Briel recoiled and let out a nervous laugh. “Surely you jest. Grand Master Lorn has assured us in no uncertain terms there’s no danger, no matter what gossip we may hear from the uneducated masses beyond our walls—”
Kreya kept walking. She’d delivered her warning. If others chose to disregard the lessons of the past, that was not her problem. Or it wasn’t her problem right now.It will be my problem later,she thought. But right now, she had a single goal: Amurra.
Stran had made his choice to save her, and Kreya was going to honor that choice. She had the team’s approval to do what needed to be done.
Besides, I do not leave teammates behind. Never again.
She’d lost one once. She wasn’t about to lose another. And Amurra had become one of them, even if she wasn’t in any of the ballads about the Five Heroes. She’d joined their group by her own choice and become a part of it by both words and actions.
Kreya walked straight to Grand Master Lorn’s office. He’d be there, she guessed, preparing for the miracle. Giving her name to the guard, she waited while he knocked. The guard stepped inside and then emerged. “He will see you.” Eyeing her,the guard hesitated for a second before adding, “Master Eklor is with him.”
“Good.” Still holding Yarri’s hand, she entered the office.
Both Lorn and Eklor were there. Lorn was seated at his desk, papers arrayed in front of him, while Eklor stood behind him, also looking down at the papers.
“Papa!”
Grand Master Lorn rose to his feet. “Yarri, what—”
Kreya did not release the boy’s hand. Instead, she tightened her grip. “Stay by me,” she said softly. Seeing Eklor, Yarri stopped willingly. He clung to Kreya’s side, and she wrapped her arm around him as if that would protect him from all of life’s disappointments and betrayals. She knew it wouldn’t.
“Ahh, Master Kreya, you’ve come to withdraw your false accusations?” Eklor guessed.
Kreya didn’t try to keep her hatred off her face. “I have.”
“You will admit to Grand Master Lorn that you have no proof?”
“I have no proof,” she agreed.
Eklor broke into a smile. “And you will testify to this in front of all the bone workers?”
“I will. You stand falsely accused. My past blinded me to the truth.”
He looked as if he wanted to rub his hands together and start chortling, but he restrained himself. “And your team? Will they testify as well?”
“Unfortunately, my team is in mourning,” she said. “The wife of Stran, my friend and Hero of Vos, was murdered earlier today.”
Grand Master Lorn’s eyes flicked from his son up to Kreya’s face. “Stran’s wife?”
“What terrible news,” Eklor said. “Of course, I had nothing to do with her death. As Grand Master Lorn can attest I have been in the guild headquarters since your embarrassing display of paranoia this morning.” He said this as if it proved anything, when it was known he could create and command constructs.
“I didn’t claim you killed her.”
“Good. Because it seems to me that would be adding an accusation instead of recanting one.” Eklor was studying her, as if trying to figure out her intent. She wished she could trust Grand Master Lorn to side with her if she did accuse Eklor, but given what they suspected about the persuasion talisman, she didn’t dare take that risk. Her number one priority right now was Amurra. Everything else had to wait.
“It has come to my attention that you have her body,” Kreya said. “I want it back.”
Grand Master Lorn flipped his focus from his son to Eklor. “What has happened? Why would you have Stran’s wife’s body?”
Eklor spoke quickly. “Her body was delivered to me, along with a request for resurrection. I plan to revive her as part of tomorrow’s grand miracle.” He leveled a look at Kreya, as if daring her to contradict him.
“You will not revive her,” Kreya said. “You will return her.”
“You do not wish to accept my offer of life beyond?” Eklor said. “A pity. She could be back with her husband in a mere day. Be mother to her children again.”
Kreya didn’t reply.
“You still believe in the ‘cost’ of my resurrections?” Eklor sounded amazed.He should have been on the stage,she thought. He’d mastered his wounded-innocent act. “You’d truly rather she stay dead than admit you were wrong? I am surprised. But perhaps I should not be, given our history.” He sighed theatrically.“Very well. If you want her to experience true death, we will burn her body on the pyre, as is tradition. That can be arranged, can it not, Grand Master Lorn?”
