I don’t even want to think about it.
I can’t be certain, although I feel somewhat certain, but even the possibility alone is worth warning the others about.
I’m almost back to our rooms when I hear Adria’s voice through the door.
“I told you. I told you she shouldn’t have come.”
I stop in my tracks. She’s talking about me.
“Adria—” begins Larus. His voice is a bit more muffled, further away.
“Don’t ‘Adria’ me. You know it as well as I do.”
“We’ll find her. She takes what you say seriously. She’s just doing what you asked her.”
Adria laughs. “As if she could. You know she’s just lost somewhere. She’s probably gotten on a boat and made it halfway back to Kalla by now. Or she’s lying in a ditch after running from a fight with a child.”
Rude. It was a teenager, and I didn’t run. I stabbed him.
“Enough. I think it’s been long enough. Cyrus must be back to his rooms by now—”
The door bursts open.
“Sylvie!” says Larus.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, where have you been?” says Adria.
“I went to the market,” I say, gesturing to them to let me inside.
“The market? You’ve been gone for six hours at themarket?” Adria is fuming. I can practically smell the smoke coming off of her.
I tap my ear. The walls have ears here, remember?
“I found a tower,” I whisper once I’m close to one of the beds. “It’s promising. And I found a way outside. Unguarded.”
I thought they’d be impressed with me, and Larus is, at least. He pats me on the shoulder. “Well done.”
But Adria is still furious. “Six hours, and that’s all you have to say? I lied for you. I told Cyrus you weren’t well. Were you seen?”
“I came back in the north gate—”
“You came back in the gate? Past the guards? What did you tell them?”
“I told them I went to the market—”
“I told them you were sick in our room! Unbelievable. Fucking useless.”
Ouch.
I hate how much of me cares about what she says. She’s being unreasonable. She hasn’t even let me explain what happened. But I stillhateto hear her disappointment.
“Adria, enough. Let her explain.”
“Did you find anything at all that could help us?Anything.” She’s not even whispering now.
I think about Soren and my suspicion that it’s Ronan in disguise, but what if I’m wrong? I know what she’ll say. I know how much she’ll mock me and how foolish I’ll feel.
I can’t tell her. Maybe I’ll tell Larus later, when we’re alone again. He would understand if I got it wrong. He would understand why I left at all.
