ready for tonight’s festivities.”

“And I told Karolya I would be right behind her.”

Quill nodded and moved toward the door, he stopped before opening it, lifting his hand to brush his fingers against the spot where my face had been bruised. He stopped short of his mark and withdrew his hand regretfully. I remembered that my face was entirely painted white. I wanted to tell him to be careful, and to not worry about me. And, I needed to talk to him about—”Quill.”

He paused, hand on the door, looking back.

“Hadella is the Countess’s sister.”

His brow furrowed. “What?”

“The leanyodi I told you about—who hates the treaty and is very involved in the wedding—Hadella. She’s the Countess’s sister.”

He stared at me, “No one told me there were two Wuhn.”

“I know.”

“Are there more?”

“I don’t know.”

His chin dipped, brows furrowed, “And who inherits?”

“Exactly.”

*

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

I was halfway to the palace library with its genealogies when Karolya found me. “There you are, Zephra!” she exclaimed, “I’m to take you to the Countess, she’s been asking for you”

Swallowing my chagrin, I said, “Lead on,” and followed her down the hallway at pace brisk enough to make our long coats billow.

When we arrived at the Countess’s chambers the Countess was in the sitting room. A handful of leanyodi were bustling around the chambers carefully not looking at or speaking to the Countess who sat like a statue in the center of the room. She looked like an entirely different person than the woman I’d held hours ago. Her make up had been redone in its formal, stark, glory, and she was arrayed in a blue so dark it was nearly black. The diamond brooch caught the light and shot it out again every bit as piercing as an arrow. I knew armor when I saw it.

Karolya announced, “I found her, Grofnu.”

“Good,” replied the Countess. I felt like a lost hound finally returned to the huntsman. She cast a critical eye over my plain clothes, “That will have to do, I suppose.” A muddy lost hound. “Come with me,” she stood. “The King wants to see us.”

*

King Keleman of Angareth joined us in a small audience chamber half a palace away. There were no windows, just tapestries and two chairs, one of which received King Keleman and the other remained empty as his retinue arranged themselves behind him. There weren’t as many people in it as I’d expected, two advisors and two bodyguards, but that was all. The Countess had entered the room with only me and Brell, leaving the other three leanyodi who’d come standing outside the chamber with the guards. The King’s face was painted gold again, probably in preparation for dinner. He looked like a statue. I thought it was unsettling.

After bows were made, the King and the Countess regarded each other for a moment, then the King gestured, “Bring her a chair.”

One of his advisors scurried off and returned with an ornate wooden chair, which he placed adjacent to the king, then stood back when the Countess stepped forward to sit in it. “Thank you, my uncle.”

“Adelheid,” said the King, startling me with her given name, “Are you all right?”

“I’m well,” replied the Countess.

The King looked skeptical.

I had already been inclined toward the Angari king, and now I liked him in earnest.

“I’m well enough,” revised the Countess. “I worry for Galo.”

“But not yourself?” asked the King, “I have asked much of you. More than I realized–”

The Countess cut him off, “It is my honor, Kiraly, I am not afraid.”

King Keleman hesitated a moment, then reached forward and took the Countess’s hand, “Adelheid, I love you like my own daughter.” He stopped, his eyes on their hands. I could see in his face that he had been frightened today, too. As much a devoted uncle as a king. “We could find a different way.”

“Uncle,” the Countess’s voice was soft, but steady, “Nothing will end a blood feud but a mingling of blood. It is my honor. I am not afraid. And I will not make Galo’s blood worthless by turning back now.”

The King nodded. He’d expected her answer as much as he’d needed to hear it. “I have spoken to Quilleran and High Lord Istvan’s men about the events on the river. It seems you were not entirely honest with me when you arrived.”

“Kiraly?”

“You did not mention the rebellion of the Wuhn on your journey here. Nor the actions of young Lord Adorjan Bulgar.”

“I handled the insurrection and Lord Bulgar,” replied the Countess.

“Your own people,” he waved a hand, his voice growing hard, “Fine. But Lord Bulgar is my subject, Adelheid, and he interfered with my treaty and my family and the future of my country.”

They starred at one another. An entire conversation in silence. Finally, the Countess tipped her chin, eyes flicking down, “My apologies, Kiraly, I should have told you. Adorjan Bulgar is a bastard and an idiot, but he had nothing to do with the events today.”

“I’m well aware of the nature of Adorjan Bulgar,” replied the King. “I wanted to talk your leanyod,” his eyes slid over to me, “to get her part of today.”

The Countess looked at me, “Of course. Zephra.”

With both of them staring, I wasn’t sure which face to wear. But the mercenary, the professional, won. I summarized the attack the same way I had for Druskin and the Countess.

The King nodded gravely when I finished. “How did the elves seem when they interacted with Ilya Terr’s captain?”

“They appeared to hate him, Kiraly, they spat in his face.” Ah, he was checking for himself if these were rogue elves.

The King nodded again. “Thank you, Zephra. You may go.”

