Kreya shot him a hard look, and Zera resisted laughing. Didn’t he know better than to contradict his wife when she’d obviously made her decision?Really,Zera thought,was there ever any question about what we’re going to do?If she was being honest with herself, which she tried not to do as a general rule, she’d known since the moment she’d heard that laugh.
Jentt threw up his hands in surrender. “I’m only saying it’s not solid proof. There’s a possibility that Marso is not in the best state for interpreting a reading accurately.”
“Exactly,” Stran said. “Kreya, you know I would follow you through fire—”
“Then follow me to the forbidden zone!”
Stran began, “Grand Master Lorn—”
Stopping him, Zera said, “Work it out without me, people. I’ll be back soon.” She showed off two new talismans she’d made, from the bones of a rabbit, as proof she’d be quick, and then she breezed out the door before she had to listen to any more of their argument. She knew Kreya well enough to know that her old friend didn’t have any intention of involving Grand Master Lorn. She wanted to take care of the problem herself. If Eklor lived, there was no way that Kreya would be content to leave him in that condition.
And that’s fine with me,Zera thought.But if we’re going to have a chance of succeeding, we’re going to need a lot more talismans.She could help with that—but couldn’t do it here. She needed access to her stockpile.
Outside, only a few yards from the farmhouse, Zera was intercepted by Kreya, of course, who could never just let someone do what she hadn’t planned for them to do. Blocking the trail, she asked, “Are you coming back?”
“Of course, darling. I’d miss you too much to be gone long!” She beamed at Kreya, telling herself she wasn’treallyhurt that her old friend didn’t trust her. It was understandable for Kreya to be paranoid. “Just need to pop on home for a few additional supplies, and then I’ll pop back before you even have a chance to coax Marso into some more mint tea.”
“You’re lying to me,” Kreya said. Annoyingly.
“I will come back.” Zera meant it. Naturally, she was going to rejoin the team and see this through. She couldn’t simply forget the fact that she knew Eklor was alive and her greatest achievement was, in fact, un-achieved. She was going to return and by then all the unpleasant arguing would be over. Kreya would have bullied the boys into accepting whatever plan she thought was reasonable, and Zera would swoop in to provide whatever support was needed, without having to deal with all the tedious angsting nonsense.
Kreya was studying her, and it was disconcerting. “You mean to, but will you?”
Ouch.This time it was impossible to pretend it didn’t hurt. She’d gone into the forbidden zone with her. Didn’t that mean anything? “You have so little faith in me.”
Glaring at Kreya, Zera met her gaze with the same intensity. It was strange to see a mix of who her old friend was and who she’d become, combined in the creases around her eyes and mouth. She wondered if Kreya still considered them a team. “You used to believe in me,” Zera said. “When no one else did, you were the one who had faith in me. What happened to that trust?”
“I still trust you,” Kreya said. “I just think you’re lying to yourself.”
“Well, fuck you then.” How dare she? After everything they’d been through together... after everything they’d just gone through...How can she not trust me?
“This is more than you ever bargained for,” Kreya said. “More than you should have to face. You have your life now. I won’t blame you if you want to live it.”
Oh, really? She was couching this distrust as being understanding? Zera clenched her fists, unclenched them, and smiled sweetly. “It doesn’t matter how little you think of me. I’ll see you soon.” She waved her new speed talisman at Kreya. She knew several shortcuts to Cerre, especially traveling alone and without heavy supplies and weaponry.
“I hope so,” Kreya said.
“Then youdowant me to come back! Go on, you can say it.” As much as she tried to disguise it, even Zera heard the anger in her own voice.
To Zera’s shock, Kreya didn’t hesitate. “I want you to come back.”
For a moment, they stared at one another, and then Zera flashed another fake smile at her, wiggled her fingers in a wave, and activated the speed talisman. She felt Kreya’s eyes on her as she zipped away from the farmhouse and sped across the terraced farmlands. She even felt her eyes still on her after she was long out of view.
By the time she reached Cerre, though, Zera had half-convinced herself she felt pity for her old friend, not hurt.I feel sorry for Kreya,she thought.I truly do. Unable to trust... that’s an unpleasant way to live.She passed quickly through the gatesto the fifth tier and announced her presence before entering her mansion. Her people wouldn’t have let it fall into disarray in her absence, she was certain, but she wanted to ensure a proper welcome.
She wasn’t disappointed.
As she approached, lifted on a cloudlike mechanism, the doors of her palace flew open. Shirtless, with all his muscles on display, Guine filled the doorway. “Everyone, she’s returned!”
Six or seven of her dearest friends—if she used a loose definition of the word “friend”... and “dearest”—poured out with him into her statue garden. They swarmed around her, weaving and cooing, and she guessed that they were all quite inebriated, even though it was barely noon. She wondered how much of her liquor remained, but luckily that wasn’t the supply closet she needed.
She greeted each of them, granting them new nicknames when she forgot a few of the ones she’d already given them, before allowing herself to be swept inside and installed by the main fountain. One of the men fetched her fresh fruit and a lemon-flavored drink. Another dabbed her forehead and cheeks with a sponge. She supposed she had gotten warm and dusty from the journey. It felt nice, at any rate. For a few minutes. Zera swatted the girl’s hands away. “Enough.”
Guine positioned himself next to her with his harp and started to play. The others drifted to their couches and lounged on the pillows. One laughed, a sound like water falling over pebbles. It reminded Zera of the river. She tried to imagine any of these people in the valley. They’d faint dead away at the first roar of a river lizard.
It’s nice being surrounded by people who don’t put my life indanger,she told herself. She’d chosen this life and these people. Or at least people like them—who they were specifically seemed to revolve every few months.
“How’s business been the past few days?” she asked Guine. “Any surprises?”
