Chapter 8 #2
As for myself, I wouldn’t have minded following, and throwing a bar across the door, because I had no idea which lie Aven was referring to.
There were many to choose from. My heart did a flip in my chest, and my palms grew sweaty.
I crossed my arms in a mirror of their pose to hide the way I trembled, hoping to exude powerful warrior woman who knew how to use a sword.
I think all I managed was girl who might possibly be constipated and maybe knew to use the pointy end of the weapon strapped to her hip.
I forced a laugh. “Lie to royalty. Me? Preposterous. I am astounded and insulted that you would even dare accuse me of such a thing.” Ancients!
I’d oversold it. I was going to be marched back to the king and queen and made to repay all the gold that I didn’t have any longer or spend my lifetime in a dungeon.
“I mean, what lie?” I said with a scoff.
“Lying is morally wrong and reprehensible and—”
“What is wrong with you?” Aven said, scrunching their nose.
“I’m on edge!”
“I can tell!” Aven dropped their arms. “I didn’t mean to do that,” they said, softer. “I was joking. That was a joke, as was the mutton remark. Ha ha. A playful, funny type of statement.”
Now who was overselling?
“You are really bad at jokes.” My voice came out entirely too breathy, but my body still thrummed with anxiety and the urgent need to overexplain.
“Noted,” they said with a sigh. “I was referring to our last interaction at the castle. You declared, quite loudly, that you were planning to retire. But I… uh, the king heard through the very fast rumor network that you might have taken on another quest.”
Huh. Word traveled surprisingly fast. “How does he even know about that?”
“Royals have their ways.”
“Are you lot spying on me?”
Aven sputtered, “What? No.” They laced their fingers together in front of them. “But is it true? Are you questing again?”
“What business is it of yours if I am or not?” And that was a little harsh. Maybe I did need Zig’s social skills. “I mean… how did the Crown find out?”
“The news of your argument with the council of mages—”
“Duo of mages,” I corrected quickly. “There’s only two of them. And they wear ugly hats.”
Aven scrunched their nose again, as if processing information.
“Okay. The king and queen heard about the argument you had with a duo of badly dressed mages. They know as well as you do that you would never allow anything awful to befall your brother, so even without your declaration this morning, you were going to take on the quest.”
“Okay. And that involves you how?”
“I’m coming with you.” They cleared their throat. “By order of the king.”
My heart stopped beating as my brain processed the shock. Aven? Coming with? How? Why? What? Luckily, my brain kicked back in, as did my now-thrumming heart.
“Absolutely not!” It was one thing to drag my foolish brother along on a quest, but it was entirely another to bring a quest rival, a royal person. Especially since there would be no way to hide that I had actually lied about the whole being-the-best-at-questing thing. “No way.”
“It’s a royal order. You don’t have much of a choice, Ellinore.”
Oh no. “Why would the king and queen be concerned that I’ve taken on a quest, anyway? Don’t they have more-pressing worries? Aren’t they ruling an entire kingdom?”
Aven huffed. “Do you not remember announcing your retirement in the middle of the great hall?”
“Um… yes?”
“And do you not remember my uncle’s displeasure at hearing that, and how my aunt stepped in and said you’d be resting before the summer tournaments?”
“Yes?” I said, voice a squeak.
Aven crossed their arms, looking unfairly smug. “Taking on another quest is the opposite of resting and is in direct defiance of a royal’s decree.” They nonchalantly rubbed their knuckles on their fine sleeve. “Thus they sent me to accompany you. To supervise.”
I sputtered in disbelief. I scrambled for a reason to keep Aven from joining.
“You would just get in the way.”
Aven snorted, for real snorted, like a piglet with an attitude. “Get in the way? I’m the best chance you have at finding the Elder Beast.”
“How?”
Aven’s mouth pulled into a smug grin. “Because I know the last person who saw it. And I know where they live.”
Well, shit.
“So if I allow you to tag along—”
“You’re not allowing me. I’m coming if you like it or not,” Aven said. “I will be observing, of course, by royal order.”
My throat went as dry as the sand on the southern shore at noon. “Observing?” I managed.
“Yes. You’re the best. I know that. I want to see for myself how you accomplish what you do.
