Evalle! We have a deal?
She nodded even though he couldn’t see her.Yes, but what about you and the other three?
I’ll try to get them out, but if you and my sister can escape, that’ll have to be good enough. Just promise me you won’t hand her over to the Tribunal no matter what.
Like she could do that to Tristan at this point?I promise. Do you think Kizira knows I’m here in the maze?
I don’t know. I didn’t tell her.
Evalle believed him.
Kizira said, “I’m tired of waiting, Tristan. Hand over Evalle. I know she’s close by. Call her in here.”
Guess that answered my question.Evalle gripped her dagger.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s not here,” Tristan bluffed.
Evalle peeked again. Kizira rose high in the air. “Don’t waste time trying to fool me. Her friend told me I would find her with you.”
Evalle almost snorted at that. Stupid witch. Evalle could count her friends on one hand, and none of them would help Kizira find her.
“Who told you we’d be together?” Tristan asked.
“Vladimir Quinn.”
Evalle swung around, slamming her back to the wall. Her heart cramped. Quinn would never betray her. How would he even know she was here with Tristan?
Because word was out that she’d helped Tristan escape.
Quinn wouldn’t believe that I intentionally released Tristan. He wouldn’t.
“You’re lying, Kizira,” Tristan argued. “Evalle’s thick as thieves with Tzader and Quinn. You know that. Why would those Beladors hand her over to a Medb?”
“Because VIPER is hunting all the Alterants with a kill-on-sight order, even Evalle. I owe Quinn from a past debt and offered to keep her safe. He also knows that I’m her best chance at freedom.”
Evalle didn’t buy that. Why would Quinn think she’d be safe with Kizira?
“And Evalle?” Kizira called out. “If you want proof that I spoke to Quinn privately today, he was in the Ritz on Peachtree in downtown Atlanta in a room the same number as today’s date. I was curing Quinn of a severe headache. Even with my soothing skills, he was in no shape to come after you himself, and he didn’t want Tzader caught between loyalties.”
Air backed up in Evalle’s lungs.
Quinn had a system of hotels he stayed in, and on Thursdays he stayed in a room based on the date. He changed to a different hotel every day as a safety precaution, but he’d told her and Tzader yesterday he’d be at the downtown Ritz today.
He’d said no one knew his system except Tzader and Evalle.
Kizira had been in Quinn’s hotel room. Soothing him.
Evalle understood that reference with no problem. She couldn’t believe Quinn had slept with this murdering witch. The first time Evalle had met Quinn she’d found out he’d had history with Kizira, but never had she questioned his loyalty to the Beladors.
Or to her.
Did he really think she’d walk into the Medb camp for any reason? If so, he didn’t know her as well as she’d thought. Even if she believed Kizira, Evalle knew Tzader wouldn’t agree.
A soft female voice whispered next to Evalle’s ear. “Believe who you trust and trust who you believe.”
She sucked in a sharp breath at the bodyless voice. The same voice that Evalle had heard earlier tonight in her apartment and for the first time this past week. If Tristan had been standing here she could have asked him if he’d heard it, but Evalle had a feeling he wouldn’t have.
Who kept trying to reach her?
