The Gold in the Dark

Chapter Thirty-Seven

"We have to," she answered, lowering her knife. She turned back to Roge's mother. "What must we do?"

"You'll keep your heads down and follow me," Lorna replied, setting off down the hallway at a quick pace without checking to see if they were following. Tia and Natlin exchanged a glance and after a second followed Lorna's lead. Natlin resumed her position by Tia's side, helping her walk, and the boy brought up the rear. His tears had slowed, but every few steps he cast a look backwards.

The quiet corridor soon joined up with another hallway. This one was busier, and servants scurried up and down the hall on various errands. They rounded one corner and then another. So far there was no sign of any guards—until Tia caught sight of a man clad in the customary red come around the corner thirty feet ahead. He was heading straight for them.

She grasped Lorna's shoulder with a shaking hand. "What—?"

"Just through here," Lorna murmured below her breath, and pushed open a door to their right, revealing a small room full of cleaning supplies. "I don't think he's seen you. Heads down!" she whisper-shouted at them as they shuffled into the room. She shut the door behind them with a quiet click, and they waited there in heart-racing silence for a whole minute before daring to speak.

"Hopefully you'll be safe here for the time being," Lorna said, casting a weary look around the cramped room. There were no windows—no way to escape, and certainly no place for three people to hide.

"We're very grateful for whatever help you can offer us, Mistress Sempis," Natlin said.

"I'm happy to help," Lorna said, looking anything but. She turned to Tia. "I saw you in the courtyard and knew straightaway you'd spent time at the academy. You dancers all move the same."

"Her son and I were dance partners at the academy," Tia explained to her sister.

"Something more than that, was how Roge explained it to me," Lorna said. "I heard you tell the secretary your name, and I remembered that you and my Roge—" Her voice broke, and her eyes shone with moisture.

"Where is Roge?" Tia asked her gently.

Lorna turned her head away, and her voice shook as she answered. "He's gone. Gone to Ithiron, to look for his father."

"Ithiron!"

"He came to visit me a few days back. Said he hated the city, that he wanted to leave and see the rest of Hygot. He wasn't sure if he'd ever even wanted to dance in the company. After all these years—can you imagine?" Her shoulders drooped lower.

"I just wanted him to calm down," Lorna said, her voice a bare whisper. She wrung her hands, her knuckles white. "He was talking rash nonsense—that he was done with Haplyr, was thinking about joining a trade caravan heading to Ithiron. I-I told him it wouldn't matter if he found his father, because he was much too important a figure in those parts to care about an illegitimate son." Tia sucked in a breath. "I'd never told him any details about his father except that he hailed from Ithiron and visited Haplyr in a delegation." She sniffled. "He said he'd stay the night here, and we'd talk it over in the morning. I was just happy he wasn't charging off onto the road. When I woke up, he was gone."

Tia laid a hand on Lorna's shoulder. "Don't blame yourself."

Lorna fished a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. "Thank you, dearie. I can't help but worry. It's a long journey to Ithiron. He could lose the way, get robbed..." She lapsed into melancholy silence, her eyes resting on Natlin and the boy in the corner. Natlin was hugging the boy close to her side again, and though his tears had slowed to a trickle, he looked lost in his own world.