I glanced at the Countess as I bowed and left the room. She didn’t give me any indication what she wanted, so I stepped into the hallway and joined the three other leanyodi sitting on a bench a short distance away. They looked at me inquiringly but continued their conversation about the expected performers tonight. I didn’t have anything to offer to the conversation, just a raw edge of weariness and the burning desire to go do research. Eventually, the Countess and Brell stepped out of the audience room. We all rose and fell into formation behind the Countess as she led the way back to her rooms. At the doors, the Countess stopped and addressed the guards, “Have you seen Druskin?”

“No, Grofnu.”

She turned to Brell, “Please find Druskin.”

The leanyodi bowed and hurried off. I hoped she knew to check the infirmary.

“Zephra,” the Countess turned to me, “We are wearing wine red tonight. I had Karolya put a gown in your room.” Her eyes flitted over me, and one corner of her mouth kicked up a little bit, “I’ll send her to help with your hair. Hurry.”

“Grofnu,” I resisted the urge touch my hair, bowing before heading to my room. I nearly walked past to go back to the library but caught myself at the last moment. It would have to wait. I was wearing brown, my makeup hadn’t survived the river, and my hair was in a simple braid after its dunking. I closed the door behind me and nearly knifed Quill where he stood behind the door. He stepped back, hands poised to block, eyes bright.

I slipped the knife back into its sheath, willing the lightning out of my veins. I felt like the lightning shifted form rather than going away. “I was looking for you earlier,” my tone came out dry, “How’d you get in here without the guards seeing?” I shucked the light coat and tossed it at him harder than necessary as I walked deeper into the room.

He caught the coat. “Who says the guards didn’t see?”

“And they just let you?”

“Royal guards let people do a lot of things and don’t say a word.” He followed me a couple steps. “There are few secrets unknown to them, I think. Besides. A couple of them were on the road with us.”

Ah yes. With all the talk. I snorted and shrugged out of my harness of knives, leaving it on the desk. I needed to talk to Quill. I needed to get ready. I looked at him appraisingly, wondering what message letting him stay would send. “I have to wash my hair. The Juni is apparently not an acceptable dinner scent.”

His lips quirked. “Unimaginable.”

“I know.” I spread my hands, moving toward the washroom and hoping I looked casual. “But stay. Since you’ve gone through the trouble of alerting the guards to our secrets. I need to talk to you.”

He smiled in earnest, coming to lean on the doorframe of the washroom while I turned on the water and piled towels on the floor by the tub. “I heard you were looking for me earlier?”

“Because I wanted to talk to you.” I knelt on the padding, looping another towel around my neck to keep it dry and unstriped. Nonchalant. “Do you know who inherits the Countess’s title and lands if she died.”

Quill’s brows furrowed. “Is it the prince? Her cousin?”

“Doubtful.” I tested the water, unbraiding my hair and bending awkwardly to run the water over my scalp.

“Why not ask one of the leanyodi you’re around all day?” Quill raised his voice to be heard over the water.

“No good,” I grunted as the towel slipped and I grabbed it before it could fall in the tub.

“Here,” Quill knelt next to me, the heat from his body roaring into me. “Hold the towel, I’ll deal with the water and keep you dry.”

I stilled, bent awkwardly and completely unable to move as Quill’s hands stroked over my hair, working the water in. No one had washed my hair since Galhara. He lathered the little bar of soap and began to work the suds through my hair. Eloi. Quill’s hands were in my hair. They felt large, and warm, and luxurious. He was so gentle I didn’t have the heart to tell him that wasn’t the right soap. I caught glimpses of his arms, sleeves rolled up and showing his yellowing bruises and the bandage from his knife wound. The bandage was splashed wet. Water, right. I covered my face with one end of the towel to keep my skin as dry as possible. He guided my head under the water again and rinsed the lather out. Before he could move away, I pointed at the bottle of proper hair tonic, and he willingly took it and began to work it into my hair. Quill began to rinse my hair again and I closed my eyes, reveling in the feel of his fingers on my scalp and running through my hair. It was intoxicating. The more so because it didn’t take that long to rinse hair. He lingered, combing his hand through the curls and letting the water sluice through his fingers. Each touch ached. When he reached across me to turn off the water, I realized that I wasn’t breathing, probably hadn’t been since his hands had touched my hair. I made myself take a breath, not looking at him as I shifted the towel from my neck to my hair. “Thank you,” I sounded breathless, nymph blood notwithstanding.

“You’re welcome.”

I looked at him from under my arm, drawn by the thickness of his voice.

He leaned his arms on the sides of the tub, letting water drip off his fingertips, and looked over his shoulder at me. His eyes were burning and unguarded. “Your hair is exquisite.”

“Your hands are exquisite.” The words came out before I could gauge their wisdom.

A surprised grin licked up his face and he stood, offering me his hand. “Next time you can wash my hair.”

