“You missed a good finale,” he said. “Your Firebearer put up a good fight; I think she got three people out by herself.”
“Noelle is fierce.” Eira smiled faintly. “Who won, though?”
“I’m getting to that.” Olivin glanced at her. “Don’t you want the dramatic story of how it all came to pass?”
“I’d rather jump to the ending.”
“Sometimes it’s about the journey, not the destination.”
“It’s easier to enjoy the journey if I know where I’m heading,” she countered.
“Well, it was down to Noelle and—”
“Whowon?” Eira emphasized.
Olivin shook his head with a small chuckle. “Are you always so impatient?”
“I generally prefer to get to the point.”
“Points of daggers, or points of conversations?” He cocked his head to the side.
“Both.” Eira glanced up at him. He was a good head taller than her, even taller than Cullen, and the shadows played in the hollows of his cheeks and recesses of his eyes. Olivin had a tired, or haunted, look about him. A slightly broken glint in his eyethat Eira hadn’t noticed before but had seen in the mirror many times now.
“That much is obvious.” Olivin rolled his shoulders back. The opening of his silken robes widened slightly in the front, displaying the center of his broad chest. If he was trying to distract her, it wouldn’t work.
“Do you always dodge the answers to unimportant questions?” She arched her brows at him. Hestillhadn’t answered her.
“You should see me with important ones.” The corner of his lips tugged upward.
Eira snorted laughter. “Expected from a shadow.”
The atmosphere shifted at the mention of the Court of Shadows. Olivin’s steps slowed. Eira’s did as well. Tension pulsed between them, thrumming up her core. The world slowed to a stop before snapping.
He moved.
She was ready. But not ready enough. She didn’t even see what fold of fabric he pulled the needle-like dagger from.
Steel kissed under her chin.
“Do I move like what you’d expect of a shadow?”
“Yes,” Eira said. She shifted her grip on the ice dagger in her own hand, pressing it lightly into his side. To his credit, Olivin didn’t take his eyes off her face as he realized she had him at knife point, too. Though they did widen slightly. “Do I?”
“Better, I think,” he whispered. “I can’t believe they let you go from the court.”
“Their loss.” Deneya and Vi had given Eira little choice.
“I couldn’t agree more.” Four words and he cemented himself as a possible ally. Olivin eased the dagger away, settling his stance. One hand was still propping him against the wall as he hovered over her. With a twist of his wrist, the dagger retreated back into a bracer underneath his loose-fitting sleeve.
“Oh?”
“The court isn’t what it once was.” The statement filled her nose with the scent of fire and smoke with nowhere to go—the night the Court of Shadows was attacked by the Pillars. “Yargen bless we could use all the help we can get right now, and you seem like you’ve made it a point to get in as many places as you can, as quickly as you can. I can only assume you have useful information.”
Eira shrugged noncommittally. “Sure, I hear things.”
“I want to know what you know.”
“So you can report it back to Deneya?”
