“If we do find Nadya, keep her away from me,” he said coldly. “Because I will kill her.”
Chapter 73
Allie
Three days later, all we had to show for our search were cobwebs in our hair and bleary, tired eyes.
No sign of Nadya, the poison, or her axe.
The few footprints she’d left next to the dungeon window simply stopped next to a lone, gnarly tree waiting in the fortress’ shadow. As if she’d vanished.
I’d probed it with my powers and Dax had dug under its roots to make sure there wasn’t some secret passage Nadya could have used.
We’d searched every closet, bedroom, washroom and web of ceiling beams in the entire fortress. Her room had been ripped apart for any clue, but not so much as a hidden palaver portal waited inside her sparse wardrobe or underneath the floorboards.
We’d wandered down the secret passageways Dax had found, hidden behind mounted deer heads, but they looked to have been forgotten for decades, only used by the spiders which had taken residence in them.
Mrs. Thornbrew had insisted on taking charge of inspecting all the storage areas, pushing aside pumpkins and baskets ofturnips, but I’d found her late at night sniffling next to a vat of tea, twisting her embroidered handkerchief.
“How could she do this to us?” she’d murmured, the moonlight turning her pale skin even ghostlier. “To herself? I thought I’d seen her heart. It was scared and prickly, but I’d never imagined she’d ever–Geryll, Vylkor, the babes. How could she?”
“Fear rots people,” I’d muttered, because I had no answer.
Nobody did.
I’d sent the warriors to warn the civilians and patrol the streets. Every soul in Solkar’s Reach was now looking for her and checking their wells and under their beds at night.
Sylvester flew over the city and its boundaries, only stopping to wet its beak every few hours before launching himself back into the heavens.
I’d even warned the trolls she was loose and dangerous, using one of her tunics and the scent trapped between the worn fibers to convey what my words couldn’t. The troll which had been wounded weeks ago had sniffed it, but no recognition had crossed its face. When I studied the fabric closer, I detected the faintest hints of a tangy oil that reminded me of a deer’s scent glands.
She’d been hiding her smell. Had probably noticed the troll’s scouting schedule, same as I did. I’d only seen her near the kennels when it wasn’t there.
She truly had been ready.
“What possesses someone to gnaw off the hand that feeds them?” I seethed as Dax and I retraced our steps through the back alleys, in case we’d missed any speck of dust that could lead us to her.
In the distance, I felt Ryker’s growing frustration mirroring my own.
“That’s just a side effect,” Dax grumbled.
While I had to at least try to keep my composure so I wouldn’t sow more panic, he’d been stomping and snapping since that night in the dungeons.
“Of what?” I asked.
“Wanting to feel special and chosen.” He sucked the cold air through his teeth. “Like she’s part of some big scheme us fools can’t possibly comprehend. And in order to still be part of that scheme, she–and everyone else that mysterious heir has duped–have to keep following orders. If he’d told them to plant daisies, they probably would have filled hills upon hills to appease him. But he wants murder, so that’s what they do.”
“But she was special here. The Commander took her under his wing.”
“He also took in Geryll. Not special enough. Plus, your Commander didn’t try to twist Nadya’s mind.”
Sylvester flew above us, cawing in annoyance. The warriors had the wolves sniffing for any hint of Nadya and he didn’t appreciate all the scents wafting through the streets.
Every being was on alert because of her and that blasted heir.
I shook my head. “I think she was in too deep to stop. Stuck. If she questioned her beliefs, she’d also have to challenge what she did. That’s hard. That takes bravery.”
“So she’s a coward.”
