Disappointing, but not all that surprising, given that it was the middle of the night, with thick clouds to cover the moon. Little visibility, little light, natural or otherwise. A conjuror’s dream. “I’m calling a meeting,” Venick said. “Gather the others, have them meet in my…” Another glance at the smoking heap. “In Erol’s tent. We’ll continue this there.”
Lin Lill inhaled. Opened her mouth to argue and thought better of it. She let out the breath, and with it, all visible emotion. This was an elven skill, the ability to wipe away any hint of expression. In an instant, Lin Lill had transformed back into a stone-carved soldier, ready to carry out orders. “Commander.”
“One more thing,” Venick added. “Where—?”
“Ellina is safe.”
Venick wasn’t like the elves. He couldn’t hide his every thought. Still, he wasn’t sure that he liked how easily Lin Lill had intercepted his question. How she had known, before the words were even out, that Venick’s mind had been on Ellina, and where she was and what she was doing and whether she was safe. Venick was not supposed to be acting like he cared about Ellina…at least, not publicly.
“Find her,” Venick said. “I want her there, too.”
“Of course you do.”
Lin Lill spoke without inflection. That could have been honest agreement, or it could have been sarcasm. Lin wasn’t usually the type for sarcasm, but neither was she the type to condone anything besides an unwavering commitment to duty. And recently, Venick had been walking a fine line on the duty front. He had a role to play, one that involved his engagement to Harmon, sweetheart of the highlands and daughter of the Elder. It was this engagement—false as it may be—that allowed Venick to command not only the resistance but the highland army as well. The arrangement was devious and political and not at all what Venick wanted, but he’d committed himself to winning this war, and that meant making sacrifices. Setting aside his own desires. Complicating his already complicated relationship with Ellina.
He might have asked Lin Lill to explain her meaning, except Venick was the one inviting Ellina to yet another Commander’s meeting. He was the one worrying about her openly, with nearby soldiers listening. So maybe he was the one who should explain.
“That’s all,” Venick said. “You’re dismissed.”
Lin Lill gave a perfect salute—a gesture she’d learned from the humans—and walked away with a legionnaire’s practiced detachment. She might not like Venick’s choices, but she had a role to play too, that of the committed elven subordinate. Still, Venick didn’t miss Lin Lill’s silent message. It was in the way she snapped to attention, the way she swallowed her opinions with flawless composure, ready to carry out her duty.You want to win this war, Venick? You want to put commitment first? Then take note; this is how it is done.
TWO
This was going to sting.
As dawn broke cold and bright over the plains, Ellina stripped off her clothes and stepped to the edge of the winter river. Mist rose off the water’s surface, shrouding the valley in a damp veil. Small grey birds flitted between shrubs along the shore, stopping here and there to dip their beaks into the shallows. On the far side of the river, an unfamiliar creature—long, thickly scaled, a wingless dragon—slid through the water, its tail swishing like the rudder of a great ship. It observed Ellina’s slender form with one large, marble-yellow eye.
Ellina would have gladly traded places with that reptile. She would have traded places with any of the plainsland animals: the birds, the foxes, the tiny silver mice. Like her, these creatures were voiceless, but unlike her, they were not expected to speak. That difference, Ellina decided, was vital.
She dove into the water.
And she was right—itdidsting. The cold shot needles of pain across her skin. It seized her breath, constricted her muscles. Ellina worked hard to make her limbs move, fighting the current and her sudden bloodlessness to hold herself below the surface.
Her lungs begged for air. Ellina ignored them.
She pushed towards the bottom.
The water—somehow, incredibly—grew colder. The chill worked its way down her arms, through her chest, where it touched her heart and paused: a finger on a bowstring. The sensation was unpleasant. Painful, even. As Ellina brought herself to sit on the river’s silty floor, she thought about how she had once feared this kind of pain. Pain was, after all, something to be avoided, and what was fear if not a kind of avoidance?
She knew better now. Physical pain had a limit. It was a house with a single room, predictable and self-contained. Ellina had touched pain’s highest ceiling and survived, and having done that, she now understood that it was not quite the monster it seemed.
If she was going to fear something, there were more worthy terrors.
Ellina’s lungs ached. The pressure was building in her ears. She was so cold that she felt insubstantial, unfinished, like the river was running right through her. She felt like that a lot, actually.
Still, it was not exactly wise what she was doing. If Ellina wanted to press the edge of pain, there were better options than an icy swim in a frozen river. But Ellina liked this option. She liked that it demanded equal parts mental and physical concentration. She liked that it was solitary yet unconfined. She especially liked that it took her away from camp, where she could never quite seem to avoid the curious eyes of her fellow soldiers…or the suspicious ones.
The soldiers had reason to be suspicious. Ellina was a tangle of contradictions, a puzzle with so many pieces missing that, even if completed, the picture would never show clear. She was the Dark Queen’s sister but also a spy for the resistance. She was a northern elf but also a conjuror. She was a defector and a liar and now, impossibly, a mute.
Ellina exhaled a flurry of bubbles. They raced to the surface, creasing the sky with their ripples.
It was not that Ellina blamed the soldiers, exactly. Given Ellina’s history, it was easy to understand their misgivings. Ellina had pledged public oaths of fidelity to Farah and the Dark Army. She had championed her sister’s cause among the legion. She had denounced Venick, threatened him, and called for his death.
She had done all of this in elvish.
How convenient, the soldiers must be thinking, that Ellina had suddenly learned to lie in elvish, thereby excusing her of all apparent treachery. How convenient that her voice had been stolen so that she could not even prove the credibility of her newfound power. And how utterly foolish of their Commander, for not only accepting Ellina’s story, but inviting her into his inner circle, giving her further opportunity to infiltrate their ranks…if that was indeed her mission. It was one thing for Venick to rescue Ellina from Evov, but it was quite another for him to favor her so openly. Did Venick not remember Rahven, the chronicler-turned-spy who had cost them the city of Irek? Did he think that Farah, having lost one envoy, would not try to replace him? And who better to fill that role than Ellina, who was not only a famed legion spy, but the queen’s blood?
Ellina touched a hand to her frozen lips. Her fingers were numb; she could not feel the motion.
