Yet Traegar had hesitated, and Venick had the sense that the elf, rather than push a point, had decided to let some unspoken matter drop.
???
Dourin’s eyes went wide at the sight of Ellina. His face shone with quick emotion. “You.”
Ellina stepped back as Dourin slid onto the balcony, pulling the door closed behind him. He took in her missing weapons, her damp hair, the black and red attire. Farah’s colors. “So it is true.” His expression closed. “Traegar told us everything. I did not believe it. I did not want to believe it. Ellina.” Dourin’s eyes lifted to hers. “What are youdoing?”
“Spying for the resistance,” Ellina replied simply. Dourin blinked. His anger evaporated.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I did not think…” He pressed both palms to his eyes. “I should have known.”
“It is better that you did not. I need to appear loyal.”
“I doubted you.” Dourin spoke from behind his hands. “I should not have. Forgive me.”
Ellina gripped Dourin’s wrists, pulling his hands free. “There is nothing to forgive.”
He did not believe her, she could see that he did not. His regret hung like a shield between them. But Ellina could spend no time on it. She had none left to waste.
She asked the question she dreaded. “Where is Venick?”
“Downstairs, with Traegar. He will neverbelieve…”
“Wait.” Ellina shot a nervous look behind her, half-expecting to see Youvan there already. She moved into the shadow of the balcony, pulling Dourin after her. “We must speak quickly. I need you to trust me. And I need your help.”
She told him everything, starting with the secrets she had learned from the wilding chieftain in the forest and ending with her choices in the stateroom. She explained how her dark hair—unusual for an elf, and even more so for a northerner—marked her as a conjuror, and how northern conjurors had one specific skill: they could learn to lie in elvish.
“Impossible,” Dourin whispered. “No one can lie—”
“Yes they can.Ican.” Ellina switched to elvish. “I can lie in this language. I am a northern conjuror, and I have been learning to tell lies in elvish.”
“That…” Dourin’s eyes were round. “That is…” She saw the moment he understood, the way his disbelief morphed into something like horrified fascination. “The stateroom. Everything you said about Venick. And Farah. You swore loyalty to her…”
“I lied.”
Ellina described the physical agony of her first lies. How they weakened her, made it easy for Raffan to subdue her. The blood rose to Ellina’s cheeks, stinging, as she explained how Raffan had dragged her away, then bound and locked her in her own suite. He and Farah had debated what to do with her.
“They wanted to use me,” Ellina said. “They wanted me to pledge my allegiance to them. They threatened my life, and when that did not work, they threatened Venick’s life. His home. Farah and I…” She hesitated. “We made a bargain.”
Dourin’s voice went low. “What bargain?”
“Farah is moving swiftly,” Ellina continued. “She intends to conquer the elflands as quickly as possible before anyone can rise against her. She must suspect that you are gathering a resistance, but she does nothing for now because she does not need to. Your army is not strong enough to pose any real threat to her…yet.”
“Ellina.”
“We can make it stronger.”
Ellina did another scan of the streets below. She was growing more anxious. She had yet to explain the most important part of her plan. “My position in the palace is valuable. I might overhear something. The everpools…”
“I know how they work,” Dourin interrupted, “and my answer is no.”
“I can uncover Farah’s plans. I can use the everpools to pass that information to you.”
“It is not safe. What you are suggesting…Farah’s guards will catch you.”
