It looked like I would be playing messenger from now on, as Roman had curtly refused to receive any other rebel, and I was the only one with a foot in both camps, so to speak. Or rather to speak literally, at the moment. I stood straddling the line in the street where the pattern of cobblestones changed, signaling the divide between "Old" and "New" Maenar. After running back and forth between the Assassin's Court and the Fire Bird Inn for two days, I'd gotten them to agree to meet here at midnight.
But so far the rebels were the only ones here.
"I swear to God, Laerhart, if this is a trap--"
I shrugged off Ysmay's anxiety like an annoying bug. "Roman wants this, trust me. He may be dramatic about it, but he'll be here."
She shot me a look. "Don't be so cocky, just because he'll only talk to you."
I didn't answer. Maybe I enjoyed being the only link between the rebels and the assassins, but it wasn't for my own ego.
Evvie stood next to me, eyes on the end of the street. Quieter than Ysmay, she asked, "Are you sure about this?"
I couldn't help but smile. "Don't worry. I have a good feeling about this night."
She raised an eyebrow. "Bold words. You better hope the Thief is watching over you."
"I am the Thief, you know that."
"I meant the constellation. You'll need all the luck the stars can spare, making comments like that."
I glanced up. I didn't see the Thief shining between the clouds, but I trusted more in the thief I was than the one up there anyway.
"He's here," she said softly.
I quickly looked back down. Several figures were emerging from the gloom at the end of the street with silent footsteps. One, smaller-- Roman. Two larger, behind him-- his guards. And--
"They've got an extra person," Ysmay said sharply. Cyrus, the other rebel leader accompanying us, looked up to the rooftops where our backup was stationed-- Kay, Wes, and some other female rebel.
"Should I signal?" He asked, his nervousness apparent.
"No," I said. "Leave this to me."
At that moment, they arrived close enough to our circle of lantern light that all of their identities were clear.
"Liz!" Evvie screamed suddenly, but I grabbed her wrist in an iron grip before she could run.
And it was Liz. Her cheek was scraped, her clothes dirty, and her hands tied behind her back, but she was unharmed. Her eyes brightened the moment she saw Evvie, and I nearly let her go, just for that look. But throwing herself into Roman's entourage would not have been a smart idea.
"Wait," I whispered to her.
The atmosphere was tense as Roman surveyed our group as though finding us underwhelming. "Well. We're here and we've met your demand. Are you ready to negotiate?"
"Our demand?" Ysmay hissed to me.
I blinked with exaggerated confusion. "I-- wait, did you not tell me you wouldn't meet with him unless we got Liz back? I could have sworn we had that conversation."
She stared at me.
"Dammit," I sighed. "I guess I haven't quite got this messenger thing down yet. Well, live and learn. You should tell him to send her over now."
On my other side, Evvie looked away from Liz for a single moment in disbelief, and I smirked.
People should really stop underestimating what I'll do for my friends.
"You could have ruined this deal," Ysmay hissed. "Making demands we didn't even ask for."
"I told you, Roman wants this. I don't know why, but he has something he thinks you can help him with."
"We know why," Evvie muttered. I almost broke off to ask her, but Ysmay didn't look like she'd tolerate interruptions at this point.
"He was never going to throw the deal away just because we asked for a little extra," I told her.
"We didn't ask!"
"Well, he thinks you did, so I'd make the most of it." There had been no way I was going to wait and let Ysmay get Liz back at her own pace. My way was faster, and Evvie needed her. Hell, we all missed her. This was what friends did for each other.
She clenched her teeth, giving me a look that promised nothing short of murder, but faced Roman again. "Give us Hakava."
"I assume that's the girl," Roman said to one guard, tone bored as always. But I thought there was an edge in his voice, nerves or excitement or something dangerous. I kept my eyes on him as Liz walked to our side, wondering if Evvie had been right and I'd been too confident about tonight. I was sure he wanted this deal too badly to try any tricks, but I had a sudden sense of foreboding. Like there was something coming I couldn't predict.
