“Here you are.” Tibby yawned and laid one half of a slightly magical antique summoner on a desk.
Intended for healers to use on their patients, ensuring they didn’t have medical emergencies that went untended, it was a half-moon that hooked over one’s ear and looked like simple jewelry.
“Thank you,” Syla said. “The linked piece is on the shielder?”
“In the tunnel outside, tucked into cracked mortar on the hidden door to its chamber. I figured you’d want to be alerted as soon as that opened. That would give you more time, before anything is done to the shielder, to get down there. Or sendtroopsdown there while you remain safely up here.” Tibby raised frank eyebrows.
“Of course, that’s the plan if anything happens.” Syla smiled and hooked the antique over her left ear.
Tibby squinted suspiciously at her, then turned the squint on Fel.
He hadn’t been filled in on what the magical antique did, but he squinted back at Tibby, always game to return her suspicious glowers.
“Per your request,” Tibby said to Syla, “I also brought magical explosives from my workshop at the farm.”
“Oh, good. And they’re in the shielder chamber?” Syla had requested booby traps while envisioning trip wires and rabbit snares but wasn’t surprised her engineer aunt had opted forexplosives.
“Camouflaged and stuck to the shielder itself.”
“Er, that wouldn’t damageit, would it?”
“They’ll blow outward if they’re impacted. But let’s hope for the sake of certainty that the shielder remains undisturbed whilethe stormers are here.” Tibby yawned again. Day and night, she’d been studying the artifact, scrolls, and however many books she’d lugged out of the library basement. “I’m surprised your cousin Teyla isn’t here yet. I’d like to consult her about the scrolls. You said she’s coming, right?”
“I invited my relatives who live outside of the capital to come as soon as possible, yes. As for the threat the stormers represent… We’ve got the known tunnel entrances guarded and the secret harbor entrance sealed—collapsed, is the word Colonel Mosworth used—so I also hope the shielder won’t be disturbed. It makes me nervous, however, that we haven’t moved it yet. The stormersknowwhere it is.”
The problem was that Syla didn’t know where to move the shielderto. They would have to come up with a new secret and safe location, and she didn’t know if that should be under the castle, perhaps with new tunnels being excavated, or somewhere more distant. She objected to a location as remote as the chamber on Harvest Island, with nobody nearby to keep an eye on things. Further, the secret door, activated by a moon-mark, would also have to be moved. Was that possible? Ithadto be. Aunt Tibby would have to research how that might be done. As far as Syla knew, the doors had been created by the gods, the same as the shielders.
“Assuming you don’t let Captain Vorik carry you down to that tunnel,” Tibby said, “they don’t have anyone with a moon-mark to open the door to its chamber. Magic, as well as brick, insulates that room. Firing a cannon at the door wouldn’t open it—and our military men would notice if the delegation attempted to enter the castle with a cannon.”
“I would hope so. As for the other, I’m not going to let Vorik carry me anywhere.” Perhaps prompted by the words, an image of him sweeping her into his arms and taking her to a bed came to mind. Judging by Tibby’s eyebrow twitch, a similar thoughtmight have come to her. “Especially not with the rest of his delegation watching,” Syla added, though maybe she shouldn’t have said anything else.
“If you take him off somewhere private,” Fel surprised her by saying, “you might get more information from him than you would from any of the rest of them.”
“You think he’ll tell me deep military secrets? Or whether his people are up to something besidesnegotiating?”
“He might avoid looking you in the eye when you ask if they are.” Fel shrugged.
“Because he cares for me and would feel bad about lying?” Syla might believe that herself—Vorik had admitted as much when they’d spent the night together—but it surprised her thatFelwould believe it. He’d made it clear that he not only believed Vorik was a loathsome enemy but that he’d been lying to and using her all along. And, pesky developments of feelings aside, Fel hadn’t truly been wrong about that.
Aunt Tibby watched Fel curiously. Wondering what his response would be?
“I don’t know aboutfeelings,” Fel said gruffly, as if such piffling things weren’t worth considering, “but, of all the stormers on that boat, he’s most likely to answer your questions. Or evade your probes.” Fel gazed out a window that overlooked the courtyard and the castle gate. “There’s their delegation now. With a ridiculously large military escort.”
Syla’s nerves returned with a vengeance. “They’re up to something.”
“Ofcoursethey are,” Fel said.
“We’d better hurry if we’re going to be a part of the negotiations that we arranged.” Wearing a beige and white dress with a belt that accented the curves of her hips and breasts, Syla stepped into the hallway. The ankle-length garment didn’t showmuch skin, but she hoped it would flatter her more than a thick blue healer’s robe, the last thing Vorik had seen her in.
Even before Fel had made the suggestion, she’d been thinking she might learn more if she could draw Vorik aside. She didn’t know how strong his feelings were for her after she’d tricked him and gotten away with the shielder, but hewouldbe the most likely stormer to answer her questions. Besides, she wanted to speak with him again to find out… Well, it shouldn’t matter what he thought, but she’d enjoyed their night together more than any other she’d spent with a man, and she longed to believe there was hope for them to be cordial with each other going forward.
“I’m going to get some rest in the room the chamberlain gave me. I’ll leave the intelligence gathering and negotiating to you, but send Teyla by whenever she arrives.” Tibby yawned and waved for Syla and Fel to head to the throne room on their own.
“Thank you for all the work you’re doing on figuring out how to fix the broken shielder,” Syla said.
“As you pointed out, we must. There’s nobody else left who can.”
“Yes.”
