Vi gave a bitter laugh. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m skeptical of everyone.”
“Even me?” Deneya arched her eyebrows.
“Even you,” Vi replied, though the words didn’t ring entirely true. Deneya had worked her way underneath Vi’s barriers. Just as Fiera and Zira had.
“You’re usually better at lying than that.” Deneya gave her a sly grin. Vi snorted in reply.
“Don’t push your luck.” She started for the door. “I’ll see you at the council meeting.”
“Drinks tomorrow?” Deneya asked, as though they were casual friends and not allies discussing espionage.
“Usual time and place,” Vi replied and stepped out of the woman’s office, bracing herself for the council meeting.
* * *
“You have to relax at some point,” Taavin scolded. “Being on edge all the time is killing you.”
“Being on edge keeps me alive,” Vi muttered. She was laid back on her bed, her head in his lap as he rubbed small circles into her temples. Even with the quiver of magic between the pads of his fingers and her skin, his touch could still relax her.
“It’s been, what, six weeks since Zira left?”
“Just over five.”
“Five, then. No real movements from the Knights of Jadar, Fiera is well, Zira is alive.”
“I don’t know for sure if Zira is alive.” She wished she’d found a way to communicate with the woman. No contact was for the best—it kept both of them and the sword safe.
“I have a feeling you’d know if she wasn’t.”
“How?” Vi opened her eyes, looking up at the man hovering over her.
He still had the crescent-shaped scar on his cheek—a mark of his old life. All of Vi’s scars had vanished when she had been reborn in this new age. Her body was unblemished in its remade form. Some part of her envied the man for retaining his marks. Her scars had been like war medals, showing all she had survived.
“I just do.” Taavin shrugged.
“Helpful.” Vi allowed her gaze to go unfocused as her eyelids dipped closed once more.
“When are you going to reunite with her and the sword, again?”
“Once I’m confident Fiera is safe. Likely after my father is born.” The statement had an odd ring to it, since Vi knew the Aldrik who would be born wasn’t really her father—her real father was lost with an old world. Her mind knew the truth, but her emotions were still catching up. “Fiera seems ready to pop any day now. Shortly after she gives birth, there will be a blessing on the child. I’ve already asked Fiera to start letting it slip around servants that the Sword of Jadar has gone missing and lament over how it won’t be present for the blessing.”
“You intend to drive the Knights from the city, and away from Fiera, by letting them know the sword is elsewhere.”
“That’s my hope.”
“And you think the servants can get word back to the Knights?”
Vi bobbed her head yes. If Deneya was to be believed, word was getting out of the castle somehow. The most obvious break in the chain would be a servant, someone easily overlooked by most nobles.
“Everything just has to stay according to—” Vi was interrupted by a knock on her door.
“Who’s that?” Taavin whispered.
“I don’t know,” Vi mumbled. “Stay out of sight. I’ll release the glyphs if someone’s about to come in.”
He nodded, stepping into a corner of her bedroom as Vi side-stepped through the sliding screens into her sitting area. She opened the door to find an unfamiliar servant waiting there, a letter rested on a silver tray.
“Apologies for bothering you. A courier arrived with this and said it was of supreme importance.”
