He shook his head. His brother was right. It was foolish to allow such little things to motivate him. They were fighting for the future of their people, not only the quick satisfaction of their tastebuds.
“Have you heard anything about attacks elsewhere, Fel?” Syla asked.
He shook his head. “Not yet, but the stormerscan’tknow where all the shielders are.”
“How did they find out aboutthisone?” Syla looked at Vorik.
Hadn’t she guessed? Maybe she knew and was testing him to see if he told the truth.
“Princess Venia.” Vorik tilted a thumb back toward the hidden chamber. “I wasn’t included during the planning of that, but I believe Lieutenant Mavus has—hadbeen—meeting with her in secret for months, and their trysts were always down in these tunnels.”
Vorik more thanbelievedthat. He knew it. He’d heard a lot more details about that scheme than he would admit. It had been General Amalia who’d come up with it, not Jhiton, but Vorik had been at some of those planning meetings. It was because of the intelligence Mavus had gathered from the princess and seen himself during his visits that Vorik had learned about these tunnels and known where to find Syla when she’d disappeared.
“Venia wouldn’t have betrayed our people.” The princess didn’t sound that confident in her assertion, and Vorik believed he’d guessed right, that she’d already figured it out by the grisly scene in the chamber.
He regretted that she’d had to see that. It also didn’t sit well with him that Mavus had killed the woman he’d been seducing for months. Maybe she’d realized what he was up to and had confronted him and tried to kill him first. Either way, Vorik hoped the kill hadn’t been done in cold blood.
“I do not know the details,” Vorik said again, aware of the suspicion in Syla’s eyes as she waited for him to respond. “Only that they were having sex, and she came readily to him each time.”
That was true, but, from what he’d heard, Mavus—and General Amalia—had been frustrated that he couldn’t tease any secrets out of the princess. Specifically, the location of the shielder and how to gain access to it, the one thing the stormers had beentrying to learn for years, if not decades. It had sounded like, in the end, Mavus had used a drug to make her speak truths she would not have otherwise shared.
“Did he pretend to be a member of a peaceful rebel faction?” Syla asked.
Vorik laughed to cover his alarm that she saw so easily through him to the truth. “Perhaps he did.”
“Venia is not—wasn’t—” Again, Syla winced with emotional pain, “—a dummy.”
Seeing a woman in such distress made Vorik want to gather her in his arms and comfort her, not continue to deceive her, but the princess would not appreciate that. And Fel, who still gripped his mace while sending glowers at Vorik’s skull, had made his position on touching her clear. Vorik looked at the moon-shaped mark on Syla’s hand, reminding himself that it made her an enemy, that his ancestors might have long ago left the kingdom of their own accord but that it had beenherancestors who’d forbidden them from coming back.
“I’m not a dummy either.” Syla pointed down one of the tunnels. “You will go that way until you reach a dead-end wall that you may push on to gain access to an underground lagoon that will take you out to sea. There, you can find your dragon and leave Castle Island. I don’t need you or any of your people toprotectme.”
Vorik almost pointed out again that shedidneed a protector, but her voice lowered to a whisper as she added, “I just need you all to go away.”
Such sorrow and pain and lament filled her eyes as she looked away from him, blinking, that he felt like an ass.
Vorik,Agrevlari spoke into his mind from whatever perch he’d found.The soldiers that have returned to the castle mentioned checking the tunnels underneath it. I believe many are heading down there now. Have you acquired your new female?
She’s not mynew female.Vorik had briefly explained his ordersto Agrevlari but didn’t know if the dragon grasped the nuances of the plan. It was possible he was being snarky. It was also possible that, his kind being straightforward creatures who rarely thought of deceit, Agrevlari didn’t get it.
You said you would return with her and that I would have to endure her riding on my back, even if I have no bond with her and she’s unlikely to be strong enough and adequate enough that a dragon would normally accept her as a rider.
I just said she was coming along. You inferred all the rest.
Dragons are excellent inferrers.
Uh-huh.Vorik caught voices in the distance. The soldiers, presumably.
He didn’t worry about defending himself against them, but he didn’t want the princess caught in the middle of a fight. Also, if he had to kill people—her own allies—at her feet, she would be less likely to ever trust him. It had been difficult enough to subdue the bodyguard without hurting him. Doing so with a whole squadron of troops…
“I’ll happily take your suggestion,” Vorik said, aware of Syla continuing to point toward the lagoon. “But I suggest you come with me. In the castle above, the wyverns may have returned. They have no qualms about feeding on…” He caught himself before sayingthe kills of others. That was too callous. They were her people.
“I’m aware,” Syla said, “but we’ll avoid them on our own.”
“Our people should have gathered troops and be searching the castle by now,” Fel said.
Since that was exactly what was happening, Vorik had a hard time arguing harder—lyingfurther—to them.
A clink sounded, and the voices were growing louder as the soldiers headed toward the intersection. Before long, their lanterns would be visible.