Roman didn't give us time for a heartfelt homecoming. "The spymaster is being kept in the clock tower."
"Clock tower?" I muttered to Cyrus.
He inclined his head to our left, and I looked up at the narrow building that stood a few stories taller than the tenements around us, peaking above their roofs. "That seems a little obvious."
"There's a basement. Used by assassins for prisoners they don't want to risk getting inside their court, or so rumors say."
"I suppose we follow you?" Ysmay said to Roman.
"I suppose you do." He directed his sneer to our backup on the roof. "If you have someone up there to authenticate the prisoner, you may bring them down, but you will have to trade them for one of your current number."
Ysmay looked briefly surprised by his generosity. "Evvie, take Lisbetha somewhere to get cleaned up. And someone get Dell down here."
It took me a moment to catch the name, but I knew her face the moment she had scaled the wall down to the ground and the lantern light caught her brown hair drawn secretively around her face and her closed off stance.
Dell, from the Capital rebels, Aiden's spymaster.
"What is she doing here?" I demanded.
"Dell defected to us from the royal spies," Cyrus explained. "She knows what the spymaster looks like."
"So?"
"We need her to make sure we're not being duped by a fake spymaster."
I scowled. "She's been in Maenar this whole time?"
"No, we had to spend a load of money to have a mage contact Aiden and have her travel down here at breakneck speed to be here by tonight, so this better be worth it."
"We're not on good terms."
"Given your track record, I'd be more surprised if you were on good terms," he snorted. "I'm sure you'll manage."
Not if Aiden was responsible for Jaden, and I didn't know he wasn't, and I didn't know Dell hadn't helped him. If he was. It was a lot of ifs, but I still didn't want to see her.
She flashed me a dark look as she joined us, but said nothing.
"We're ready," Ysmay told Roman, and without a word he turned and led us down an alley toward the clock tower. No one spoke as his guards fell in behind us and we began walking. I made sure to place myself as a buffer between Roman and the rebels, watching the swish of his dark cloak in the slight wind.
He did walk like a royal. In long strides, like no one could possibly be stupid enough to get in his way. It brought to mind the rebels' worries about the prophecy. King Roman of Solangia... I had to admit it wasn't a pleasant idea, but it also didn't seem likely. I couldn't imagine the steps that would bring the King of Assassins to being the king of the country.
Even if Nemia killing King Aeric also seemed vastly unlikely. If the two options were Roman becoming king or Nemia killing the king, I was more likely to believe in the latter.
Roman stopped suddenly and I nearly ran into him. I had to steady myself with a hand on the nearest wall, feeling foolish.
"Graceful," Roman commented, barely turning his head in my direction as he slotted a key into a lock.
"Shut up."
"And they said the Royal Thief had a cat's balance." There was a hint of a smirk on his face.
"For God's sake--"
The door we'd stopped at had already opened and he ducked through it. I followed, grumbling in indignation, down the steep, cold stairway. At the bottom a torch glowed on either side of the doorway, burning down to their embers and casting no more light than was needed to make out the stark cell.
It was stone floor to ceiling, and small, even smaller for the prisoner who was chained against the wall. Sitting, which I guess was a small comfort, though the manacles on his arms and the chains on his legs that barely gave him room to move must have been uncomfortable from the start and nearly unbearable by now. He slumped against the wall, staring at the floor.
But what caught my eye was his hair. It was blonde, but streaked through with brown dye. I had seen evidence of that dye on only one person before.
There was already a heavy stone sinking in my stomach before Caer lifted his eyes from the floor and met my stare, his jaw locked and his eyes burning with anger.
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Sorry about the weird update times recently, now that I've got my laptop back we should be back to normal! One other thing, I recently posted a new story, it's something I pre-wrote so I'll be updating parts quickly. Ah, I don't know how much shameless self-promoting is too much so I'll just leave that there, it would mean a lot if you would check it out but it's not at all like The Guardian Cycle so basically do what you want with that information, love you guys and not sorry about the cliffhanger whoops bye