Forty-One
Iwent to Anayla’s room because I couldn’t think of anyone else to go to.
She swung open the door and gave me a perplexed look when she saw me standing there. “Is everything all right?”
I shook my head.
She glanced over her shoulder, and both the look on her face—disappointment and resignation intermingled—and the faint rustling told me someone else was in there. In her bed.
Gods, I felt stupid for interrupting. She and I weren’t friends, not really. Fieran had ordered her to look out for me, and she was a good soldier. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It wasn’t anything exciting.” The words, and her grin, were not for me. “I’ll be right out.”
A few seconds later, she joined me in the hallway, wearing a loose tunic and pants and an expression of infinite patience.
“It’s not important,” I told her, despite my pounding heart.
She gave me a skeptical look. “Cara, you needed something, and you came to me? It’s got to be important. At least, it’s important to me.”
My cheeks flushed with heat. Maybe she meant it, but somehow that was just as embarrassing as if she played my friend for Fieran’s sake.
Her voice seemed far too loud in the hallway. I had to get us out of here. “Let me show you something.”
When I led her into my room, I swept an arm at the gold. “I think someone is setting me up for an accusation. It looks like I’m a thief!”
She didn’t look alarmed. She didn’t even look surprised.
“There was gold for the taking everywhere during the Trials,” she said reasonably. “Why would it be a problem for you to have a little hoard of gold? Dragons hoard, so we do too.”
“I don’t.” I shook my head.
Her gaze caught on me as if she knew about my food stores, but she nodded. “You’re not hoarding the gold.”
“No. Someone hid it in here?—”
“Dragons do that.” Her gaze caught on something around my throat.
I followed her gaze and touched the good-luck charm self-consciously. I usually kept it tucked under my clothes, but it was too late now, and it was no surprise my keen-eyed friend would recognize his ring. “Fieran wanted to make sure I survived the Trials despite my breakable mortal state.”
“I’m sure he did.” She couldn’t hide her amusement, a good-natured smile breaking over her face. “Gods, he is a fool, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” I agreed cautiously.
“I’ll be right back with an explanation,” she said.
That sounded ominous, no matter how lighthearted she was, but she was out of the room in a flash.
She returned with Fieran in her wake.
Fieran, who was always so sure of himself, crossed his arms over his chest, his jaw rising. I’d never seen him so tense except when he faced down the queen.
Gods. I hadn’t wanted him to know, though he was protective; Anayla was probably right to have him fix this mess before I was arrested. “I don’t know where it came from. There was an amulet first, and when I took care ofthat, this happened?—”
“An amulet?” Fieran repeated, something flexing in his jaw. He knew something about it, and suddenly I remembered how he’d mentioned his ring and some amulet being connected.
“Gods, is it all yours? Is it stolen from you?” My mind was racing. That would be good if that were the case, he wouldn’t have me arrested. That would not suit his plans. “Or—if you all hoard—could it have been stolen from everyone in Bismyth?”
They would hate me if they thought I was a thief sneaking through the barracks. Asrael, Dairen, and other disappointed, disgusted faces flashed through my mind, imagining how they’d regret ever defending me in the mess hall or helping me.