I took the help up, my other hand propping the towel. Next time. I looked at him, trying to come up with something to say, having a hard time caring about wisdom and wondering why in Serrifis he didn’t seem to care about wisdom either. The knock at the chamber door made us both jump. My eyes went wide. Karolya was here to help me get ready.

*

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

I left the Countess asleep in her bed and two armed female guards from the Queen’s retinue camped on the floor. King Keleman had sent them, and I wondered that he hadn’t thought of that before. The air of shock that lingered in the chambers made me uncomfortably aware that my own acceptance of dangerous reality was, perhaps, abnormal. I hadn’t seen Druskin since we’d gotten back from the luncheon, but I didn’t see any reason to wait for him. Especially since he probably wouldn’t want me to leave. Hopefully he was at Galo’s side. I wanted to think and I needed to get away from this clamor of souls to do so. With my nearly cleaned harness hidden under a long brown linen coat I set out to find where Quill and Eliah were housed. I scandalized two servants, but eventually found my way to a narrow but ornate hallway and knocked on the fourth door, as I’d been told. There was no answer, so I tried the handle. It was unlocked, so I stepped inside. The room was beautifully appointed, larger and finer than mine. Quill wasn’t important enough to have a large suite with separate sitting and gaming rooms, but there was a door to one side open to a tiled washroom. Quietly, I checked the corners, the washroom, and the little wardrobe. Several fine shirts and coats hung inside, but I didn’t see his leathers or road clothes, or the armor I was certain he carried with him.

I left the room and tried the door across the hall. No answer there either, and Eliah kept her door locked. They were probably dealing with the elven prisoners and the kings. I hesitated, eyeing the gold cast to the afternoon sunlight, then made my decision.

It didn’t take me too long to find my way out of the Palace of Domes, and I made sure to speak with the guard captain on duty so I could get back in later. The streets of Gar Morwen were crowded and had a nearly carnival air. This wedding was full of drama and portent, I was certain Angari had converged on their capital from all over the country to be a part. There were street venders selling food, flowers, and little pottery plates carved with a falcon roosting in a tree—a clever combination of the Angari and Terrim symbols.

I eventually approached a vender and asked where I could find the Lute and Bowl, and ten minutes later I found the tavern. It was nicer on the outside than I expected, stone with a painted sign showing a lute and a bowl crossed over a shield like the innkeeper’s choice of weapons. Inside it was dim, smelled of beer and smoke and something roasting, and it was already bustling with people.

There was a chance Ayglos was busy still, and that he wasn’t back in the tavern yet, but I slipped through the crowd around the edges of the main room and searched the alcoves for him. Snatches of conversation told me that basically everyone was speculating about what happened on the royal barge today and telling stories about the happenings at the palace the rest of the week. I found Ayglos at the very back corner, his back to the wall. He had a pipe in his hand and was watching me with a twinkle in his eye. I was surprised all over again that his hair was dark, even though he’d darkened it on the way to Angareth and we’d spent weeks together after.

I slid onto the bench hugging the opposite wall. “How long did you watch me search for you?” I asked, hiding how glad I was to see him—and see him with the capacity to twinkle.

“Since you walked in,” he answered.

I sighed. “You could’ve come to me.”

“Have you seen how busy it is in here? I might’ve lost my table.”

“It is a good table,” I conceded. I let myself lean back against the wall and close my eyes. I was so tired.

“Are you alright?” Ayglos asked, his voice quiet. “You look like you haven’t been sleeping.”

“I haven’t,” I confessed. “My dreams chase me awake.”

I felt Ayglos’s eyes on me, though I kept mine closed. “What kind of dreams?”

“Unpleasant.” I knew that wasn’t what he was asking, but I didn’t know the answer. Ayglos, too, carried some form of the human gift of sight. His sight was less in dreams and more in the present, which I always thought accounted for how confidently he moved through the world and never, ever, got caught. Being able to see the intent of souls and being able to use that knowledge, were, I knew, quite different skills. He had them both and had worked harder and longer to hone them than I had. After a moment’s silence, I said, “I dream of knives striking for my heart, and of Galhara falling into the sea.”

“Hm.” His grunt was displeased. As if I’d suggested something hideous for dinner.

I considered telling him that I was also taking the Countess’s place on her pillow, but instead said, “I don’t suppose you’ve had any premonitions?”

“Not like that. But I have a bad feeling about one of the local gangs, I steer clear of their parts of town.”

I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the fact that I was with my brother, and I could relax a little. “Thanks for spotting those elves.”

He grunted.

“Did you see where the arrow came from?” I asked.

I heard a long exhale, as if Ayglos was blowing smoke with the intent to fill the room, then he answered, “There are plenty of buildings along the shore he could’ve used—none so good as Tirien’s Bell Tower—but the assassin only needed a few moments sight of the barge. He had no reason to watch it as long as I did. I looked for someone running away after I saw the commotion on the barge but whoever it was knew better than to run. Once the barge docked I went to search the waterfront, but short of breaking into every building along that stretch…” he let his voice trail off.

