The White Rose

17. The Golden One

Talon's head thumps against the door as he looks to the ceiling. "That's not an option."

Nura draws in a sharp breath, trying to bury her palpable fear. "If this Rólin is really as terrible as you're implying, then I won't leave Rephas to his mercy. But I know I can't ask you to do anything more for me. So, I'll go alone."

Talon's gaze lands on her and he studies her for a long moment, his eyes flicking between hers. Nura doesn't know what he sees, most likely her fear, but also... also the truth in her words.

She will go alone. She'll do what she must to save her husband. She's beginning to realise how much she's willing to endure for that man. She's beginning to realise how much Rephas is enduring to keep her safe. If she doesn't get him back then all of this would have been for nothing. She would have suffered all of this for nothing. She would have defied Rephas' last wish for her to stay safe for nothing.

Talon finally lets out a curse in Elvhaan, his lips pressing together. "Spirits, I'll do it. Elice wouldn't forgive me if I didn't at least try."

"Talon, I said I'd go alone."

"No, I'll go alone," he replies, turning back to the door. "I can't let anything happen to you, Nura." With that, he throws open the door and is gone again, leaving Nura behind with her shock and the arguments dying on her tongue.

She stands there for a long moment, her fingers twisting in her shirt, indecision crawling up her spine. She can't continue to sit idle and if this is the one opportunity she has of getting Rephas back... Well, she's going to make certain they don't fail.

Nura spins around and swipes up her satchel—filled with supplies she's managed to snatch on their journey—and her cloak. She slips from the room and patters down the steps of the inn, her breath stuck in her throat.

She leaves the inn before she can second guess her decision, stepping out onto the street, noting that there's less activity as the sun sets. She spots Talon's rigid back with ease and sets out after him, keeping a safe distance behind him and sticking to the shadows.

She's never been one to have to skulk through the dark like a thief, her work is conducted in the light. Everything about this leaves a bad feeling in her stomach that she can't seem to shake, but then again, nothing about her current situation should feel right. She focuses on her goal to get her husband back and ignores the rest.

Nura trails her hand along the cool brick of the buildings they walk through. She keeps her gaze on Talon, knowing if she loses him then she'll be lost and alone in this place. As a half-Human, she can imagine the reception she'll receive stumbling around trying to look for help. Nura is used to hate, she just hasn't had the opportunity yet to be targeted by Elves and she plans to keep it that way.

Ahead of her, Talon flips the hood of his cloak up and Nura gets the feeling that they're drawing nearer to the mansion and her pulse flutters in her neck.

She does the same, covering her golden-brown hair and round ears with her hood.

Talon crosses the street lit by lanterns, the cobble roads empty of people. Nura stops at the edge of the alley, chewing on her lower lip as she glances at the mansion ahead of her. The iron and brick that surrounds the manor looks too high to climb and men stand by the closed gates, guarding them with watchful gazes. Nura peers at the manor, the stone a pale cream with ivy crawling up the walls. Golden light spills from many of the glass windows and Nura's hope of getting her husband back begins to flicker like the candlelight in the manor.

Getting into that sprawling house unnoticed is beginning to look like an impossibility.

Talon doesn't approach the guards at the front gates. He avoids them, rounding the fence to approach the rear of the manor. Nura follows, hoping he has some sort of a plan that doesn't get them both caught.