Thrain drained his chai and scraped a hand through his unruly hair. “She did talk about moving on from Wayside. She said I could come with her. Said that a dwarf who’s crewed before would be an asset. That’s when I told her I’d never crewed before.” His face twisted at the memory, and he let out a bitterlaugh. “I told her I was good at tunnel work, and the only quest I’d been on was the one to find Sass.”
Vaskel’s gut twisted, knowing all too well where this was headed.
“I might have mentioned that you and Lira and Cali were the ones in Wayside who’d crewed together.” Thrain sank deeper into the upholstered chair as if the truth was pressing down on him. “That’s when she stopped suggesting I leave with her and told me she was busy when I went to find her in the castle. Then I saw her with Cali. I thought the archer was to blame but…” He looked up, his expression stricken. “Do you think she went after Cali? Is this my fault?”
Already, Vaskel’s heart had started pounding as he thought about Marina’s designs on Cali. Of course, the archer would be valuable to her new crew. He only hoped the pantheri wasn’t as easily enchanted as Thrain, although he knew better than to underestimate Marina.
Vaskel shook his head. “None of this is on you, Thrain. You had no way of knowing.”
Because I was too afraid to reveal my own dark past to warn anyone.
He shook off this thought. At least he was being honest now.
The tavern door swung open, and Sass walked in along with a gust of frigid air.
Thrain gave his head a shake. “Where’d you go?”
“I popped in to the apothecary’s.” Sass gave Vaskel a pointed look, which meant she’d taken Marina’s hairs to Iris.
He exhaled and inclined his head to her. At least they were one step closer to breaking the bind, even if it felt like he was running out of time.
“Any luck?” Sass motioned to Thrain. “Or does he still think he stands a chance against Cali?”
“Hey!” Thrain bellowed, looking both affronted and chagrined. “I can wield an axe.”
“Not before her arrow cuts you down,” Sass said under her breath.
“Don’t worry,” Vaskel said. “I told him—everything.”
Sass’s eyes widened, but she took long steps toward Thrain, wagging a finger at him. “Now don’t let me hear you running your mouth about this or telling it in one of your tall tales.”
Thrain’s mouth opened and then closed again, as if he wanted to take offense but ran out of steam. “Why would I want anyone to know I got taken in like this?” Thrain rubbed his forehead and groaned. “Is there such a thing as a morning hangover?”
Sass rolled her eyes, pulling him up and prodding him toward the stairs. “It’s time for you to sleep this off.”
Vaskel watched both dwarves head for the back staircase and the rooms above the tavern. It was time for him to think of a way to save Cali.
Thirty-Five
“You’re baking?”Vaskel asked once he was inside Lira’s kitchen. “Aren’t you worried about Cali with Marina?”
“Of course, I am.” Lira slid him a severe look as she stirred something dark in a small copper saucepan. “But you know baking calms me and helps me think.”
Vaskel eyed her signature apple cider cake and the pans of cut-out scones waiting to go in the oven before breathing in the scent of fruit scones already baking. Crumpet was scooping flour from a burlap sack, and Bramble was washing ruby-red cranberries in a bowl of water. “If that’s the case, then you must have come up with a hundred brilliant solutions already.”
Lira made a face at him. “That’s not how it works. I don’t get more ideas the more things I bake. Sometimes the process takes a while.”
A while was exactly what Vaskel did not have. But he tempered his impatience, reminding himself that he should be grateful that Lira was helping him with his problem. Considering he’d made this deal with Marina years before he’d even met Lira, hehad no right to demand she drop everything to save him. But now it wasn’t just him who needed saving.
“I’m not shocked Thrain fell for Marina’s ways,” Vaskel admitted. “But I didn’t think she’d get to Cali.”
Lira pressed her lips together as the contents of her pan bubbled, sending up clouds of sweet, fragrant steam. Then she looked up and met Vaskel’s gaze. “Cali wants the same things all of us do. She wants to be valued and desired just as much as Thrain, even if she might seem less of a target.”
Crumpet chattered something, and Lira hastened the pan off the heat. “You’re right. I don’t want to scorch the chocolate.”
Vaskel tried not to be unsettled by Lira talking with an enchanted woodland creature. Besides, he’d seen more astonishing things over the years than a team of wee beasties, as Sass called them, working as kitchen assistants.
“Do you think Cali’s been lonely?” Vaskel asked. “Do you think she was an easy mark for Marina because we’ve been too busy running the tavern to spend as much time with her?”
