“Sir, over here!” It’s Stella from an alley to the south.
Taran and I turn on our heels, and Quinn manages to catch us as we race for Stella’s voice.
Stella is gasping for breath when we reach her. “I saw a figure in the alley. I can’t find them.”
“With us,” I tell her, and she falls in behind me.
I’m losing my goddamn mind with worry as we race down the darkened street, dodging under a line of washing. There are people in the homes nearby, but none of them is Sylvie. None of them feel as though they’re hiding or running or doing anything out of the ordinary.
Where the fuck is she?
She’s alive,I tell myself, willing myself to keep calm long enough to find her. To help her.She’s alive she’s alive she’s alive she’s alive…
We follow the alley as it turns in another direction, and I realize where we’re going just as Stella does. “The doorway Sylvie led me to, sir?”
“I think so,” I say, breathing hard from the run.
“Where?” asks Quinn.
“I’ll explain once we get there.”
The doorway where Mery told us he saw Vesper, the doorway Sylvie’s alchemist went through, isn’t far from here. It’s very close, I realize with a sinking feeling in my stomach.
The door is unlocked, and the interior looks as empty and untouched as Sylvie described it. “There must be something here,” I say. “Some way in.”
“Some way where, Ronan? What’s going on?”
“Look for anything out of the ordinary,” I say, and then I explain to Quinn and Taran what we’ve been up to and what we think is going on.
Both of them are furious at me for not telling them. Well, Quinn is furious. Taran is quietly disapproving, bordering on betrayed.
“I can’tbelieveyou didn’t trust me,” says Quinn as she knocks a dusty picture frame from the wall. “You trusted her even back then?”
Quinn had been deeply critical of my trust in Sylvie back in the beginning, back before the archery tournament changed everything. “She’s definitely trying to kill you, Ronan,” she had said. “Her and that sister of hers. They are 100% here to murder you, and you’reflirtingwith her! I can’t believe you even invited them. I’ve always known you were an idiot, but this is a new low, even for you. If you were that desperate for a woman, I have a dozen I could recommend—”
I’d cut her off there.
“Always,” I say. I don’t blame Quinn for not being able to understand. She doesn’t—and can never—understand people the way that I do. And she’s not wrong that feelings matter little compared to actions, but she also doesn’t live with other people’s feelings in her head all day, every day. She doesn’t know what it’s like to know someone inside and out the minute I meet them. She doesn’t know how rare it is to find someone who not only doesn’t disappoint you, but someone who fascinates you and challenges you and humbles you. Someone who reminds you not just that it’s worthwhile to care, but that there are things in this world worth caring for.
Taran pushes a cobweb-covered desk back to check behind it, and I come over to help. “You could have told me,” he says.
I nod and say, “I know.”
This is all I need to say to him.
“What are we even looking for? Are you sure she was here?” asks Quinn.
I’m not, but I am. “I think if they let Stella see them, it’s because they wanted her to see them. Especially if they managed to ambush Sylvie and Taran. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they led us this way.”
Quinn grumbles and complains more about my distrust, but I don’t hear her.
“Sylvie,” I say. She’s waking up.She’s alive. Thank the gods, she’s alive. Thank you, Vayla. Thank you. I’ll never doubt you again.She’s frightened, but it’s mixed with some degree of comfort. Someone must be with her. Hermes, her alchemist?
“She’s in this direction,” I say, pointing to the floor at the back corner. “Look at these floorboards.”
The others come over, and we tug at each of the floorboards. Nothing. Not even a hint of movement.
“Fuck,” says Quinn, sitting back against the wall.
