“You did it so that his death would not be tied to you.”
“And yet here you are, tying it to me.”
“Do you deny it?”
“Yes.”
“Say it in elvish.”
Farah did not flinch at the insult. Did not even blink. She merely tilted her head. “You are upset. I canseethat you are. I must say, Ellina, these newfound expressions do not suit you.”
Ellina hardened. “Do not change the subject.”
“Am I? I thought we were trading accusations. I have a few of my own. Apparently, you and the human hadquitean adventure while you were in the south. Raffan has been telling me. How you bargained for the human’s life. How you took his punishment rather than let him die. I wonder, why would you do such things for him?”
Ellina stared. She was silent.
“Or perhaps you would like to answer this,” Farah continued. “How did the human wind up with Miria’s necklace? You never did explain.”
“I gave it to him,” Ellina lied.
“Didyou.”
“To prove that I had won his life price.”
Farah’s mouth tipped up, just slightly, at the corner. “Say it in elvish.”
Ellina knew then that she had been wrong to come. Stupid, idiotic, to corner Farah when she herself had so much to hide.
And yet…a lie. If Ellina could meet Farah’s challenge. If she could give her answer, inelvish…
Ellina tried to quiet her racing heart. She inhaled, summoning her energy as she did when she practiced, bringing the words to mind. She dragged the lie over herself, held its seams closed. And there, like a gathering wind, shefeltit. Felt the breeze of the lie open in her chest. Felt goosebumps shiver across her skin as the words rose in her throat, coated her tongue…
And stuck, just out of reach.
The lie dissolved then, vanishing as quickly as it had come. Ellina’s own frustration billowed in its place. Her anger—at her sister, at herself—swelled like a sail.
And it changed. It became the kind of anger that thinks, thatsees. She saw the closeness of Farah and Raffan’s stances, their shoulders almost touching. She saw how, twice now, they had been caught alone together in the archives. This made Ellina think of her trek through the palace, which made her think of Farah’s guards stationed there, and how large their ranks had grown.
But Farah did not believe Venick’s warning. She, like Raffan, did not think the southerners posed any risk. Why would Farah increase the castle’s guard if not to protect them from a threat she did not believe was coming? And then there was Dourin’s warning, Dourin’s worry, singing in Ellina’s mind.Farah is unhappy. You humiliated her. It is not good that Farah and Raffan have reason to make you their common enemy.
Ellina seemed to see all of this as if from outside herself. She saw in quick flashes the vision of Raffan uncoiling his whip, the way he put all his strength into those lashes. She remembered, after, how he had questioned her…yet alsonotquestioned her.You took the whip for the human. Would he have done the same for you?
“Well?” Farah asked, but Ellina’s mind was spinning, it was soaring away. It almost did not matter whether Farah had sent Venick’s assassin. It was no secret that Farah wanted Venick dead. And the law concerning humans in elven lands was clear.
“Ellina.” Farah was growing impatient.
Ellina saw again how the conjurors had hunted her through the forest. The storm. The impossibility of it, and of the conjurors’ strength, when had grown into something monstrous. She saw her attempts to convince Farah and Raffan of the danger, and how easily they dismissed her worries. Neither could be persuaded to take the threat seriously. Neither would evenconsiderit.
But why?Why?
“Ellina.” Farah’s patience was at its end. “Answer me.”
“No.”
“No?”
Ellina’s thoughts seemed to crackle and spark. Her vision shimmered with all these unanswered questions. Like moving pieces of a puzzle, they worked before her eyes, arranging and rearranging yet never aligning. “I have told you already,” Ellina finally replied, pulling her gaze back to Farah, seeing her sister now as though for the first time. Golden eyes. A crown of white hair. That lip, curled in subtle victory. “I do not answer to you.”
