“I…” she muttered something, then sniffled and coughed.
“Focus!”
“He’s dead, Orry,” she whimpered, her voice breaking.
“Gods, Terena,” Orry’s mouth opened as he stared at her in horror. His eyes watered. “Your face…”
She coughed again, the tang of copper in her mouth. “Lerek is dead. And I?—”
“I know, love, I know. I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “They told me, but… how? Did you… oh, Terena. Did you kill him? Is that why you?—”
“No!” she snarled, her voice sharp and almost normal for the first time. It cost her, though. Her body screamed in protest. She cradled her sore head, wincing when she moved her broken arm.
“Terena?”
Something tugged at her sleeve. The wave of nausea passed, and she turned to Ormano.
“Terena, please, are you awake?”
“Barely,” she whispered back. She heard his sigh of relief and felt again the slight tug on her filthy tunic.
“Tell me as much as you can,” he said, his voice louder and desperate. Terena fought to keep her eye open.
“He’s dead, Orry,” she said again, her voice breaking on a sob.
“What happened?” Ormano demanded.
Terena opened and closed her mouth several times. At last she said, “I don’t know. I… he was to meet me, and he was late, so I… I searched for him, Orry.”
“Where was he? Where did you find him?”
Terena choked back more tears. She sighed. “On the terrace. His rooms. Isher was there. I didn’t know he was back. It looked like they’d been drinking, but…”
“But what, Terena?” he asked after a long pause. His voice was softer now, soothing.
“He was just… lying there.” Her mouth trembled so badly she clenched her jaw tight to still it. When she was sure of herself once more, she continued. “I went closer and saw him on the ground and when I bent down I saw… there was so much blood, Orry. What that bastard did to his own brother!”
She spasmed with a coughing fit, her body crying out in protest, and she was helpless with it. She didn’t care. Nothing mattered anymore.
Her coughing turned into sobs, and she was choking on the phlegm and tears. She didn’t care.
Ormano stretched out a hand and although she was too far to reach for it, his nearness calmed her. Orry said nothing for a long time.
“Terena,” he said at last, “did you kill Isher?”
She laughed. It was not a cheerful sound. She lifted her left hand slowly and wiped at the snot over her mouth. “I’m not sure. I hope so. They caught me before I could.”
“What did you do?”
Here she paused. She squinted her good eye against the darknessof the cell, trying to see beyond, into the past, into that moment when she had Isher in her hands.
Then she remembered.
“I never touched him,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “And yet I choked him. I remember the feel of his throat as it strained against me. His body quaked, fighting me.” She turned her head to her friend. “But I never touched him, Orry. I never touched him. How can this be?”
Ormano’s hand froze between the bars.
“Terena,” he began, then cleared his throat, “Terena, when the soldiers came for me, they didn’t tell me anything about why they were seeking me. We came straight from Laurica, and General Peleon brought me here.
