Ruru sagged with relief. “Thank the Four. After what I went through to keep these safe...”
“What’s in them?” Maz pawed through one. “Letters?” He held up a wrinkled piece of paper with an air of disappointment.
Ruru snatched it out of his hand. “Yes, letters Melaena gave me. What were you hoping for?”
Maz shrugged. “I don’t know. A Wolf’s head. Renwell’s battle plans. Gold.”
“I’d already taken my coins from the chest in the Temple,” Ruru said. His cheeks pinked as he glanced between me and Aiden. “Kiera’s too.”
Aiden frowned at me. “You don’t have any coins with you.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Ruru beat me to it. “That’s because she gave hers to me. To get me settled outside of Aquinon.”
Everyone stared at me, different levels of begrudging respect on their faces.
Heat crawled up my neck, and I dropped my gaze to my boots. “It was the least I could do.”
“Did this conversation happen when you freed Kiera?” Aiden’s deep voice made me look up again.
Ruru clutched his remaining bread like he’d been caught stealing. “Yes. But I had to, Aiden. I owed her.”
“I would expect nothing less from you, Ruru,” Aiden said softly. His eyes met mine. “In the end, I’m glad you did.”
I blinked. He was glad? Even though I’d interrupted his assassination of my father?
“Good,” Ruru said with a sigh of relief. “And it’s lucky I grabbed the money when I did because, two days after you sailed away, Renwell invaded the Temple.”
“He did what?”
We spun around to see Nikella towering behind us in her Teacher robes, her eyes blazing, her fist clenched around her spear. I’d never seen her so furious.
Jek stood behind her, holding our wooden swords and gazing at her like she was a goddess he’d gladly kill for.
Ruru’s voice trembled. “He went into the Temple with a dozen Shadow-Wolves. When they came out, they had Librius in chains. They ripped apart the bookshelves and collapsed the entrance to the secret room.”
Aiden paled, and Maz swore loudly.
“How did Renwell know we were using that room?” I wondered.
“Any Teacher, including the High Teacher, could’ve spied on us,” Aiden said darkly. “He could’ve?—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Nikella barked. “He’s an elite spy with informants. The point is, he destroyed the entrance and arrested Librius. He must’ve figured out that Librius was helping us.”
I remembered the Teacher who’d been nothing but kind to me the few times I’d seen him. Was Renwell punishing him for being our ally? If so, then why had he spared Melaena?
My stomach growled as my head pounded. In all the turmoil, I’d forgotten about my empty stomach.
Wordlessly, Ruru tore his bread and handed half to me. It reminded me of when we’d share sticky bread from the market. A market that now had Wolves stalking through it, day and night.
I shoved the bread into my mouth.
“Tell us about the prison square and the letters,” Aiden said.
Ruru swallowed his last bite of bread. “Renwell dragged Weylin’s body to the square and burned it in front of hundreds of people.” He glanced at my wide eyes and winced. “Sorry, I know he was your father?—”
“Don’t be,” I rasped. “The man was a murderer and a usurper who tried to execute half his family, including me. I’m glad he’s dead.”
Surprise flickered in the eyes of everyone listening.
