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“You must be joking,” Lin Lill said after they had all gathered back in the inn and Ellina explained everything. “Raffan wants us to surrender?”
“He believes Farah is a greater danger than we imagined,” Ellina replied. “He thinks I could convince her to speak with me. We could come to an agreement.”
“That is absurd.” Lin Lill puffed out a burst of air, as if spitting. “What an offensive thing to suggest.”
“If what Raffan says is true, we might not have a choice.”
“Butisit true?” Dourin asked from his place in the chair that had once been Traegar’s. There were heavy bags under his eyes. A bloodless pallor to his skin. Yet when Ellina had suggested that Dourin sit this meeting out, Dourin shook his head. “Traegar would hate to see me isolating myself. Besides,” he had added with a shimmer of his old smile, “you need me.”
“Do you believe Raffan?” Dourin asked now.
“Yes.”
“We can’t just surrender.” Venick had pulled out his dagger and was switching it from hand to hand, squeezing the hilt with each pass. “Not after everything. There has to be another way.”
Ellina watched Venick’s dagger shift between his fists. They all knew their victory was dependent on keeping Farah contained, but if Raffan was to be believed, Farah would soon be uncontainable. She would not go down without exhausting every last ounce of her power. The resistance might still be able to claw their way to victory, but at what cost?
Ellina thought of the infirmary in Hurendue. Its packed beds, the endless rows of patients. Many soldiers had been wounded in the battle for Hurendue, and those had been the lucky ones. Ellina hated to think of how many had died in the woods, or the streets. Their bodies spitted on swords and spears. Their corpses left to decay in the sun. This image made Ellina think of other corpses, those that had been poisoned with minceflesh, andthatreminded her of Traegar and Erol’s poison, the one that could kill an elf, but not a human.
Ellina felt strange. Her skin tightened, as if drawn with a cord.
“Farah has always felt as though she belonged on the throne,” Ellina said, speaking more to herself than to the others. “Even though she was not a firstborn daughter, she envisioned herself a queen. As if her elvenness…entitled her to it.”
Farah had always believed that elves were the superior species, and that among their own race,shewas superior, because she was even colder and less forgiving than most. Farah would be horrified to learn that there existed a poison to which humans were immune.
“Erol,” Ellina said. “I am wondering about the poison that had Traegar expelled from the Healer’s Academy. The lace powder.”
“What about it?”
“Is there no way to recover the recipe?”
Erol shook his head. “Traegar had a copy, I believe. The recipe was written in a journal, which he kept secret. But I do not know what became of it.”
“I do,” Venick said.
Everyone’s eyes darted to him.
“Traegar gave me the book in Evov,” Venick explained. “Jouvl-aian Rauam,right? That’s what’s written on the cover.”
“That’s an old phrase humans and elves once used to express friendship,” Erol said. “It’s a promise, really.I will keep your secrets.” He smiled. “I’d forgotten about that.”
“Traegar seemed to know that the book might come in handy.” Venick shrugged. “I’ve had it ever since.”
Ellina stared at Venick. The cord within her cinched tighter.
Venick noticed. His expression changed. She wondered if she had gone pale, if that was why he was looking at her like that. He cleared his throat. “Ellina, can I speak to you for a moment?”
In the hallway outside the inn’s great room, he set his teeth. “Something’s wrong.”
“It has been a long day.”
“No. I’ve seen you like this before. It’s how you look when you’re about to spin a lie in elvish. Like you’re…plotting something.”
Ellina blinked. Her skin was still tight with that unnamed thing, which she realized was an idea.
Venick’s eyes went dark. “Whatever it is, whatever you’re thinking, I want to know. Don’t lie to me.”
