“I can be stealthy.”
Dourin gave Venick a look that said, loudly, exactly how stealthy he thought Venick could be. “It is probably nothing,” Dourin assured him. “Do not worry yourself. I will only be a minute.” He disappeared down the hall.
Instinct told Venick that he shouldn’t let Dourin go without him. At the very least, they should call for Traegar. Lethimgo with Dourin. Except, Venick was still angry. He wasn’t thinking clearly. Ellina’s face swam in his vision, and she smirked at him. In his mind, this pretend-Ellina looked at him as Dourin just had: like she knew too much.
Venick stayed where he was.
???
Ellina’s stomach was in knots. Her heart was made of lead. She set a hand flat against the door that opened off the balcony into Traegar’s upstairs bedroom, exhaling a slow breath.
She had been to this house only once, years ago, yet she remembered it clearly. Not the bedroom. Ellina had never seen Traegar’s bedroom. But his kitchen. His study. She remembered thinking that Traegar seemed too grand for his own home, having qualities she found both regal and intimidating. Traegar, like Ellina and Dourin, had been recruited into the legion, and the three of them had trained together early on, though Traegar had resigned before taking his oaths.
But now: his balcony. The rough wood of his bedroom door. Ellina touched that door with a light finger, tracing the grain.
She was stalling. She knew that she was, yet could not quite force herself to continue. Coming here had been a gamble. She had no proof that Dourin was hiding in Traegar’s house. It was possible that he had gone somewhere else entirely…
Ellina shook herself. Enough. She had laid her bets. Her time was up. There was nothing left to do now but flip her cards and see if she had won, or lost.
She dropped to her knees and pulled out her lockpicks.
Her plan was simple. She would pick the lock and enter quietly through Traegar’s upstairs bedroom. If she was lucky enough to find Dourin first, alone, she would explain everything: her plans, her reasons. If she found Dourin and Venick together, she would pass along Farah’s message, then conspire to speak to Dourin after. And if she foundVenickalone…
Another steadying breath. Another grinding of her will. Ellina leaned in, working her picks, feeling around inside the lock’s guts. The doorknob was ornate, the backplate inlaid with thin golden whorls. She stared at the design as if it were a message she could decode, which made her realize she was trying to decode whether or not she wished to find Venick alone.
Insanity. It was utter insanity that she might even consider wanting to see the one person who was most likely to undo all her plans. Ellina put the thought away. She buried any consideration of it. She refocused, maneuvering her lockpicks, listening to the faint click and tap of the lock’s pins. The afternoon sun glinted against the door’s metal. The knob looked hot to the touch.
And suddenly it was turning. Ellina startled. Someone was opening the door from the inside. It swung inward and Ellina came swiftly to her feet, clutching her lockpicks like a weapon, then loosening when she saw who stood on the other side.
Dourin.
???
Venick found Traegar in a nearby sitting room. The elf stood before the hearth, one hand braced against the mantle, his expression drawn. Before, Venick had assumed that Traegar must be around Dourin’s age. Now though, the elf seemed older.
Venick was about to tell Traegar about the noise upstairs when the elf spoke. “I have something for you.”
It was a book. Small, bound in deerskin, the title etched roughly into the hard leather.Jouvl-aian Rauam, the cover read. It was not a phrase Venick knew.
He flipped the book open. Inside, the yellowed pages showed handwritten writing, some in elvish, some in mainlander, all of it done in messy, lopsided lines. The crammed script appeared to describe recipes, their measurements and ingredients outlined in detail.
No, Venick thought. Not recipes.Potions.
“You areeondghi,” Venick said, using the elven word for it. “A healer.”
“I was.”
Venick searched the elf’s face.
“The potions in that book are of my own invention,” Traegar explained. “I wore the healer’s ring for a few years,” he tapped his ear, “and I might have served in the legion, but the academy revoked my rights after they discovered my…experiments.” He clasped his hands behind his back, and the movement made Venick wonder if this was difficult for the elf, and if it was, which part was difficult? Remembering his dismissal from the healer’s academy, or admitting it to a human? “The academy has rules about such things. And some of my methods can be used to harm as well as to heal. They destroyed my records, but they missed one.”
Venick’s eyes dropped back to the book. He was no healer himself, but he could appreciate the value of such a volume, especially during wartime. He could appreciate the significance of the gesture, too, both the gift and its giving.
Traegar said, “I knew Queen Rishiana rather well.” He caught Venick’s surprised glance and gave a slight smile. “She had an interest in healing. It was an interest we shared. Her duties did not allow her much time to explore the craft, but still, I admired her for it. She had a sharp mind, even if there were times…” He stopped himself. “She was a strong leader. And she loved this country. She did not deserve to die as she did, no matter what mistakes she might have made.”
“The queen’s death was not her own fault,” Venick argued. “No one could have predicted what Farah planned.”
“You are right.”