Opening my eyes, I watched the crowd. “Have you heard from Quill yet?”

“Not since the excitement today, I expect he’ll be along soon. Jemin went with the elves and the soldiers and I haven’t seen him either.”

“I expect both kings will keep them for a while—did you see the elf who jumped in after Quill?”

Ayglos shook his head.

“Ilya’s second, Mihalek. He thought a Terrim rescuing an Angari would be a good thing.”

“Astute.”

“I thought so.”

After a pause Ayglos said, “I asked Jemin about Rakov and Rae’d being with the elves.”

I had almost forgotten about that, in the midst of everything else. “What did he say?”

“You know Jemin, he said it wasn’t his place to talk about them, but they were working toward the same goal. When I think of us as the agents of king’s, the secrecy makes sense. But as criminals—”

“Mercenaries,” I corrected.

Ayglos ignored my interjection, “—it makes me suspicious.”

I needed something to do with my hands, so I pulled out my gold pendant and ran my thumb over the ships sailing in an infinite circle. “Quill said that Trinh sent them specifically to make sure this treaty happens. That he heard about it because someone tried to hire him to kill the Countess.”

Ayglos looked at me sharply, then turned back to the room, “Well, that explains how quickly we found out about the Scythe. Jemin would have had a head start on finding the right broker if he knew it was one who worked with the Breaker.”

“He spoke to the broker but still couldn’t learn who was hiring?” I asked.

“Brokers usually try not to share that information,” replied Ayglos, dryly, “But when pressed he said that he’d been working with an intermediary.”

“Of course, that would be too easy.” I waved a hand, “What do you think about…” Trinh Kegan. This potentially pivotal treaty. Signs of life in the Golden Prince.

Ayglos knew what I meant, he pulled on the pipe again, breathing out a slow column of smoke like a dragon. “What’s there to think? This brief flash of interest doesn’t mean he’s suddenly decided to topple the Empire.”

“No. But maybe he’d help.”

“If our brother will take him back, you mean.” Our brother. The Exiled King of Galhara. Who had nearly punched Trinh the last time he’d seen him. Admittedly years ago, now.

“He would if he brought a nice enough gift.”

“If you think this alliance is the gift then involving you and I was stupid, not only would we know about it but we’re partially responsible.”

Now I smiled. “Well, that was Quill’s call…and he didn’t exactly ask permission.”

“Unsurprising.” Ayglos laughed a little, then he studied me. “Zare, don’t get your hopes up. Even if he does decide to start being helpful, that doesn’t mean he’ll tip the scale.”

“Every stone tips the scale.”

With a rueful incline of his head, my brother turned and slipped off the bench. “Want anything to eat?”

“Please.” I was hungry now that I thought about it. I hadn’t eaten much at the luncheon, and that had been hours ago. Ayglos returned moments later with two mugs and a basket of steaming rolls balanced on his forearm.

“Roast is coming,” he said, sliding back onto the bend and depositing the mugs and basket.

I grabbed a roll and started tearing it up to eat in smaller bites. We watched the crowd, mostly in silence, but occasionally sharing bits about the week since we’d parted. Ayglos was keeping both our horses in work, haunting this tavern and a few other less reputable spots after dark for news. He’d gambled away and won back an alarming amount of money in his quest for the latest gossip. I told him about the leanyodi and their quirks, and about bumping into Valredes—which earned me a scrutinizing look—and about Druskin and Galo. I finished with the realization that Hadella was the Countess’s sister.

“Which one is Hadella?”

“She’s functionally the steward of Wuhnravinwel, runs a lot of the day to day.”

“One of the leanyodi?”

I nodded, taking another bite of bread. “I knew the leanyodi were honored, but I never thought to find a sibling among them. Hadella calls the treaty an insult to the ancestors. More than that…when I saw her today…she was enraged.” I tore the roll again, turning the piece in my fingers. “She apparently yelled at the Countess in front of everyone when we got back to the palace, told her that Galo’s injury was her fault and it should have been the Countess.”

Ayglos and I looked at each other for a long moment. Then Ayglos asked, “Who inherits if the Countess dies?”

I needed to find out. “I need to head back to the palace,” I said with a sigh.

*

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

“You don’t think they’re upset about me going overboard?” I whispered.

Quill’s expression was grim, “As upsetting as that was, I think this is something else.”

The sailors leapt to the docks the instant the barge was in range, pulling it in far too quickly. Everyone on board stumbled as the barge bumped the docks, but their gasps were muted. As if a shroud rested over the entire vessel swallowing all sound. My skin prickled as I felt again the sensation from my nightmare when my city appeared on the cliff, only to face destruction a second time. Something thick and horrible coiled inside me, bringing terror of what awaited on the boat.Quill’s hand settled into the small of my back. I leaned into it, still clutching his coat over my knives.

The instant the barge was secure, two of the king’s guards jumped off and began shouting for a carriage. There were more guards clustered on the barge, and I thought they were arranged a bit like pall bearers. Eloi, God Overall. They moved carefully, but urgently, as they disembarked. A large blue cloth between that was clearly carrying a body.

