“And it will continue to do so as it heals. Zephyr said as much,” Nox said flatly. “So, you might as well get used to it.”
“Ye’re one to talk. I see ye pawing at yer stomach every few minutes. Leave the bandage be or it’ll start bleeding again, ye stubborn bastard.”
“Do as I say, not as I do.” Nox shrugged, though Elyria caught the hint of a wince as they did, as if the motion pulled at their wound.
Thraigg let out a noise that might have been somewhere between a whine and a growl, but he did as the nocterrian commanded and placed his hand on the table. “As I was saying, ye may need to repeat it for those of us who were nursing our wounds?—”
“Wounded egos, more like.”
“—while that maniac was monologuing.” Thraigg drummed his fingers on the table and shot Nox an annoyed look.
Their exchange was so sibling-like that Elyria momentarily found herself at a loss for words. She didn’t think Nox and Thraigg had spoken more than a handful of times the entire while they’d been in here.Though she supposed if any experience was going to bond people, it would be this one.
Or perhaps she hadn’t noticed because she’d been preoccupied with...other things. Her eyes flicked to Cedric before quickly returning to Thraigg’s rugged, scarred face.
“He revealed that he was the reason that we did not hear from the Arbiter before the Trial of Magic,” she said. “And when I asked what he’d done with them, he said?—”
“Something about not being able ‘to do a stars-damned thing to a celestial,’ ” Cedric finished for her.
Elyria nodded. “What do you think he meant by that?”
“Maybe the bastard misspoke,” Thraigg said. “The Arbiter’s s’posed to be the mouthpiece of the celestials. In his twisted mind, maybe he lumped ‘em together.”
“He also referred to the Arbiter quite specifically asher,” Elyria said.
“I caught that too,” said Cedric.
Elyria felt his warm brown eyes settle on her face, but she didn’t feel like he was really looking at her.
“But I don’t understand it either,” he added.
“And either way, if whatever he did is what sealed the Arbiter away from us, shouldn’t we have heard from her—them—whoever, again by now?” Elyria asked.
Nox stroked a long indigo finger along one of their horns. “Curious.”
“Why is it curious?” Cedric asked.
Several seconds passed before Nox responded. “How much do you know of the Crucible’s history?”
“I know it all,” Cedric said, pride buffeting the words.
Nox raised a brow. “Do you, now?”
Elyria couldn’t tell if their tone was mocking or sincere, but she supposed it didn’t really matter.
Cedric’s jaw flexed. “It was—is—my duty as a champion representing the realm of Havensreach to learn as much as possible about the Arcane Crucible, of course.”
“Of course,” Nox repeated, and again, Elyria found the sentiment behind their words difficult to discern.
“Why do you ask?” she prompted, eager to learn where thisline of conversation was going and what it had to do with what Evander said about the Arbiter.
“Tell me what you know of the origins of the Crucible,” Nox said to Cedric, ignoring Elyria. Both she and the knight frowned at the nocterrian.
“I—surely you don’t need me to give you a history lesson,” Cedric protested, clearing his throat as if he were suddenly nervous.
“I’m simply curious as to whether the human version of events matches what I’ve come to understand after being in here myself.”
“And what is it you’ve come to understand?” Elyria asked.
