Chapter Five #2
Now, watching the sorcerer, all I can think is: Who do I think I am?
I bow my head, the weight of nearly two decades as a nobody crushing my temporary courage. “I’m sorry, Lady Elianna. Please forgive my impertinence.”
She inhales sharply. When I dare to look up, she’s glaring at me.
I hunch in my seat, making myself smaller. It’s one of my most-used skills—one of my most useful defenses. When the world tells you again and again that you’re nothing, it’s far too easy to shrink yourself into the size and space of their beliefs.
“Stop that right now!” Her sharp words bite into my self-recrimination.
“What? I beg your pardon—”
“That! Stop that.” She slams the locket down on the table and shoves her hand through her hair, dislodging the diadem, which she tosses carelessly on a table. “The world tries hard enough to make women small. Don’t help it do so.”
“I—”
“You’re no longer an indentured servant, Soli. The king ordered your indenture terminated. I’ve asked him to give you the papers. Please start now as you mean to go on—as a hero of Altarra. Not as a cowering mouse at the mercy of a Valourian snow leopard.”
“I … What? My papers? I’m to be free?” I start shaking but force myself to push any hope away.
The Sister Superior taunted me periodically over the years with the promise of freedom, only to withdraw it at the last possible second, again and again.
This is probably another lie, and I can’t afford to distract myself with it now.
I draw strength from the thought of both the giant snow leopards and the friend who gave one to me.
He cannot be dead. He cannot.
“I am no mouse, Air Touched,” I growl, surprising both of us, and the sorcerer nods, smiling.
“You are not. Now, let’s test the efficacy of my spellcraft.”
She hands me the locket. It’s beautiful, or would be if it were only jewelry. I take a deep breath, pull the amulet from beneath my bodice and off the cord, and carefully fit it into the locket.
“There.” She points at a tiny clasp on the side. “That will do.”
I snap the locket closed. “What happens now?”
“Now, I touch it and hope not to die.” Her smile is shaky, but her voice is level. “Please come over here by the water basin, just in case.”
She asks me to put the silver chain around my neck and hold the locket out toward her, which I do. She stares at me for a long moment, then slowly raises her hand and touches the silver case.
I realize we’re both holding our breath. I’m so tense I ache with it, and I reach out with one hand and grasp the water basin. She slowly exhales and begins to count.
When she arrives at one hundred and we’re not dead—or even on fire—she starts to laugh. I can’t help but hear the near hysteria in it.
“Wait until my Guild Leader hears about this.”
“Glad I could help your career, Air Touched,” I say dryly, which makes her laugh harder.
“Oh, Soli. It’s been a difficult few days.”
I stare at her in disbelief until she realizes what she said …
to me. Then, the ridiculousness of this entire situation, combined with an overwhelming sense of relief, washes over us.
We’re both bent over, clutching our stomachs, laughing like Thalassian loons when the servants arrive to retrieve the tray.
Their bewildered expressions set us off again, and I can barely get words of thanks out before they scurry off.
Elianna takes a roll and an apple and then nods to them to proceed.
“Air Touched—”
She smiles at me. “I think you should call me Elianna. We’ve gone past formality, haven’t we?”
I don’t know if I’ll dare. In fact, I have to stop myself from jumping up to help clear the table, both from sheer nervous energy and long-ingrained habit.
The sorcerer … Elianna … notices and shakes her head, but then a guard knocks on the open door.
He beckons her over, and they have a hushed conversation before he marches off.
She turns to me with a shadow of a smile on her face, a sheaf of papers in one hand and a valise in the other. “Trick groveled sufficiently that the king belayed his execution order. Your friend is back in the dungeon and will be part of your company.”
I sag back against the chair’s cushions, my relief so intense, I shake from it.
Something passes through the sorcerer’s eyes as she watches me. “You realize he’s going with you?”
“It makes no sense. Even if the king doesn’t expect me to survive,” I say, forcing out the words. “Trick is too far up in the hierarchy of the Thieves’ Guild to be a nobody, even if he is a criminal.”
Elianna absently lays the papers on a table, slides the valise toward me, and sits down at the table again.
“Here—clothes for your journey. He isn’t, though, Soli.
He’s been lying to you if he claimed that.
He’s merely a street thief, and not a very good one at that.
He’s been in and out of the king’s dungeons for years.
The Guild threw him out a long time ago for incompetence.
He may be well-known, and thus not a true nobody, but in terms of hierarchy and rank, he fits the description perfectly. ”
No. No. This can’t be true.
Because if my only friend lied to me so easily, then our friendship itself would be a lie. And that would knock my only solid foundation out from beneath me.
Thus, it isn’t true.
“There’s far too much to talk about if you’re going to prepare me for this adventure, so let’s put away the subject of Trick.” I jump up out of my chair and walk to the window. Looking out, I see swarms of people bustling around in the courtyard. “Is it always this busy here?”
The sorcerer sighs but lets me change the subject. “Yes, it’s always busy, but what you’re seeing are the preparations for your journey.”
I whirl to face her. “Already? I thought the king said we’d have three days to prepare. I don’t know anything about this amulet or how to wield it, or how to get to Corvynne’s domain.”
“Which is why it’s time for me to teach you everything I can.”
I catch myself touching the locket again and force my hand down. “Okay. Fine. Teach me how to pass for a poisoner.”
She nods. “First, we talk about antidotes. It’s far too easy to poison yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“And if that happens?” But I’ve read the books. I know the answer already.
She fixes me with a flat stare. “You. Die.”