I ran to catch up to the guards—they didn’t stop for me, but I got a good look in the makeshift stretcher. Blood bloomed across a pale bodice. Her elegant dark hair was mussed, her skin pale. I fell back to stand beside Quill as they loaded her into a waiting carriage. “It’s Galo,” I said. My stomach was churning with relief and horror. Not the Countess. Not the Queen.

“Is she alive?” asked Quill.

Before I could answer one of the guards shouted, “The infirmary, quickly!”

Alive, then. However direly hurt.

The carriage leapt away with a clatter of hooves and roar of wheels on cobbles. More people were bustling off the barge. We moved to the side as the kings and queens of both countries were rushed into carriages. I noticed a couple soldiers mount horses and ride off at speed.

“There’s Druskin,” said Quill.

A knot of leanyodi and guards were coming toward us, and we moved quickly to join them. The Countess Adelheid Wuhn was in the center, grim faced. But alive and apparently unhurt.

“Zephra, Quilleran, I’m glad you’re alright.” Druskin was tight lipped, his face pale. “We have to get back to the Palace immediately.”

“Of course,” I squeezed Quill’s hand and stepped into the leanyodi. Our eyes met for a moment before the Countess’s retinue hurried away. The retinue bundled into two carriages, with myself, Hadella, and Brell in the carriage with the Countess. The carriage lurched into motion as soon as we were seated. I looked around. Everyone was pale, Hadella looked sick.

The Countess looked at me, “What happened?” her voice was measured, as if it took great effort to keep her tone even.

“There was a small craft of armed elves approaching the royal barge. I pretended to faint so I could prevent them from reaching the barge without alarming the nobles.” I smoothed my still-drying trousers. “The King’s guard should have them now. What happened after I left?”

“Quilleran went in after you, as did one of the elves, and the rest took comfort that the nymphs would find you—as the River Folk do,” said Brell. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

“I’m fine—but what happened on the barge?”

“Just a short while ago I asked Galo to get me some fruit,” said the Countess, “When she reached to place the bowl in front of me—” her voice hitched, she cleared her throat and went on, “She collapsed with an arrow in her.”

“She’s still alive,” said Brell, reaching for the Countess’s hands, “They are rushing her to the palace physicians. They will save her. She’ll be alright.”

My eyes locked with the Countess’s. The arrow had been meant for her. It was dumb luck—or divine intervention—that she wasn’t the one on that cloth.

“What did the arrow look like? Does anyone still have it?” I asked.

“Druskin,” said the Countess. “It was in her back…he had to take it out so they could move her.”

I glanced at the covered carriage window, as if I could see Druskin riding outside. My heart panged for him. I was pretty sure he loved Galo. Hadella made a choking noise and I recoiled as she vomited on the carriage floor between us. I cursed inwardly and fought down my own bile. All the blood in the world was easier to cope with than this.

The Countess reached for Hadella, “It’s alright, it’ll be alright.”

Pressing myself against the far side of the carriage, I barely saw Hadella flinch violently at the Countess’s comforting touch.

*

When we finally arrived at the Palace of Domes, Druskin rushed us up to the Countess’s chambers. There were already guards there, and they looked as if they’d just finished going through the chambers searching for intruders. Druskin made us wait in the hall while he went through and checked the chambers himself. He came back out a moment later and nodded for everyone to enter. I hung back and, once the others had disappeared into the dressing chambers, we faced one another.

Druskin’s eyes swept over me, taking in the horribly rumpled clothes, the borrowed coat and missing shoes. “What happened?” asked Druskin, his voice quiet.

“Kimro Ruddybrook spotted armed elves, zealots by the look, approaching the royal barge looking like they were going to kidnap or kill, I was the closest, so I handled it.”

He sighed heavily, “They said you fainted. I wasn’t worried about you in the water.” He gave me a significant look, “But when Galo…I was afraid you’d been shot, too.”

I shook my head. “No. But it appears there were two attacks today.”

“Do you think them separate?”

“They were uncoordinated if they were connected.” I paused, then asked gently, “Do you have the arrow?”

“I sent it with Galo—in case the physicians needed it. In case of poison. Or…anything else…” a bit of emotion slipped into his voice.

“Can you go to her?” I asked.

“No, it wouldn’t be proper.”

I restrained the urge to say, “Damn propriety” and instead nodded sympathetically. Who was I to judge him for keeping his love a secret? “Quilleran should see the arrow as soon as possible. So, you should go get it to him or I will after I’ve changed.”

For a moment, Druskin hesitated. His eyes went to the ornate door behind which his Countess was being fussed over by her leanyodi. Except, his leanyod was not among them. He looked, for a moment, like a very young man who was very frightened. Then he collected himself and turned back to me, “Please, stay close to the Countess.”

“Of course. Though, you will have to either admit Quilleran to her chambers or cope with me leaving for a few hours later,” I said.

