Had Paxton’s suggestion backfired?
Something had gone wrong.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
JASE
“Don’t,” Synové whispered. “Don’t even think about it.”
She’d caught me staring at the Ballenger Inn. From the side of the livery, I had a view of one lit window. Something was going on there tonight. A party of some sort. And I knew in my gut, Kazi was there. She’s working for the king now. I knew that wasn’t possible, but something was keeping her there. What was it? Blackmail? What could Montegue be holding over her head?
“It’s hard not to think about it,” I answered. Hard didn’t begin to describe it. My insides churned as I tried to come up with a way to get in the inn, some way to get her out, and my eyes ached with staring at that window hoping for one small glimpse of her. She was so close, but I couldn’t get to her. I had already run through a hundred possibilities, but what excuse would a Kbaaki trader give to the guards posted at every entrance? A fake party invitation? Force my way in? Did she even know I was alive?
Synové leaned against the stable wall beside me, the night so black I could barely see that she was there at all. She sighed. “I know what it’s like not to be able to get to someone and help them. When Kazi went missing that first day, I wanted into Tor’s Watch so bad I was ready to kill all those wretched watchdogs of yours and your guards too. I could have, you know? All of them.”
Synové ran hot and cold on confidence. Right now she ran hot. “Maybe,” I answered. “My guards are pretty good shots.”
“Pretty good?” She snorted. “That’s about as impressive as a half-finished bridge across a river.”
“Then what stopped you?”
“Wren. She talked me out of it. It wasn’t part of the plan. She knew it was just my emotion all charged up. We work well together that way. Balance, Kazi calls it. We keep each other’s heads straight.”
“Is that what you’re doing now? Trying to keep my head straight?”
“She’s all the family I’ve got, Patrei. Her and Wren. I’m not going to lose her because you want to kill a bunch of dogs.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, grateful she couldn’t see me in the dark. I’m not going to lose her either.
I pushed off from the livery wall. Forget the party invitation. I needed some power, and I knew where to get it. “Aleski’s not going to show. Let’s get out of here.” Our next stop was to retrieve my lone hidden weapon and a bag of ammunition. There was no sense in waiting, but Synové put an arm out to stop me.
“Pack up now? We need rest, Patrei, and Wren is rustling up some food for us, not to mention traveling at night would draw attention.”
“We can eat on the road. And I know back roads—”
“The streets. First we have to get through these damn streets that have eyes on every corner. What are you going to say when they ask you where you’re going at this hour? You can’t—”
The livery door flew open, golden light spilling across the alley. It was Wren. Her expression made both Synové and me draw our weapons.
“We have a problem,” she confirmed.
I stepped forward and looked through the doorway. Aleski stood behind her—and he had brought company.
“I’m sorry, Patrei,” Aleski said. “I had no choice. I had to tell them.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
KAZI
Was it urgency or anger I heard in his voice? I mentally prepared my answer for him, but as soon as he shut the chamber door, he turned and said something entirely different from what I was expecting. “You lied to me this evening.”
I was at a loss, and my mind raced trying to think what misstep I had made. Nearly everything about me was a lie. “I don’t know what—”
“You claimed you were absorbed with your food, but it was Zane you were absorbed with. You loathe him. Why?”
Zane. My skin crawled at just the mention of his name.
I shook my head and turned away, but in two steps, the king was next to me, his hand gripping my arm, but not in a threatening way. “Tell me,” he said quietly.