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I consider my options. I could raise the alarm and tell the guards what I saw … who I saw. But what would be the point in that? I’d rather have a debt owed to me, and one never knows when one might need a favor, even from a servant. In fact, I have something in mind.
I look around, making sure no one else is taking a late-night stroll and that the guards aren’t doing their rounds yet as I amble over to the lamp and climb the pole deftly, licking my fingers and snuffing the flame inside the glass. The wide staircase up to the ramparts is now in darkness.
I drag Yeith’s body over to the stone steps, and, gripping him under his arms, I begin to drag him laboriously up them. At least he’s not leaving a trail of blood as the knife is still in him, stoppering the wound.
He’s heavy as fuck, and I almost lose my footing several times before I make it to the top, the exertion leaving me panting even though Kallum and Dane make sure I train extra hard to combat my hours in the classrooms each day.
I wait at the top, knowing that the loud chimes that mark the twelfth hour will ring soon. I heave the troll up onto the wall, and when I hear the first clang of the bell, I push him off into the river below so the second clang masks the splash.
The job done, I lightfoot it back down the steps and into the main building where my office and room are. I pause as I cross the threshold, deciding not to wait to talk to the others. There’s something niggling at me about Thalia. There always has been, if I’m honest, but I’ve never noticed anything overtly suspicious about her before, not enough to feel the need to keep my eye on her anyway. Well, not until I saw Yeith throttling her, and she drove that knife into his chest. But there’ll be time to unravel her secrets if I decide it’s worth my while. It’s not as if there’s anywhere for her to run off to where we wouldn’t find her within half a day. No one can hide in Alcana for long.
Yeith’s body will still be found tomorrow, but no one will realize he was killed here. They’ll assume he was trying to find a troll to mate within the city somewhere, considering the moon.
I traverse the mud of the courtyard and leave the academy via the small door by the side of the main gate, making my way towards a narrow building on the row with a tankard on a sign hanging over the door.
I go inside and find the others where I left them not half an hour ago, sitting at a dingy table in a gloomy corner. They both look surprised to see me as I sit back down in my seat.
Neither of them bothers to ask any questions. They just sit silently, assessing.
‘You got robbed by one of your whores on the way back to your room,’ Kal guesses.
‘No,’ Dane says, looking like his old self for a moment as he grins. ‘He can’t hold his drink as well as he thought. The cunt forgot where his room is.’
Kal cackles, and I roll my eyes at them both.
‘Better,’ I say quietly, a gleam in my eye.
They both lean forward just a little, and I know their interests are piqued, though they outwardly pretend to be bored by my words.
‘Go on then,’ Dane says, glancing around to make sure there are no ears listening. I already know no one’s close enough to hear my quiet words, though.
‘I think I found the servant who’s going to get us into Sharpe’s office without the wards sensing an intrusion.’
‘But we’re still compiling information on them,’ Kal says.
‘Which one?’ Dane mutters incredulously.
‘Thalia.’
Kallum rolls his eyes. ‘We already discussed her and decided she was too risky, remember? No one knows anything about her that we could use to keep her quiet and she’s massive. Too inconspicuous.’
I grin. ‘I have something we can use. It will definitely keep her mouth shut. She’ll do anything and everything we want. I guarantee it.’
‘All right, I’ll bite,’ Dane says. ‘What did you see her do?’
‘Murder Yeith.’
Kal’s eyes widen a little in surprise and Dane’s narrow.
‘Did she see you?’ Dane asks, taking a long drink.
‘No, I watched her run off, and then I dumped the body. If anyone asks tomorrow, say you saw him staggering around the streets drunk after hours.’
‘Thalia.’ Kal sits back, assessing me. ‘Odd that it was her, and yet, not surprising in the least.’
Dane nods. ‘Aye. I know what you mean.’
‘I agree. There’s something … off about her,’ I say, staring down at the table as I go through what little I know about the she-troll.