“I’ll let you know what I decide,” replied Druskin, turning to leave.

I stared after him. I hadn’t really thought he’d consider allowing Quill into the Countess’s chambers. Apparently, the afternoon’s events had changed things. I waited only a moment before heading to clean up in my own rooms. I hadn’t been dismissed, but I was the only one whose outfit was thoroughly ruined, and I wanted out of the damp clothes. I cleaned up with a wet towel—dried off thoroughly—and changed into fresh, plain, clothes. I collected my knives and harness and my small cleaning kit and rolled them in a cloak, along with a long tined comb for my hair, and returned to the Countess’s chambers. The guards moved aside to let me in, but before I could enter the door opened and Hadella blew out like a storm on the Great Sea. I sidestepped in time to only get clipped in the shoulder. Her expression was rigid and when her eyes met mine, they were burning with unrestrained rage. She continued down the hallway without saying a word. I looked at the guards, but their faces were very, very carefully blank. Well, then.

Once inside, the sitting room was packed with leanyodi. It looked like most of them, actually. Even the ones who had been off duty. A couple were pacing, and the ones who sat nearly vibrated with pent up feeling—even the air felt fretful. I turned for the Countess’s bedchamber. Karolya called after me, “We’re not to disturb her!” Ignoring her, I opened the door as softly as I could and slipped inside.

*

The Countess was sitting in the window, alone. She wasn’t in her lavender dress any longer, just a deep red dressing gown, but her hair was still piled on her head and jeweled pins still winked in the sunlight. She’d thrown everyone out before they finished undressing her.

I closed the door behind me, letting it make a soft thump.

The Countess turned her head slightly, then turned back to the window. “Zephra.”

I walked to the bench at the end of the bed, unrolled the cloak and began arranging my knives and cleaning supplies. “Hadella left in a rush,” I said.

“Did you not hear her yelling at me?”

I paused. “I did not. I was changing out of my soaked clothes.” Picking up the comb, I walked over and settled at the Countess’s feet in the window. She turned her face away. I started working my hair free from its intricacies. “Why was she yelling?”

“She blames me for Galo getting hurt,” said the Countess, “She said that if Galo dies, her blood is on my hands. She said it should have been me.”

I stopped, a braided loop half-undone and hanging loose. “Thank Eloi and all the gods it wasn’t you.”

The Countess let out a wet sniffle.

Reaching out, I touched her hands. She pulled away and wiped her face. “I’m alright.”

“My Lady, you don’t have to be brave to me,” I began working on my braids again. “You were nearly shot, you saw your leanyod shot, you’ve had a bit of a harrowing week that included kidnapping and more attempted murder. You’re getting married in a couple days—to someone you were probably raised to consider an enemy. And let’s not forget sleeping with your head at the wrong end of the bed.”

That earned a pained laugh. She turned to look at me finally, her cheeks were wet with tears and her eyes were already swollen from crying. “She’s right, Galo is dying because of me.”

“No, Galo is dying because someone doesn’t want this treaty to succeed. This isn’t on you.” One braid finished, I started picking at the other side of my head.

“She was mine to protect,” managed the Countess, tears still freely flowing down her face.

“And you were hers. Don’t think for a moment Galo wouldn’t have thrown herself in front of that arrow on purpose given the chance.”

A sob escaped the Countess, and I stopped with my hair. Standing, I moved so I could edge my hip onto the ledge beside her and pull her into my arms. She shuddered, but then clung to me and began to sob into my shoulder. They were violent, wracking, sobs. I held her and stroked her back until eventually the tears stopped and she stopped shaking. She sat up and wiped her face and nose with the silk sleeves of her dressing gown. I didn’t know where to find her handkerchiefs, so I just moved to the other side of the sill and sat down across from her again.

She drew a shaky breath, “I am doing this for my country and my people. I know this is the right thing to do—ending the bloodshed, turning and enemy into an ally. Yet I feel like I’m betraying them because I like my betrothed. And now, Galo…” she choked off, and a few more tears escaped. “My sister never yells. I had no idea how strongly she felt.”

I blinked. “Your…sister?”

“Hadella.”

“Hadella’s your sister?”

The Countess nodded, dabbing her cheeks with a different section of her sleeves. “Yes, she’s always been my right hand. She argued against the treaty when it was first discussed, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised she’s angry that Galo got hurt.”

“She’s a leanyod?” I asked.

“Would you expect a lesser position for my sister?” replied the Countess, looking amused.

There was a tentative knock at the bedroom door. The Countess stilled, then lifted her head and said, “Come.”

The door opened and Brell stepped in cautiously. “Grofnu, I’m sorry, but this was delivered for you.” She lifted a little wooden box in one hand. “By one of the elves.”

“Thank you, Brell,” The Countess extended her hand and Brell came forward to place the box in her grip.

Brell looked at the Countess, then looked at me, and then backed several steps away. The Countess didn’t dismiss her, and there was no way she was volunteering to leave without seeing what was in the box.