The king said that I could learn from you.
” They paused, back stiff, their face entirely red in what I supposed was embarrassment.
“And the king has come to the conclusion that accompanying you is the best way for me to do so.”
Okay. I would have to unpack the tremor in their voice later. I had a brother to save. And ancients forbid, Aven might be my only lead. But… I couldn’t let them see how I accomplished things, because the king and queen would be absolutely livid. I’d end up in a dungeon or worse.
“You could just give me the information, and I’ll complete the quest and come back and tell you everything.”
Their brow furrowed. “Absolutely not,” they parroted.
I crossed my arms. “So if I don’t give in to you, you would let my brother die? You would be that cruel?”
They wavered. They rubbed the toe of their boot in the dirt, leaning too close to the fence, where Rainbow eagerly waited for another nibble at the fancy hem of their tunic.
A flicker of indecision swept across their features, but then their royal blank mask slid into place. “It’s go with me or don’t go at all.”
“What?” I yelled. “You can’t keep me from—”
“I can. The Crown can. And they will,” Aven said in the detached, imperious tone I’d heard them use on lords and ladies of the court. “You certainly wouldn’t allow your stubbornness to impede finding the solution for your brother. Would you?”
My blood boiled. I’d never really disliked Aven.
They were fun to tease, and they were a great competitor, having kept me on my toes a few times over the years.
But in this moment I was kind of disgusted.
“Okay,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
And despite my better judgment screaming at me to hit Aven over the head and search through their pockets and saddlebags for the information, then run, I acquiesced.
“You can join us. But Zig comes first,” I said, pointing my finger.
“He’s priority. If I feel that you are hindering me in any way, I’ll cut you loose. ”
Aven raised their hands. “Understood.”
“Okay.” I swallowed the lump of anger that had formed in my throat. It wouldn’t do me any good and would only distract me. “You’re part of the team. Let me get packed and we’ll be off.”
Aven shook their head. “I just rode from the castle. My horse needs a good night’s rest. And you probably have more to do than just pack. Like feed your suspect sheep.” They cast a glance at the paddock, eyebrow raised as Bleep bleated in response and Rainbow stomped her feet.
I hated that they were right. I needed a good rest myself. I needed to pack. And I needed to figure out how to fake being an honest quester before both Aven and Zig figured out that I was the biggest fraud in the history of the kingdom.
“We’ll meet at first light,” I said.
Aven nodded. “I’ll be at the Griff-Inn,” they said with thinly veiled disbelief at the name. “Come find me in the morning.”
“Okay. See you then.”
Aven mounted their horse and tugged on the reins to point it in the direction of town.
“For the record,” I said, “I had retired. I didn’t lie about that.”
Aven regarded me with an unreadable expression. “Good to know.” Then they rode off down the path. I reluctantly headed inside, to find my brother with his ear pressed to the window, obviously eavesdropping.
“What are you doing?”
Zig jumped. He grinned. “So that was the infamous Princet Aven. How do you not have a crush on them? They’re literally the image of royalty from the bards’ tales. If they didn’t already have massive heart eyes for you, I’d totally shoot my shot. They’re hot, and I bet they have a ton of gold.”
“Gross,” I said, but with no bite. “And you’re wrong. They do not have heart eyes for me. That’s just how they are.”
“Sure, believe that. I see why you two get along. You’re like peas in an odd pod.” Zig hummed as he stepped away from the window and began gathering items for the journey. “And did I hear they are joining us on our journey?”
“We don’t get along. Or did you not hear them just threaten me… us?”
“Yeah, with a good time.”
I didn’t respond to that. Instead I sank heavily into the seat at the kitchen table and dropped my head into my hands. “Yes, they are accompanying us.”
“That’s great. Three is a lucky number.” He stuffed a balled-up tunic into his bag. “I have a good feeling.”
Ugh. I was glad he did. I would need all the luck I could get to save Zig and somehow keep Aven from finding out about my less-than-truthful ways of winning.
Even without luck, I couldn’t fail. Failing meant Zig’s life.
Succeeding meant handing over a powerful artifact to a duo of pricks.
I knew which one was worse for me, but it was a roll of dice which was worse for the world at large.
But it was a risk I had to take.