“About what?” Eli asked.
A vein throbbed in Stryker’s temple and I worried he was only seconds away from lashing out at Eli. I didn’t think the young fae was being purposefully evasive, just that Stryker wasn’t asking the right questions. With my magic keeping Eli enthralled, he was simply answering them as honestly as possible,not picking up on what Stryker was really looking for. Details on the smuggling ring.
“Eli,” I said, jumping in to try to defuse Stryker’s anger. “Could you tell us the names of any of the other smuggling conspirators?”
Eli shrugged. “I’m not sure of any of them other than my cousin.”
“If you had to guess,” I said, prompting him to keep going. I hoped that if he gave Stryker enough good intel, he would still honor his promise and let Eli go.
Eli lifted a hand and started scratching his head, completely unaware of how tenuous his position was right now. “Well, my cousin fell in with a rough group a few months back. If I had to guess, I’d say it was the lot of them who were running everything.”
“Do you know any of their names?” I asked, and Eli rattled off a few, which made me breathe a little easier and the vein in Stryker’s brow stop throbbing.
“And when your cousin approached you, did he say specifically what they were going to smuggle?” I asked.
Eli nodded. “Yes. He said they were going after the rubies. Said that they had a contact in the mine that would let them in at night to steal some of the gems.”
I glanced over at Stryker. “Is there more than one ruby mine?”
Stryker shook his head. “Rubies are only mined in one location in the Jewel Spring Mountains.”
The Jewel Spring Mountains sounded only vaguely familiar. I wish I’d spent more time studying the maps of Ethereum.
“Have you had any reports of any gems going missing?” I asked Stryker.
Stryker crossed his arms over his chest. “Not rubies, but plenty of others. They seem to hit only one mine at a time, stripping me of that gem and moving to the next.”
“Which means you might still be able to stop the heist,” I told him, feeling invested now.
“Perhaps,” Stryker said. “But even if they do manage to steal from me, I’ll make them illegal to trade with and they’ll never be able to sell them on the open market.”
“That won’t matter,” Eli said, surprising us both. “They don’t sell the goods here in the Eastern Kingdom. They take them to the Southern Kingdom to hawk them, selling them on the black market there. That’s how they’ve gotten away with it for so long.”
I was nervous with how much Eli actually did know about all of this, but when I looked back at Stryker, his anger seemed to have vanished. Instead he had a thoughtful look on his face.
“Do you have any more questions, Lord Stryker?” I asked, forcing my tone to stay light so I didn’t make things worse by angering him.
“We’re finished here,” he said. My body sagged in relief as I pulled back the emotions and feelings I’d pressed upon Eli, but then tightened back up when he addressed his guard, “Get someone to take her back to her room and tell Shantel to pack a week’s worth of clothing and supplies for her.”
“A week’s worth of clothing. Why?” I asked, feeling my heartbeat start to elevate.
“Because tomorrow we’re leaving for the Jewel Spring Mountains,” Stryker said.
I didn’t know how I felt about leaving the castle. It made me nervous,but perhaps it would be the perfect opportunity to escape. The only problem was that I needed to find my dagger. I couldn’t complete my mission without it.
“And my dagger?” I asked.
Stryker shot me a look that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Your dagger will remain safely here with my blacksmith where it cannot hurt me,” he growled.
Okay, point taken.
Stryker started for the door.
“Wait,” I called and he paused and looked over his shoulder at me. “What about Eli?” I asked. “Will you set him free like you promised?”
Stryker cast a quick glance at Eli, who was standing with his head hung low, staring at the floor. “The fae might technically be innocent, but he knows more than he let on and now he knows our plans. I can’t allow him to go back just yet, but I will let him stay in my guest cottage until our investigation into the Jewel Spring Mountains is over. Rations will also be sent to his family. I’m a fae of my word.”