The Countess ran her fingers over the smoothed wood, then opened the lid. There was a note inside, which she read, a faint blush creeping up her cheeks. Beneath the note was an enormous brooch of silver metal shaped like a tree whose leaves were diamonds. The Countess held it up, laughing ruefully as it caught the afternoon sun and sparkled blindingly. “It’s from Ilya. He says his sister told him armor at a ball was unfashionable, so he founded the largest, hardest stones he could on short notice.” Her voice lowered, “He suggests wearing it over my heart, if possible.”

I smiled, wondering if he’d had other things to say about her heart in that note, “I’ve heard worse ideas. I wouldn’t want to rely on it, but it certainly won’t hurt.”

*

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

Five nymphs surfaced, swimming for the boat and elves, and another surfaced alongside me. A female with blue-green swirls gracing her face, her hair dark and short, slicked back by water. “Alright now, friend,” she said, cheerfully, reaching out to grab the elf’s other arm. “We’ve got you.”

Eloi, I was not used to this much company in the water. Had they seen me drag all those elves into the river? Had everyone on the royal barge seen? I hadn’t bothered about any audience once I was overboard. “That pier,” I said, trying to match her bright tone and jerking my head toward the one where Rabanki and Jemin waited.

The pier loomed up quickly, two nymphs and a helpful river were more than a match for an elf who—if he could swim—wasn’t swimming. The others weren’t far behind. Jemin was crouched on the edge, and as soon as we were in reach, he caught the elf’s cuirass and hauled him up.

“Keep hold of him,” I said, pulling myself onto the boards. “So we’ll have at least one.”

Jemin grunted, already looping rope around the elf’s wrists. “You’ve got Quill in the water. And another”

I swiveled back to the river.

The nymph pulled herself up next to me, “Why are you binding him?”

I glanced at her. “The King wants them for questioning.”

“What happened?” she asked, “We saw the boat in trouble, somehow, on our placid Juni.”

“Yes, thanks for the help, I was a little short-handed.” I removed the elf’s sword belt and did a quick search which revealed three more knives.

She gave me a sideways look, then turned to include Jemin, “You’re not in the King’s livery.”

“I’m Zephra Ruddybrook, leanyodi of Countess Adelheid Wuhn,” I said, “We are about business for the crown.”

She looked me over, taking in the embroidery that emanated from every hem of my very fine—if soaking wet—clothes, the complex hairstyle, and…my bare feet. My slippers had not survived my plunge into the water. “I’ve never seen a leanyodi wet before. I suppose it’s possible you are who you say.”

My lips twisted into a smirk, and I turned to help haul the other elves out of the water. The elves started to struggle and heap curses on us when they noticed what was waiting for them, but with the help of the nymphs and the river we kept them contained until Jemin could bind and disarm them. The elf on the boat was the most difficult to subdue, as he leapt off and ran down the pier as soon as the boat arrived. I gained a few scratches in the scuffle after I tackled him to the boards, but that was all. The nymphs said little after hearing our explanation, but they stayed close and watched us. Three males and two females dressed in the close fitting and minimal clothes of nymphs working on water. Their skin was a touch darker than mine, and their stripes greener.

I was standing over my captives when Quill pulled himself onto the dock and to his feet, his chest heaving from the swim. Behind him, a dark-skinned, broad shouldered, elf pulled himself up and I recognized Mihalak, Ilya Terr’s second. They were barefoot, and quickly stripped their soaked and clinging coats, flinging them to the boards with prejudice. They both surveyed the scene on the pier, and Mihalak’s eyes flickered with surprise. At the elves. At me.

“What do we have?” Quill asked.

I stepped close to them, lowering my voice, “Rabanki revealed them getting into position to assault the barge. I handled it.”

Mihalak cursed under his breath.

I glanced at the four bound elves; they were glaring at Mihalak. “What did the barge see?” I asked.

Quill looked me over, then finding no wounds, relaxed a touch. “I’m not sure. I heard shouting about someone overboard, then Rabanki found me. No one was talking about a boat when I jumped overboard. They were all looking at the water.”

“I followed him,” Mihalak managed a strained smile, “It seemed important for a Terrim elf to help rescue an Angari maiden. Though it appears I misread the situation.” He gestured at me—striped blue, wearing knives.

I inclined my head. “As I hoped. I pretended to faint. I think we should keep this quiet if we can. We can meet the royal barge at the docks downriver—dry and bedraggled—and let them think you rescued me.”

Quill nodded. “We can certainly try and see what the reaction is.”

“I’m more concerned about the attack than folk learning my real purpose,” I said. “Though one secret certainly unravels the other.”

“My ideal is preserving both secrets,” replied Quill. “You should have every advantage as long as possible.”

Mihalak gave us an odd look. Then, turning, he walked to the elves and crouched in front of one of them. For a long moment they stared at each other. Mihalak was chillingingly impassive as he asked “Who do you serve?” in Terrim. He was met with thin lipped silence. He tipped his head, “You look like one of Oak’s. What were you here to do?”

