“Varian sent me up here to wait for you,” he said.
I could kill her. “How long?—”
Tomin waved his hand dismissively. “Just a few hours.”
At least he had on leather gloves, though I doubted they still did much after a few hours in Velora’s cold.
Garrick was more concerned with the practicalities, as usual.
“How did she know we were coming?” he asked, frowning down at the acolyte.
I nudged him in the side. Varian might be stubborn about neutrality, but Tomin was a friend. Garrick relaxed his face, but not his guard. I rolled my eyes.
Tomin observed the exchange but did not comment. He was the one who’d taught me to control my emotions and calm the panic when my senses overwhelmed me. Whatever he thought of me and Garrick’s interaction, he kept it to himself.
“The blood fountain only flows when supplicants are near,” he explained. “Don’t tell Varian that I told you.”
“I don’t plan on telling her anything,” I said. But on second thought, “Does she know about Alize?”
Tomin did not hide his surprise. Several tight, dark curls fell over his forehead as he leaned forward, brows raised.
“We have received no news since you left the Peace Gate. The blood fountain began to flow this morning. We prepared three rooms, just in case,” he said.
I suddenly felt very, very cold. “You’ll only need one,” I said. “We will share. And Alize…”
“She is dead,” Garrick said. His voice was rough. He’d packaged up his grief and put it away when we escaped Balar Shan, but I knew he would not be able to hold it back forever. After the Unknown Gate, we would be free. We would have time to process our grief together.
“She is a witch,” I said, because Garrick had not. I hated to remind either of us of that gruesome scene, but it already haunted us. And I needed to know if what I suspected was true.
Tomin thoughtfully kept his reactions to himself. “I am sorry for your loss,” he said to us both. “With the end of her mortal life, her Oath of Atonement to the Seven Gates is fulfilled.”
Garrick looked away. Tomin lifted a brow in question. I shook my head slightly.
Tomin nodded, wiser than his meager years on this cursed continent.
Beside me, Garrick exhaled and turned back to the conversation, his neutral mask back in place. “We should not linger here.”
Tomin frowned. “Why?”
This time, I was the one who sighed. “Our exit from Balar Shan was more of an escape.”
Tomin blinked, but took that new information in stride as well. “I see. Once we are within the temple, no one can touch you.”
“Then let’s go.” Garrick turned back and started up the ridge.
But Tomin took another direction entirely, parallel to the ridge instead of up to intersect it. I watched them both.
Which one do we follow?Isanara snarked.
You are not helping,I countered.
Garrick realized first. “Where are you going, acolyte?”
Tomin turned around, his face full of genuine surprise that Garrick was halfway up the ridge, and I had not moved a foot. “We will pass undisturbed if we go… you do not know?”
Not know… what?
Our expressions must have been enough of an answer. Tomin changed course, angling up toward the top of the ridge. He trudged past Garrick, whose eyes shot me a question. I shook my head again. I was going to be dizzy if I did not eat soon.
