Chapter 15 #3
Ziven takes a sip, then says, “Renel, I don’t mean to meddle, but… You just called Tarlia stinky.”
I’m not sure what he means. “She was upset she was smelling bad, was she not?”
He takes a deep breath. “Yes, but when she said she was stinky, you should have said she wasn’t.”
That doesn’t make sense. “First, I can’t lie. Second, I rushed to make sure she got a place to clean herself, didn’t I?”
Ziven traces the rim of the cup with his finger. “It’s just that when girls say something negative about themselves, you shouldn’t agree with them.”
I frown, and to my surprise, Mirella does the same, and asks, “So you lie to them?”
“No, but you say something nice. If she tells you she stinks, you tell her she’s still gorgeous or something.”
I’m not following his reasoning. “I should state an obvious fact? And what does one thing have to do with the other?”
He waves a hand. “Nevermind.”
The inn owner thankfully interrupts the nonsensical conversation and brings us a large pot with soup, bowls, a jug of juice and more cups, and then leaves us.
Mirella tilts her head. “Do human men deceive women?”
Ziven raises a shoulder. “Sometimes. Don’t fae men do that?”
“No,” I say, while Mirella shrugs.
I look at the stairs again and see Tarlia coming down, her hair wet, wearing a bright yellow dress. I’m so relieved to see that she’s here, that she’s fine, and yet she doesn’t look at me.
When she gets near the table, I smile at her. “Feeling better?”
“Yes.” Tarlia then takes the chair beside mine, but instead of sitting on it, she pulls it around the table and places it between Ziven and Mirella. I want to tell myself that she wants to sit in front of me, but in truth it’s obvious she wants to sit by the human prince.
My heart sinks, its heaviness about to spread an ugly feeling through my body, but I do my best to ignore it. We were never anything to each other, and either way, rescuing her was my duty.
I pass her a bowl with soup. “It shouldn’t upset your stomach.”
Tarlia gives me a curt smile, then devours the contents of her bowl. I eat just a little, and so does Mirella, while Ziven takes a full bowl. Human appetites, I suppose. At least they’ll get along.
Tarlia takes two more servings, and when she’s almost done, I look around to ensure we aren’t being watched, and pass her the sundering dagger.
“What’s that?” she asks.
“It can cut bonds,” I explain. “You don’t have magic, but it’s worth a try. So you cut whatever ties you had with Zorwal.”
She stares at the black blade and shakes her head. “I think the only thing I can do with this is stab someone.”
“Just hold the dagger,” I say. “Then imagine you’re cutting any ties you had with him.”
Tarlia takes a deep breath, waves the dagger back and forth, then passes it to me, and I put it back in its holster. There’s no way to know if it worked.
Mirella turns to her. “I don’t think you would have been able to escape if you were bound to him.”
Tarlia sighs. “It’s what I hope.”
Ziven taps on the table. “Am I the only one wondering where we’re going?”
Mirela narrows her eyes at me. “I think my dear stepbrother is delaying his part of the deal.”
There’s nothing to delay, since our deal never specified any timeframe. “No,” I say. “First, it’s a precaution. Second…” I check our surroundings to see if we’re being overheard.
“If I had my magic, I could isolate the air around us,” Mirella says. “So no sound would leak.”
“You can do that?” Ziven sounds curious.
“Yes.” She smiles. “Sound is a wave, you know, like ripples on a river. And I can stop them.” She sounds smug as always when talking about her magic, and yet her smile reminds me of when she was young, before everything.
Before she decided to spend her time tormenting me and all that was left in her face was a cruel smirk.
It’s strange to think that there was a time when I didn’t hate her. It was also a time when my family was alive, happy, when she was nothing more than an acquaintance; the daughter of the man my father served.
But no reminders of her long forgotten innocence will make me trust her, and I’m not going to let her have her magic back yet.
“We can whisper,” I say. “There’s nobody within earshot. The Misty Court has the oldest library in the continent, and it’s only some two hours walking. We’re going there.”