The elf met his gaze, eyes blazing, “To do what our High Lord would not—protect the Springs of Tirien.”

“Who sent you?” prodded Mihalak.

The elf spat, “That doesn’t matter, heathen-loving scum. You will burn in hell for what you’ve done.”

“Eloi will be the judge of that.” Coldly, Mihalak wiped the spittle from his face and stood, returning to Quill and me. “My High Lord and my Lord have a right to these prisoners.”

“Then tell them. I have no wish to hide them from your Lord, only the crowd,” I said. “The last thing we need is for the nobles to get up in arms.”

Mihalek nodded.

Quill raised his voice. “Jemin, where is Kimro?”

“Aloft still,” replied Jemin. “Keeping eyes on the river.”

“Good. We need to find some of the King’s guard to collect these, and quietly.”

“You need someone to run to the guard?” asked one of the nymph males, stepping forward. “I can go.”

“Please do,” said Quill, “Tell them Quilleran has four prisoners he has detained as part of his investigation for the King.”

The nymph nodded and trotted up the pier toward the city. Mihalak eyed Quill shrewdly. “Do you think that this is tied to the threat on the Countess’s life?”

Of course, basically everyone know why Quill was here.

“It certainly appears to have been an attempt on her life, whether it’s connected to the threat inside her own court, I do not yet know.” Quill turned back to study the elves. “There is certainly enough hate here that it need not be.” I thought of Adorjan, and the scarecrow, and the men who’d attacked us on the road. This treaty was only the beginning of the fight for peace.

*

We left our captives with Jemin and the nymphs, and took the elves’ boat further downriver, keeping as far from the royal barge as we could when we passed it. I asked the Juni to speed us along, and Quill and Mihalak used poles to help. We spread their coats out to dry, and I stripped down another layer and tried to sun both myself and my clothes to dry out. Mihalak watched with keen-eyed interest. “They don’t know you’re a nymph?” he asked at last.

“They do not,” I said, “And your rescue will look more gallant if that remains the case.”

Mihalak was quiet for a moment, then said, “That’s very unusual. Keeping your race a secret. Or,” he gestured to his pointed ears, “So thinks one who cannot hide so easily.”

“I’m sure we could find you a headdress that hid your ears,” I replied with a smile.

He had more questions. I could feel it. But most of them were sort of personal to ask someone you didn’t know well, and Mihalak apparently wasn’t the type to pry. I spread my harness of knives out on the floor of the boat and made a note I’d need to clean and oil it, and all the knives, tonight.

As we drew close to the dock where the royal barge would end its journey, I dressed again in uncomfortably damp clothing, and Quill wrapped his damp coat around my shoulders. I clasped it closed around me, as a modest Angari would after a thorough dunking in pale clothes. Handily, it covered my knives.

The servants waiting at the docks gasped and fussed over us when we docked and disembarked. I told them I’d fainted and fallen overboard, and they accepted the explanation.

They fetched us water and juice to drink, and chairs to sit on, and we settled in to wait for the royal barge.

Sitting between Quill and Mihalak, I found myself leaning into Quill and was sorely tempted to rest my head on his shoulder. I doubted, however, even a nearly drowned leanyodi would make such a display. Instead, I asked Mihalak, “Does Terrimbir have much contact with the Empire? I noticed the Empire’s delegation seemed friendly with Ambassador Balint.”

Mihalak shrugged. “Balint was in the Empire for a time. Last year the High Lord recalled him and sent him to Angareth as part of the delegation who negotiated the marriage treaty.”

“Do you know Balint well?”

The elf shrugged again. “I know of him, and have met him from time to time.” He narrowed his eyes, “Why? Do you think he has something to do with those traitors?”

“I don’t know,” I looked at Quill, who was watching us, “I know he doesn’t approve of the treaty.”

Mihalak snorted, “Almost no one approves of the treaty. At least not in public.”

“Fair,” I conceded.

“Balint has served the High Lord well for decades. He would not do anything to harm Terrimbir.”

“But,” I said carefully, “would he take matters into his own hands if he believed the High Lord was harming Terrimbir?”

Mihalak frowned.

“Or, could he be persuaded? By those who might want Angareth and Terrimbir to shred each other?”

He gave me a sharp look. “Like who?” His eyes fell on Quill, silent beside me. “Why are you really here? You are not Angari, either of you.”

Quill met his gaze, “We’re here to preserve the treaty, Mihalak. We work for King Keleman, even if our blood isn’t Angari.”

“And you think Balint is trying to undermine it?” demanded Mihalak, anger seeping into his voice.

I lifted a placating hand, “I’m only asking, Mihalak. We have to ask questions in order to get answers.”

Mihalak opened his mouth to say more, then stopped and stood. “The barge is here. And something is wrong.”

Quill and I also got to our feet. The barge was approaching slowly, with the sailors waiting with the mooring ropes. There was a crowd of people waiting to disembark already…and there was no music.

*

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram