‘I know she has,’ he replied.
‘Does it not bother you?’
Jude huffed out a laugh. ‘Of course it does.’
‘I think…’ Elden paused for a long moment. ‘I think her being here is a good thing. Maybe.’
‘How?’ Jude asked incredulously.
‘You’ve been away from the Abbey a very long time,’ Elden replied. ‘You’ve beenherea long time.’
‘So have you.’
Elden nodded. The line between his brows deepened as he stared down at his feet. Worry suffused Jude’s chest. The Abbey already had their claws in Jude, and he would be damned if they dug them any deeper into Elden. He couldn’t allow Maeve’s questioning to continue.
‘So have I,’ Elden echoed. ‘But that’s not what I mean.’
Honestly.Jude started walking. Mud splashed up his legs with every step.
‘She’s fragile,’ Elden called. ‘More than you think. It reminds me of you when I first arrived.’
Jude stopped walking. Closed his eyes. Without quite thinking about it, he placed his hand over his right hip and squeezed. The symbol marked there –BELONGING– was one of the first he tattooed.
Elden laid a hand on his shoulder, the kind of casual touch Jude usually only allowed after careful consideration. Now, it just made him grit his teeth.
‘She’s searching for a safe place to land. Whatever happened at the Abbey to make her leave, whatever she’s searching for here, I don’t think it’s just information on you. I don’t think it’s just to paint an icon, despite what she might say.’
‘You think she’s searching for something?’ Jude retorted, turning to face Elden. The other man’s hand dropped off his shoulder.
‘Of course she is,’ Elden replied. ‘Whatever she’s putting in those letters—’
‘Letters?’
Before Elden could elaborate, Jude spun on his heel and made for the postbox nailed into the gatepost. It would be collected tomorrow morning if he had his dates correctly. If Maevehadleft a letter there for the Abbey, it would still be inside. Vaguely, he heard Elden call his name as he wrenched open the metal door to the little cubby.
A single white envelope lay inside.
Jude shoved it in his pocket.
Elden arrived, breath puffing in a cloud in front of him as he stared down at where Jude’s hand disappeared into his coat. ‘Show it to me,’ he said, nothing in his voice a question.
For an agonizing second, Jude debated ignoring his demand and leaving, but the last thing he wanted was for Elden to be on the spying iconographer’s side and not his. Sighing, Jude pulled out the letter and flipped it over to read the address. ‘Maeve’sletter to the Abbey. It’s addressed to a man called Ezra. Probably her mentor.’
Elden didn’t reply. His gaze was fixed doggedly on the envelope.
Jude scowled. Leave it to Elden to disapprove when he was the one who had given him the idea in the first place. He turned back towards the waiting house. ‘I’ll let you know if I find anything interesting,’ he called.
Elden’s reply was lost to the wind.
11
Jude
Candlelight cast long shadows over Jude’s desk late the following day. Each score across the wood stood out in sharp relief. Crude etchings, mostly of what he saw from his window. Apples and blackbirds and falling leaves.
Jude smoothed his hand over the crisp white envelope before turning it over. It was different than the letter he’d stolen from the iconographer’s bag, the one he’d yet to find the courage to open. It had taken him nearly a day to work up the nerve to open this one as it was. The paper was thicker, the edges neatly creased.Ezrawas written on the front above the address. No surname, no craft delineation. Just a name. Most likely her mentor, as he’d told Elden. An Abbey elder.
Abbey members abandoned their surnames when they entered as children. Jude didn’t remember what his had been, let alone anything about his parents or childhood before the Abbey. He might as well have been born there for all he could recall, carved from the walls themselves.