Mirella points at herself and Tarlia. “Why do we need to go?”
“We need to ensure they can’t trace us, and the queen’s castle should be safe if we invoke the ancient cordiality ties. It makes sense.” In reality, I just want to postpone bringing Mirella to the island, but I don’t want to say that.
I pass the transcending note to Ziven. “Tell them we’re safe for now and where we’re going.”
Mirella narrows her eyes at the note.“This is fae magic. Why him?”
“His opus stone magic works. We tested it.”
Ziven takes the note and writes with his fingers, Mirella watching him carefully, I suppose to try to gleam what he’s saying.
“Wait,” Tarlia says. “I need to tell you what I heard.” She points to the note. “Who’ll read this?”
“Lidiane, Azur, Astra…”
Tarlia frowns as if puzzled for a second, then says, “All right. So it might be important. Otavio visited Zorwal.”
Mirella stares at her with a blank face, and Tarlia adds, “My human master. Or Tiurian master. Both he and Zorwal mentioned a king who, according to them, will rise and lead them, and it seems that they’re somehow linked, even if they should keep a physical distance for some reason.
Their minds are connected and getting more and more connected.
They also mentioned a heart that they think was found, because the bonds were cut. ”
“Astra found it,” Ziven says. “And cut the bonds.”
Tarlia blinks. “It’s what I thought. Zorwal thinks Otavio found it, because he’s Tiurian, I suppose. He pressed Otavio to reveal who found the heart, but he didn’t say it. I don’t think he’ll let the matter rest, though. He could be tracing Otavio or following him.”
“Are they allies or not?” Ziven asks.
“I think they’re connected, but they’d rather not be. I don’t think Otavio supports this king either. He sort of suggested treason.” She looks at us. “You all know who this king is, don’t you?”
“The Witch King,” I say.
She grimaces. “Wasn’t he killed three hundred…” She snorts. “By beheading. Right. I see the issue.”
I whisper, “Marlak is going to kill the Witch King right now. I’ll tell you more later. But what I’m thinking is that both Otavio and Zorwal are the anchors. He’ll need to kill them too.”
“Anchors?” Tarlia blinks. “It seems that if one of them is hurt, so is the other, and then maybe… Maybe if they’re hurt… I’m not sure.”
“I’ll write that,” Ziven says.
Mirella crosses her arms. “If we need to help my brother kill these two, how is a library going to help?”
For a moment I recall all those times when she mocked my love for books. Annoyed, I roll my eyes. “How? How can books ever help?”
“To figure out how to kill them.” Tarlia shrugs.
Mirella shrugs. “I thought you had figured it out.”
I take a deep breath. “We think so, sure, but are we right? Is there something we’re missing? Benda’s library is older than three hundred years. Whatever information the Crystal Court had about the Witch King, was removed, hidden. By Zorwal, certainly. So the Misty Court library is our best bet.”
“Are you sure she’ll help you?” Mirella asks. “She’ll want something in exchange for giving you access to her books.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
Ziven finishes writing, then says, “I have an important question. Where did you get the horses?”
“There’s always a royal stable near the castle. Since many guards returned, I figured they would have brought some horses.” I grin. “And I was right.”
“So you just stole them?” Ziven asks.
“Took them,” I clarify. “And nobody stopped me. Now, we’ll have to leave them behind, as they might draw too much attention. But when I took them, all I wanted was to gain some distance from the castle.”
Tarlia pushes her bowl. “I’m done. Let’s go.”
No smile on her face, and I don’t know if she’s upset we’re traveling, still in distress because of Zorwal, or angry at me.
Once we get to Benda’s castle, hopefully I’ll have some time to talk to her and figure it out.
I also hope to find out what my vicious stepsister wants.
And if we can uncover some more information about the Witch King’s anchors, it will be great.
At least if Lidiane reads Ziven’s note, they’ll be aware that they also need to kill Otavio, so that’s helpful.
Onward we go.