Chapter 14
Fourteen
Lierick
Despite what I’d insinuated to Hayle, I’d never actually stepped foot in Eaglehoth, or on dry land in any part of West Ebrus.
Every time we interacted with a crowd, there was a chance of being noticed, of raising suspicion, so our scouts tended to stick to the Alutian Sea, and our spies were embedded in the populated cities.
Eaglehoth was not what I was expecting. Unlike my home in Ozryn, it was small, almost built into the forest itself.
Although I could count at least six lookout towers hidden in the trees, the people seemed happy and friendly.
The houses were all small, single-story stone buildings, craggy but with a vegetable garden in front of each one, and from what I saw, not one had the same crop as its neighbor.
Vox eyed the town with a neutral expression, and now he’d found a tal that protected against my abilities, I wasn’t even able to dive into his mind to find out what he was thinking.
Was he disgusted by the modesty of Eaglehoth? The streets were only compacted dirt, rather than cobblestones, and there were no marble buildings that reached into the skies. If he found the place distasteful, you’d never know it by his face.
On the other hand, Avalon was ridiculously easy to read, even without my abilities.
Her eyes were wide and filled with awe as she took in the flocks of miniature eagles—which Eaglehoth derived its name from—flying overhead, while the rows of wooden carts selling wares in the town square filled our surroundings with colors and scents.
The smells of cooking meats, curing fish, and hearty stews permeated the air, and pieces of silk flapped in the sea breeze on long pieces of string strung between two poles.
Eaglehoth had managed to muster quite the faire in the short amount of time between Hayle’s grand idea and today. I was impressed. There must have been a hundred or more people milling around the square, and the atmosphere was jovial.
A pang of homesickness settled in my chest. I missed my family, my people, and the cold weather. It was sweatier than the back side of my balls after riding all day down here.
Iker groaned. “How do people survive when it’s this… moist all the time?”
Laughing, I slapped him on the back. Proxius had allowed him to accompany the Boellium War College conscripts—to make sure none of us absconded, I guess. Proxius had also come, but I had a feeling he’d be doing far more reconnaissance and ass-kissing than corralling conscripts.
I noticed Taeme’s raven companion was perched on Avalon’s shoulder.
She reached up and scratched the top of its head, and it fluffed up.
I wondered if she’d gained some of the Third Line’s abilities, due to her connection with Hayle Taeme, or if the animals were just feeling an extension of the emotions he felt for his Soul Tie.
Jealousy ate at my chest, which was ridiculous.
That wasn’t what I was here for, nor what was needed.
Still, it was hard to work with Avalon Halhed, to help her become who she was supposed to be, without being a little in awe of her.
In a society that was secular by nature and necessity, she was blissfully free from bigotry.
The only person she really seemed to hate was Ephily Ingmire, and let’s face it, I understood.
Ephily went out of her way to torment Avalon, like she could sense the greatness that was hidden just below the surface.
Or maybe Ephily was just a bitch.
A burly guy wearing the muted green-and-black colors of the Eighth Line whistled at our small group. “If you are a Second Heir, you are needed at the registration office. Now!” His bellow reverberated through the market square, but no one seemed to pay any mind to him.
Hayle hesitated beside Avalon, who was pointing out some kind of sticky jam to her friend Acacia while the vendor watched. He stepped closer to me. “Watch her.” The or else I will peel your skin from your bones was implied. I bowed lightly, and he huffed.
I noticed he left one of the hounds with her too, but the raven took to the air.
Hayle kissed Avalon softly on the temple, whispering something into her ear, and she flushed pink.
Her eyes sparkled when she looked up at him; it was easy to see the love between them.
That made her a target already, so what would people do once they knew just how important she was to the revolution? To a future where Ebrus was free?
I wandered closer to her, smiling softly at her friend. Acacia just raised an eyebrow dismissively. The starstruck attitude of the Twelfth Line had worn off quickly, for which I was grateful, though I was fairly sure Acacia was immune to my charm anyway.
Iker took that moment to gather the rest of the conscripts together. “You have fifty minutes to wander through the market square, then I want you back here to set up camp. Don’t make me come and find you, conscripts. You won’t like the outcome.”
Permission granted, the group faded into the crowds. This was our chance to disappear.
Gripping Avalon’s hand, I moved us both into the background, getting lost in the bustling crowd. “We need to find the Baron,” I murmured to her softly. “Before more dignitaries arrive, and it becomes more… suspicious.”
Nodding, she followed me through the crowd, the hound at her heels, his head on a swivel.
I’d studied the maps of Eaglehoth, so I knew that the Baron’s manor was at the edge of town, the last vestige of civilization before the Westwoods, the dense forest sitting between the sea and the Dragonspire mountains.
I didn’t let go of her hand, even after we’d passed through the crowd, and I no longer had to keep hold of her to stop us getting separated. As we ducked in between the houses, teeth nipped at my fingers, and the hound glared up at me.
Loyal mutt.
“I was just keeping up appearances, hound,” I murmured. Avalon looked flushed, and I was probably inappropriately happy that I’d put that color in her cheeks. “It should be just up here.”
In front of us was a large manor house, though it wouldn’t be considered grand, by any stretch.
