“I never said I don’t want to return to my chamber.”
She snorted. “Don’t play me for a fool. I’m bone-tired. The only reason I’m still sitting here is because you are.”
He looked down at his clasped hands, unsure of what to say.
“You don’t need to talk about it now,” she continued, “but you will need to talk about it eventually.”
Finally, he looked up. “Did you talk about it? When your mother—”
She lifted her hand to cut him off. “Only once, and probably not to the right person, for she has taken my words to the grave. Celen knows a bit . . . ” she trailed off, then shook her head. “I hope that you are wiser than I, and will take my advice.”
He inhaled a shaky breath, knowing he’d regret his next words as soon as he spoke them. “I’ll talk when you do.”
Her mouth fell open, then quickly shut. She raked her hair away from her eyes. “I didn’t meant that you should talk to me, just someone. Perhaps your sister.”
Her sudden discomfort made him smile. He eyed her more steadily. “I’ll talk when you do, Elmerah. Take it or leave it.”
She glared. “Leave it,” she said, though he knew she’d think about it. Before he could say more, she stood. “Now let’s fetch our things. I hope you’re as sneaky as I remember. It’s going to be quite a task to steal horses from the stables on our way out.”
He blinked up at her. “Maybe you’re right. We should rest for a day first. We’ve had no sleep.”
She shook her head as she buttoned her long coat, cinching it tight around her waist. “No, you may have spoken for a veiled reason, but that does not make your words any less true. If we wait, Rissine or someone else will catch on. We should go tonight.”
“What about Isara?”
She grinned. “We’ll fetch her on the way. We might need her if Rissine catches us.” She offered him her hand.
He took it, and stood, but held onto it for a moment. “Are you sure about this? I know you have issues with your sister, but I do believe she is trying to protect you.”
She rolled her eyes, then removed her hand from his. “I don’t need my sister to watch my back, and do you know why?”
She was already on her way to the door as he asked, “Why?”
She glanced back at him. “Because I have you.”
He watched her, a bit stunned, as she veered from her course and began pawing through Ivran’s cupboard, presumably for supplies. “What of Ivran?” he asked as he approached. “What will he think when he wakes and we have gone?”
“He’ll understand. He knows we’ll get Saida back if we can. He’s far more rational than the rest.”
He stared at her for a moment, rifling through the cupboards like a wolf in a henhouse, then joined her. He knew he’d have to close his eyes eventually. They would sleep each night on the road. But perhaps it would be easier to face when he knew he had a purpose. When he knew he was on his way to enact vengeance for all his fallen kin.
Elmerah
Elmerah cursed as she stubbed her toe through her knee-high boots. The cracked cobblestone streets proved treacherous in the dark of night. In the distance, glass lanterns flickered with light in the cool breeze along the main road. At one time, they would have been extinguished at midnight to save on oil, but since the attack, they burned through the night. You never knew when you might meet with a hidden blade in the dark.
Hopefully there were no blades in this darkness, save hers and Alluin’s. Since leaving the High Temple, they kept to the shadows, out of sight of fogged windows and doorways. They’d collected Isara, who crept along quietly at her side. She had neither blade nor bow, yet was more dangerous than either of them. Being able to interrupt any magics was a skill Elmerah would pay ten coffers of pure gold to possess.
Elmerah shuffled her feet along between the dark expanse away from the lanterns, groping the wall of a vacant home as she led the way toward the stables. There should only be one or two guards present. Most were worried about threats coming from outside the cracked crystal walls, rather than from within. It would have been so much easier if the guards would just let them take the horses, but mounts were a precious commodity in these dire times, and would only be granted for purposes approved by the High Council. There was no way the Council would approve their mission without much deliberation, and perhaps not even then.
And so, they would sneak, but sneaking out presented one major issue. They could obtain horses easily enough—one or two guards wouldn’t be difficult to distract—but how in Ilthune’s name would they get the horses outside the city gates? She’d been wracking her brain from the moment she started gathering supplies, but an idea was yet to present itself.
Alluin stopped at her side as she peered out around the next building, the stables now in sight. “Someone is following us,” he whispered in her ear.
“Rissine?” she hissed.
“No, someone bigger than Rissine, a man judging by the sound of the steps.”
At the scuff of a heavy boot, she grabbed Isara and plastered both their backs against the wall. She glanced past Isara down the dark alley, but all seemed still and silent. She might have imagined the scuff, but she did not doubt Alluin’s senses. Those pointy ears could pick up the sound of a single rodent scurrying across the street. She stifled a groan at her thoughts. If it was another elf following them, their abrupt stop would have already alerted them that she was aware of their presence. There would be no subtly drawing them out now.
Nothing moved. This was a waste of time.
With a heavy sigh, she gestured for Isara to stay back, then stepped into the middle of the alleyway. “Reveal yourself,” she said, her voice low to not alert the distant stable guards.
“Damn elves hear way too well,” a familiar voice replied, then Celen stepped out of his hiding place behind an adjacent home.
Her shoulders momentarily slumped in relief, then stiffened in irritation. “Celen, are you following us?”
“Why are you wandering around at this ungodly hour?” He wore his usual garb of leather and a bit of fur rather than something more concealing, so he hadn’t planned on stalking her.
“I asked you first.”
He closed the distance between them, then whispered, “I saw that your sister had returned, so I waited until I was sure you’d be in your chambers, then came to find you. Then I see you and your elf sneaking out of the High Temple with the little sparrow at your heels.”
She sighed, sensing Alluin’s presence at her back. He didn’t trust Celen, and wouldn’t want her to tell the truth, but well, he wasn’t her, and she trusted Celen with her life. “We’re leaving. We’re going after the emperor, and I don’t want anyone following us, or knowing what we’re doing. Any of these elves here could be Nokken in disguise. Without Saida, we have no way of telling. And without her—” she hesitated, “well, we need to end this now. I’m sick of waiting for the remnants of the High Council to decide on a plan.”
Celen’s expression softened. “I heard about Saida, I’m sorry. I’m sure you’ll find her.”