And then, a better gift:Dourin. Ellina spotted him there inside the tavern’s main room, weaving through bodies, a drink in each hand. He lifted the mugs overhead to avoid being jostled, nudging someone with an elbow to get their attention. Ellina saw that person turn, and give a tired grin, and accept the offered drink.
Venick.
Ellina ducked away, feeling caught and unbalanced and totally unprepared. Though, if she had stopped to examine her thoughts more closely—something Ellina did not want to do—she might have admitted that she expected to find Venick here. That she hoped she would. Or maybe worst of all: that she had come looking for him.
Ellina felt dizzy under the star-speckled sky. A sour taste rose to her mouth. For several long seconds she did nothing but crouch, tense, poised for flight…until she became aware of how she must look, hunched in the darkness like a thief. Rather than shame her, the image gave Ellina confidence. She was a shadow. She was a ghost.
Slowly, she looked back out of the alley.
He was sitting in a chair near the window, an arm draped over the chair’s back, a map spread before him. There was color in his cheeks. A familiar glint in his eye. He looked worn, but well. Venick said something to Dourin, and though Ellina could not hear him through the tavern windows, she imagined his voice as it was in her memory: confident, maybe a little hoarse. But open, too, as he shared some opinion, some hidden thought.
Or maybe his voice would sound a different way. Maybe it would drop low, go deep, playing across her skin like music as he came closer…
Ellina’s throat was dry. Her eyes pricked. She had stayed too long. It was time to go.
Venick turned his head.
He peered out through the glass. His brow furrowed. For a moment, Ellina imagined that he met her eye.
Her heart began to hammer even as she knew that it was impossible. Ellina was swathed in darkness while he was bathed in light. She could seein, but he should not be able to seeout.
Yet he was standing. He was moving towards the door. There was purpose in his gait.
Ellina took a startled step back. She tripped over her own feet. Now came the shame. Sheneverstumbled.
She turned and vanished into the night.
???
Venick didn’t know what had made him look up.
Maybe it was the ale. This tavern had always served strong stuff, and Venick had long ago lost his tolerance for it.
Or maybe it was the exhaustion. The way he couldn’t stop replaying the memory of Rahven’s death in his head. The now ever-present paranoia of more spies among them.
Maybe it was fate. The hand of a god.
Whatever it was, Venick felt almost ill with the sudden, chilling certainty that he was being watched. He stood from his seat, peering through the window. He couldn’t see anything beyond the tavern’s bright reflection in the glass.
“Everything alright?” Dourin asked, brow hitched.
Let it go, Venick told himself.
Sit down, he told himself.
But.
Venick muttered something about needing air. He stepped out into the night.
???
Ellina slipped through the city. She had drawn up her hood, though she was tempted to lower it again, if only to better help her see. She moved away from Irek’s brightly-lit center, leaving the lamplight behind. The shadows thickened. Here, there was nothing but moonlight to guide her.
It was too soon to return to Youvan’s meeting point outside the city, so Ellina picked a path, following the sound of the ocean. She could hear the waves, their faint hush, soft in the background until she chose to pull them to the forefront of her awareness. Then they were a deep roar.
She reached the shore. She could not really see the ocean, which melded seamlessly into the black sky. But she could see the sand glowing white under the light of the moon. And she could smell the water, salty and strong.
She moved—more quickly now, as if pulled by an unknown force—towards the shoreline, then came to a halt. This was, she realized, a terrible idea. The shore was wide open. Utterly exposed. If Ellina wished to remain hidden, she should return to the alleys, or the nearby woods. The marshlands, even. There were many options better than this.