It was a slightly larger version of the stone houses around the market square, but it spread back into the forest itself, and a towering tree jutted up through the center, likely in the middle of a courtyard.
We didn’t exactly have an invitation, so we went around the back. “What’s your plan?” she asked softly.
I just grinned, leading us through the back garden, stopping just outside the doors to the kitchen.
“It helps my abilities extend to you if I hold your hand.” That was bullshit, but I wasn’t above some creative truths to feel her warm hand in mine without getting my fingers chewed off.
“You might have to put a hand on the hound, though.” Again, untrue.
I could’ve hidden the entire group of Boellium conscripts from the cooks as we pushed open the doors and walked inside.
None of them looked up from where they seemed to be making some kind of feast, filled with vegetables and butchered meat. One noticed the door open, and she muttered about the stable boys being raised like animals as she closed it behind us.
We moved down the stone halls, the low ceilings causing me to hunch over.
As we got further into the manor itself, the ceilings raised and then disappeared altogether, the huge, vaulted ceilings making the single story look expansive.
There were large rooms off the main hallway, and I dipped into the minds of the people in the manor to find the Baron.
I caught a stray thought from the estate manager about the deer numbers discussed in the meeting he’d just had with the Baron, so I assumed he was in the direction of those thoughts.
I couldn’t pick up anything from the Baron himself, but that wasn’t unusual.
No one went around thinking about themselves by name all the time.
Once I met him, I’d be able to detect his thought processes from dozens of people around him, but until then, he was just a stranger.
I could have picked Avalon’s thoughts in a crowd of thousands. I knew the taste of her mind now.
A large, ornate door at the end of the hall beckoned to us. If I had to guess, I’d say that we were at the back of the manor now, and this room would look out over the Westwoods. If I were the Baron of the Eighth Line, this was where I’d want my office.
Pushing open the door softly, I cloaked us in my strongest aversion magic. I wanted a moment to get a feel for Zier Tarrin.
But when I stepped into the room, his eyes snapped up immediately. They shifted between the two of us, quick and assessing, his hands going beneath his desk to grab what I assumed was a weapon.
“And who exactly are you?” His jaw was tight, and when he glanced above our heads, his eyes went wide, like there was a ghost floating above the doorway. Looking up behind us, I gritted my teeth. A ghost wouldn’t be too far from the truth.
The doorway was encased in large tals. Much larger than the personal ones people wore around their necks; I hadn’t realized any of these still existed outside of the vaults beneath the Hall of Ebrus. But here they were, and the soft glow of the Second Line talisman gave away my element of surprise.
I lifted my hands, but a knife flew through the air, embedding the sleeve of my shirt to the doorframe behind me. Good to know they weren’t exaggerating about the accuracy part of the Eighth Line’s powers.
He lifted another knife, and Avalon stepped in front of me like a fool. “We don’t mean any harm. We just wanted to talk?” She sounded uncertain, and I doubted that in itself was very reassuring.
The hound stood in front of her, its hackles raised in a warning growl. I didn’t have to speak to animals to know it was a threat.
Zier Tarrin stared down at the hound. “Why do you have Hayle Taeme’s animal companion?”
Giving the mutt a quick scratch at the base of his tail, Avalon raised a hand. “Hayle is my boyfriend. Braxus tends to go where I go, if Hayle can’t be with me.”
Raising a dark brow, Zier looked between the three of us.
Then, in a moment of wisdom or plain insanity, he placed the knife down on the desk in front of him.
I didn’t fool myself that he was now unarmed; he could have it in his hand and lodged in my eye in a moment, if I made a move he didn’t like.
“I’ve met Hayle Taeme many times, and I’m very sure that the man you are standing beside isn’t him.”
Avalon gave him a bright smile, and his eyes widened again. Yeah, I remembered the effect of that smile. It was… gravitational. It reset the axis on which the world spun. I didn’t think she even knew.
“I’m aware. Uh, maybe I should introduce myself? I’m Avalon Halhed, Heir to the Ninth Line… though an inconsequential Heir.”
Zier didn’t hide his surprise this time. “You’re Roman Halhed’s monstrous daughter? The one he kept locked away in the mountains because you were dangerous, before sending you to your death at Boellium?”
Snorting an unamused sound, Avalon shrugged. “Sounds about right.”
Working hard to push down the rage in my chest, I kept my face impassive. I’d read A Future History of Ebrus. I knew what Roman Halhed had done to his youngest child. His reckoning was coming.
Clearing her throat, Avalon waved a hand in my direction.
She looked at me once more for reassurance, and when I gave a small nod, she continued.
“And this is, uh, Lierick Hanovan, Heir to the Second Line. The important one,” she added, like she wasn’t the most important person in Ebrus right now.
I couldn’t contradict her in front of Baron Zier, though—he wasn’t privy to those secrets yet.
Zier’s dark eyes bore into my own. “That is impossible. The Second Line is dead.”
I gave him a smug expression, waving a hand in front of my body. “My presence, and that glowing tal up there, would suggest otherwise. Clearly, not dead.” Clearing my throat, all mirth left me as I remembered why we were here. “But without your help, the Eleventh and Twelfth Lines might be.”