They might technically be in Graelynd, but if the Coalition had its hooks in the town, Calya imagined they would carry out their own brand of justice. If a group of Sylveren researchers could be hidden away, what chance did a lone Sentinel have of escaping a similar fate, or worse? She didn’t believe the researchers dead—most days she didn’t, anyway. The Coalition’s ruthlessness reached heights to which Calya could only aspire, but even so powerful an organization wouldn’t risk the Order of Sylveren’s ire. Not so soon after being caught meddling at the university. And those actions had been nonviolent. Killing a group of mages? That was a step too far, even for the Coalition.
Now, holding the people against their will and forcing them to finish whatever work the Coalition was carrying out here, that she could believe. Undoubtedly there’d be another lawsuit, another public censure, and massive fines to pay by the end of all this. Maybe even complete cessation of all dealings with the Valley unless Graelynd’s Upper Council meted out a serious punishment as well. But what did the Coalition care in the meantime? For them, few consequences couldn’t be softened with ever more money, and they had that in abundance.
Lowe was frowning at her, as usual, but with concern rather than irritation this time. “What do you think will happen if he catches you?”
Her mouth opened, but the blithe retort wouldn’t come out. What would Brint do? Blustery, arrogant Brint. Oh, sure, he was a fool, but not so foolish that she’d likely be able to talk her way out of being caught. He’d love to have something over her. Would use her predicament to his advantage, and that wasn’t a slippery slope but a hellish downhill slide to put her earlier tumble to shame. If she capitulated to his demands even once, it would be never ending.
The worry on Lowe’s face suggested more. A fear for her safety… but from Brint? Brint being violent? Even when his last scheme had been crumbling around him and Anadae had refused to be his lifeline, Brint hadn’t tried violence. He’d damn near shit his pants when she’d responded to his lies and manipulations with a bit of violence of her own. No reason to think he’d suddenly found his spine.
“Best we not find out,” she said, her confident air only a touch forced.
“Don’t go without me, Calya.” A certain urgency tinged the quiet words.
She looked at him over the rim of her teacup, draining the last of it instead of answering.
“This is madness.” Lowe turned to Froley. “How did it get this bad? You run this town, allow the Coalition to?—”
“We’re not working with them,” Froley said, not pleading but fierce. “But they hold the cards. So long as we don’t interfere, they leave us alone. They watch.” A shrug. “So do we. But information’s only worth so much if you can’t use it. The folks in Central haven’t exactly filled us with confidence that we wouldn’t be trading one shitty master for another.”
“Sylveren has had mages out here for years,” Lowe said. “When did the Coalition get in?”
“The Coalition’s only been here, five, maybe six years. After the war, but just. Things were fine at first.” A bitter smile curled Froley’s lips. “We didn’t realize how entrenched they were until it was too late. Then we were stuck with Avenor coming here for months at a time.”
“Brint? Doing what?” Calya asked.
Another shrug. “Not running a hybridization program for plant armor or whatever shit they keep reporting to the capital and the Valley.”
“The Coalition had paperwork forwarded to their people here from Sylveren,” Lowe said. “Do you remember them?”
“Eren’s team is the main one here. Been a lot of mail for them all winter.”
“Do you remember a Matthias?”
Froley nodded. “One of the Sylveren mages. A real one, not a Coalition plant. One of the good ones.”
“The Coalition mages say he got sick of the work and disappeared.”
Froley’s eyebrows went up. “They’re saying they don’t know where he went?”
Calya shook her head. Lowe’s gaze darted from one to the other before settling on Froley. “You didn’t know he left?”
“No,” they said slowly. “He hasn’t been by in… in a few months. But sometimes he’s gone for a bit.”
“They say gone for good.”
“He didn’t—I’m sure of it,” Froley said, a stubborn set to their mouth. “He’d have said something if he was really moving on.”
Calya filed that information away for later. So, he really was missing without a trace, and probably not of his own volition.
It should’ve been a sobering thought. The kind of thing to instill despair at the enormity of what she was up against. It was serious, no doubt about that. But every word, every way in which she was being outmaneuvered, every move to reduce her to nothing but a pawn to be handled by any other will than her own…
She seethed. Every fucking affront was an ember in her, and she was building to a burn.
“You said Brint’s been here for months at a time,” she said. “Since when?”
“Couple of years,” Froley said. “Things have been off ever since he came around. We used to see the mages around town more. Then they started staying holed up in their labs. Transferred to other areas. There’s a few left in town, but the only ones you see regularly are Eren and those Coalition mages.”
“Could they have been smuggled out?” Lowe asked.
