“No. She ordered you to speak with the human. Yet Youvan reports that when he arrived, you were talking to an elf. The human only arrived after.” Raffan leaned forward. “Who was that other elf?”
Ellina did not like this. She did not like how Raffan was probing into a topic Farah had not, or how each of his words struck like a hammer on a wedge, widening the cracks in her plot. “Youvan did not say?”
“He did not know.”
Was that possible? The northern legion was divided into several dozen troops just like Ellina’s, but Ellina’s regiment had been well known, in part because of her. It was unusual for highborns to serve in the legion, and Ellina was not only that, but also the queen’s daughter. Her status had always drawn attention, both to herself and to her troop.
And yet, Youvan was from the south. He would have had no reason to learn the identities of Ellina’s troopmates. Even if Youvan did know Dourin, it was possible that he knew him by name only. But Ellina had not used Dourin’s name in Youvan’s presence…had she?
A palace servant appeared then, bearing a platter of fruit and cheese. She fussed around the table, pouring broth, offering watered wine. Ellina watched her in silence.
She could lie. She could tell Raffan that the other elf was no one. She could say it in elvish.
But what if Raffan already knew the elf was Dourin? What if this was some sort of test?
“I do not see why it matters,” Ellina said after the servant had bustled away. “I passed along Farah’s message as instructed. That other elf was no one important.”
Raffan switched to elvish. “But you did know him.”
Ellina had no choice now but to follow Raffan into that language. She took a risk. “No. He was no one I had ever met.”
Raffan did not immediately react, except to lean back in his seat. Ellina waited. She could not read his thoughts, and as the silence continued she felt how it peeled her open, digging fingers under her nerves, plucking at them like strings.
Raffan said, “You think you are safe, but you are not.”
He knew. Ellina’s stomach bottomed even as she opened her mouth to explain, to find some way to twist her way out of this. Raffan spoke again. “Farah had planned for Youvan to kill your human.”
Ellina shut her mouth. Her thoughts spun. “Shewhat?”
“Did you think Farah truly cared to pass him a message?” Raffan’s laugh was dark. “It was a ploy, Ellina. You were supposed to lead Youvan to the human. Youvan was going to start a fight that ended in his death. That was the plan.”
Ellina felt as if she had plunged into the river all over again. She could not catch her breath. “But Youvan did not kill him. What changed Farah’s mind?”
“I did.”
“You—?”
“You and Farah had a deal. You would give Farah your support, and Irek—including all of its citizens—would remain unharmed. I convinced Farah that if the human died, you would retaliate, and then Youvan would have to killyou.” Raffan would not look at Ellina. He adjusted his sleeves, pulling them down over his wrists. “I could not let that happen.”
But this made no sense. Ellina and Raffan were not allies. They were not even friends…not anymore. Not since their bondmating had ruined things between them. Half the time, Ellina thought Raffan might want to kill her himself.
“Raffan.” Her voice drew his eyes back to her. “I do not understand.”
He did not elaborate. Instead, he pushed away from the table. “You should know that Farah has arranged for you to visit the servants’ quarters with Youvan. One of the servants was caught breaking their new curfew. Farah suspects that he was somewhere he should not have been, and she wants to know why.”
Sothatwas why Farah was unhappy. “I was never trained in interrogation.”
“You will not be doing the interrogating. You are simply there to observe.” And with that, he quit the table.
Ellina slouched in her seat. She rubbed a thumb over one hand, feeling suddenly exhausted. It was the confusion, she thought. The dizzying turns this conversation had taken. Who was the servant Farah wanted her to see?
And more importantly, why?
???
The servants stood stiff and still at attention. They crowded together in one corner of the kitchen, their shoulders touching. The palace kitchens were large enough that the servants could have laid flat with their arms and legs outstretched and still plenty of room to spare, but these elves were afraid. They huddled like cornered mice under Youvan’s cold gaze.
Youvan had come to collect Ellina shortly after breakfast, then marched them down to the working quarters in silence. The path to the kitchens was dark, the interlocking passages dank and narrow. Here, there were no jeweled sconces or merry fireplaces, no windows ablaze with morning sunlight. Instead, a single, smoking torch had been affixed to the wall at the tunnel’s entrance. Ellina had taken up that torch, intending to light the way, but Youvan had sneered. “Do you think you are to be trusted with such a weapon?”
