Lief naturally betrays himself by allowing his cheeks to go bright red. “I assure you it isn’t what it looks like.”
“Oh, really?” Talyria asks, jutting out her hip and resting her hand on it. “Because itlookslike you were eavesdropping on us.”
“Then it’s exactly what it looks like, Thief Queen,” I reply as I fold my arms and study her.
“Watch it, sister,” Talyria snaps. “I’m not in the mood for your teasing.”
“So, I was a teaser?” I ask, tilting my head. I lower my arms. That doesn’t sound like me. I’m so quiet, so serious.
Talyria arches her brow. “Do you truly not remember any of it?”
I glance down at my boot as I rub it against the floorboards. I spot two rings lying on the floor, but then I decide that those aren’t important. I glance up. “I want to listen to you and trust you, but given all the secrets you have been keeping I’m not sure if I can.”
Victor hides his face behind his hand at that.
“Except…” Talyria prompts. “You have an angle, Corallin. I know that. I knowyou.”
“Show me an act of good faith,” I say as I glance at Lief out of the corner of my eye. I watch his eyes light up as he realizes what I’m doing. The corner of his lip turns up, visible by his beardshifting slightly as he watches me proudly. “Give me Valentine’s old spellbook.”
“Very well,” Talyria says.
“Not very well,” Victor protests, I watch as his hand goes into the pocket of his coat. Where he must have put the spellbook. He moves back, strangely possessive over a spellbook. He couldn’t have figured out the significance of that book, could he have?
Talyria looks back at him then turns to me. “Tell me this one thing, Corallin. Are you the killer?”
I watch as Victor’s eyes widen as he takes me in. “So, you’re a sorcerer too? Is there anyone here who isn’t a sorcerer?”
“Says the sorcerer,” I counter.
Lief slowly raises his hand. “I am not a sorcerer.”
I can’t help the little chuckle at his interjection. As a Highlander, it’s impossible for him to use sorcery even if he had wanted to. And I’m not sure he would have. Lief is a good person, I doubt he would willingly choose a life of revulsion and defiance of the gods. Which makes me wonder why he willingly chose me, but then I suppose people act in crazy ways for love.
“I’m not the killer,” I state when I realize that Talyria is waiting for my response. “Truly I’m not.”
Lief steps closer to me. “I can vouch for her.”
Talyria gestures between the two of us. “Since when have you been so friendly? He was the one who was initially accusing you.”
I peek at Lief out of the corner of my eye. That was just a part of our ruse to be strangers so that no one would suspect our illicit love. Of course that was before this all got out of hand. Apparently, my sister is here—and not either of the two I knew I had— and more people died. “We made up,” I said as an explanation. “Now are you going to give me the spellbook?”
“No,” Victor says just as Talyria begins to nod. She turns a sharp glare his way, and he levels her with a pointed look. “We need it to find the sorcerer.”
“We will help you find the sorcerer then,” Lief interjects before an argument can break out. And given the stony glares that Talyria and Victor are giving each other, an argument is coming. “Then you can give Corallin the spellbook and we all go on our merry way.”
Talyria finally peels her gaze from Victor and looks me up and down. “Why do you want the spellbook anyway? It isn’t as if you can use it.”
“My reasons are my own. Will we help each other or not?”
Talyria begins to nod, but Victor looks dangerously close to sayingnowhen suddenly the door bursts open. We all whirl on it, reaching for our weapons but Estelle is the only person to step through. “Look who I found hiding in a nearby room,” she declares as she steps aside to reveal Lek.
Victor straightens as he reaches up to stroke his beard. “That means only the guard is unaccounted for.”
The guard? It’s true that he is a Lowlander and thus capable of sorcery, but is he actually capable of doing the deed? I suppose it’s time we found out. After all, once we get to him, I’m one step closer to getting my hands on that spellbook. And to possibly learning a bit more about my past.
Chapter Fifteen
Talyria
