I noticed Taeme’s raven companion was perched on Avalon’s shoulder. She reached up and scratched the top of its head, and it fluffed up. I wondered if she’d gained some of the Third Line’s abilities, due to her connection with Hayle Taeme, or if the animals were just feeling an extension of the emotions he felt for his Soul Tie.
Jealousy ate at my chest, which was ridiculous. That wasn’t what I was here for, nor what was needed. Still, it was hard to work with Avalon Halhed, to help her become who she was supposed to be, without being a little in awe of her. In a societythat was secular by nature and necessity, she was blissfully free from bigotry. The only person she really seemed to hate was Ephily Ingmire, and let’s face it, I understood. Ephily went out of her way to torment Avalon, like she could sense the greatness that was hidden just below the surface.
Or maybe Ephily was just a bitch.
A burly guy wearing the muted green-and-black colors of the Eighth Line whistled at our small group. “If you are a Second Heir, you are needed at the registration office. Now!” His bellow reverberated through the market square, but no one seemed to pay any mind to him.
Hayle hesitated beside Avalon, who was pointing out some kind of sticky jam to her friend Acacia while the vendor watched. He stepped closer to me. “Watch her.” Theor else I will peel your skin from your boneswas implied. I bowed lightly, and he huffed.
I noticed he left one of the hounds with her too, but the raven took to the air. Hayle kissed Avalon softly on the temple, whispering something into her ear, and she flushed pink. Her eyes sparkled when she looked up at him; it was easy to see the love between them. That made her a target already, so what would people do once they knew just how important she was to the revolution? To a future where Ebrus was free?
I wandered closer to her, smiling softly at her friend. Acacia just raised an eyebrow dismissively. The starstruck attitude of the Twelfth Line had worn off quickly, for which I was grateful, though I was fairly sure Acacia was immune to my charm anyway.
Iker took that moment to gather the rest of the conscripts together. “You have fifty minutes to wander through the market square, then I want you back here to set up camp. Don’t make me come and find you, conscripts. You won’t like the outcome.”
Permission granted, the group faded into the crowds. This was our chance to disappear.
Gripping Avalon’s hand, I moved us both into the background, getting lost in the bustling crowd. “We need to find the Baron,” I murmured to her softly. “Before more dignitaries arrive, and it becomes more… suspicious.”
Nodding, she followed me through the crowd, the hound at her heels, his head on a swivel. I’d studied the maps of Eaglehoth, so I knew that the Baron’s manor was at the edge of town, the last vestige of civilization before the Westwoods, the dense forest sitting between the sea and the Dragonspire mountains.
I didn’t let go of her hand, even after we’d passed through the crowd, and I no longer had to keep hold of her to stop us getting separated. As we ducked in between the houses, teeth nipped at my fingers, and the hound glared up at me.
Loyal mutt.
“I was just keeping up appearances, hound,” I murmured. Avalon looked flushed, and I was probably inappropriately happy that I’d put that color in her cheeks. “It should be just up here.”
In front of us was a large manor house, though it wouldn’t be considered grand, by any stretch. It was a slightly larger version of the stone houses around the market square, but it spread back into the forest itself, and a towering tree jutted up through the center, likely in the middle of a courtyard.
We didn’t exactly have an invitation, so we went around the back. “What’s your plan?” she asked softly.
I just grinned, leading us through the back garden, stopping just outside the doors to the kitchen. “It helps my abilities extend to you if I hold your hand.” That was bullshit, but I wasn’t above some creative truths to feel her warm hand in mine without getting my fingers chewed off. “You might have to put a hand onthe hound, though.” Again, untrue. I could’ve hidden the entire group of Boellium conscripts from the cooks as we pushed open the doors and walked inside.
None of them looked up from where they seemed to be making some kind of feast, filled with vegetables and butchered meat. One noticed the door open, and she muttered about the stable boys being raised like animals as she closed it behind us.
We moved down the stone halls, the low ceilings causing me to hunch over. As we got further into the manor itself, the ceilings raised and then disappeared altogether, the huge, vaulted ceilings making the single story look expansive. There were large rooms off the main hallway, and I dipped into the minds of the people in the manor to find the Baron.
I caught a stray thought from the estate manager about the deer numbers discussed in the meeting he’d just had with the Baron, so I assumed he was in the direction of those thoughts. I couldn’t pick up anything from the Baron himself, but that wasn’t unusual. No one went around thinking about themselves by name all the time. Once I met him, I’d be able to detect his thought processes from dozens of people around him, but until then, he was just a stranger.
I could have picked Avalon’s thoughts in a crowd of thousands. I knew the taste of her mind now.
A large, ornate door at the end of the hall beckoned to us. If I had to guess, I’d say that we were at the back of the manor now, and this room would look out over the Westwoods. If I were the Baron of the Eighth Line, this was where I’d want my office.
Pushing open the door softly, I cloaked us in my strongest aversion magic. I wanted a moment to get a feel for Zier Tarrin.
But when I stepped into the room, his eyes snapped up immediately. They shifted between the two of us, quick and assessing, his hands going beneath his desk to grab what I assumed was a weapon.
“And who exactly are you?” His jaw was tight, and when he glanced above our heads, his eyes went wide, like there was a ghost floating above the doorway. Looking up behind us, I gritted my teeth. A ghost wouldn’t be too far from the truth.
The doorway was encased in largetals.Much larger than the personal ones people wore around their necks; I hadn’t realized any of these still existed outside of the vaults beneath the Hall of Ebrus. But here they were, and the soft glow of the Second Line talisman gave away my element of surprise.
I lifted my hands, but a knife flew through the air, embedding the sleeve of my shirt to the doorframe behind me. Good to know they weren’t exaggerating about the accuracy part of the Eighth Line’s powers.
He lifted another knife, and Avalon stepped in front of me like a fool. “We don’t mean any harm. We just wanted to talk?” She sounded uncertain, and I doubted that in itself was very reassuring.
The hound stood in front of her, its hackles raised in a warning growl. I didn’t have to speak to animals to know it was a threat.
Zier Tarrin stared down at the hound. “Why do you have Hayle Taeme’s animal companion?”
