21. Winter #3
He paused, searching for the right words. Seriously searching. So far, he’d told no lies. But now… Now he couldn’t see a way around the use of deceitful dialogue.
“She’s kind of busy and can’t make it back here right now.” He shrugged.
No lie yet. Only embellished half-truths.
“She’s looking for a guy who might be able to help that one.” He jabbed a point toward the elder’s room. “And I offered my assistance. I came here to grab any information that might help me find the guy for her.”
Winter held his face blank of any expression other than a restful calm, but his heart raged, beating the gallop of a herd of horses.
He hadn’t lied. He’d used only bits and pieces of the truth, but no blatant lie. He had offered his services, albeit unbeknownst to Raven. And the reason for his presence at the pub was to help find a connection to Valen…mostly.
Aoes pursed his lips and shook his head. Never before had Winter tried to pull a con on the master pretender and swindler, his loyal and sometimes hard-to-trust friend.
“That one, huh? Aldine?” Aoes glanced over Winter with an expression that suggested he could read every possible unsaid truth on Winter’s person.
“The old dude almost kicked into the next world a while ago. The situation was grim, and I was certain he was a goner. Death was standing bedside. Leering over him, I have no doubt. But then, just like a radical change in the weather, the old dude rallied. Is now holding his own.”
Winter blinked. “That’s good, right?”
Aldine’s situation appeared far graver than he had realized. And had the guy passed on without Raven or Chace present, what would that have done to them?
What would become of him if Raven died while he was away? Would guilt and remorse overwhelm him?
She’s not going to die. And besides, I hardly know her.
“I think so,” Aoes replied. Creases formed at the edges of his eyes. “But I have trouble believing Raven sent you here. She’s nice and all, but she’s also rather untrusting and secretive. They all are.”
Winter raised and dropped his chin in one strong nod. “It’s not so much that she sent me as that she needed me to come.”
Not a lie exactly.
“What’s going on?” Aoes stepped forward and started to reach for him but lowered his hand back to his side.
Winter scrutinized his friend’s stance, searching for any tells of hidden knowledge he tried to conceal.
“I know you listen to everything, see everything,” Winter said. “Even that which you’re not supposed to. What do you know about their connection to Valen?”
Aoes’s features relaxed into something akin to acceptance. “You know me too well, don’t you, my friend?”
“I like to think I do,” Winter replied and cocked a brow. A silent plea for helpful information. “I’m rather short of time. So can you help me or not?”
Aoes tilted his head. “What’s in it for me?”
Winter fought the desire to strangle the wanted answers out of his friend. Aoes always made everything a game, played every situation in this manner, but neither Winter nor Raven—Raven especially—had time for such antics.
Winter’s response slipped out low and laced with warnings. “You’d be helping a friend. Several, actually. If you call these newcomers friends.”
Aoes frowned. “Doesn’t seem like much of a reward for any prized information.”
“Just tell me, Aoes! Tell me now.” Winter held his shaking hands in tight fists at his sides, afraid of what he might do if he released his hold.
Raven remained laid out at Camilla’s. For all he knew, she could be dying…or worse…falling into the in-between state where others like Earl and Myla had become trapped.
“Okay. Fine. But you owe me.” Aoes stepped forward and gently closed the door to Aldine’s room.
He scanned the corridor, confirming they were still alone in the upper space.
“I heard Raven and Chace talking last night. Something about a letter from her dad, I think. In the letter, her dad told her to find Valen. But I don’t see how—”
“Do you know where the letter is now?”
Maybe Raven didn’t know Valen at all. Winter rather preferred that train of thought. But either way, he thought the best course of action would be to gather as much information as possible. Like everything her father might have mentioned about Valen and why she should seek him out.
Aoes shrugged. “In her room, I would assume.”
The locked room.
Winter scratched the back of his neck. Asking Aoes for the key might be pushing things too far, but he needed more information if he was going to help Raven. Plus, since he was here, grabbing her a change of clothes would be a nice gesture.
Approaching footsteps sounded on the stairs. Both males tensed and turned toward the stairwell.
Chace climbed into view, his hairline dripping with sweat and his face and hands smeared with soot. Every ounce of him looked ready to drop for the night, yet when his attention flickered to Aoes and Winter, his shoulders straightened, and his jaw tightened.
Chace’s gaze narrowed with suspicions and accusations. “What are you doing at Raven’s door? And why do you both look like you’ve just been caught in a crime?”