Page 8 of Adversary to the Villain

“Oh yes!” She bounced. “I saw Clare walking to her room with a man wrapped in a black cloak, and I’m not certain why, but they seemed very suspicious.”

Ms. Erring lifted a brow. “Could that man have been her suspicious brother…The Villain? Who often wears only black?”

“No.” Lyssa frowned with indignance and then tilted her head. “Ms. Erring, you know other people are allowed to wear the color black, don’t you?”

Ms. Erring groaned, resting her forehead against the nearby wall. “I need cauldron brew and a pain tonic.”

“Did you wake up with a headache?” Lyssa asked curiously.

“I woke up next to one,” Ms. Erring deadpanned.

Lyssa laughed, delighted. It was entirely too enjoyable when Ms. Erring made jokes, mostly because Lyssa had never seen another adult do it quite so awkwardly.

“I am certain it was just a guard or a hurt intern from the attack last night. But if you’re truly concerned, we can go check on her.”

Lyssa stopped laughing, recalling how frightened she’d felt when the man’s head, shadowed by the hood of his cloak, turned toward her. “Could we, Ms. Erring? Now? I don’t know why, but I had a feeling something was wrong about him.”

“Wrong about who?” Tatianna chimed in, rubbing sleep from her eyes from the now-open door to the healer’s quarters.

Lyssa turned wide eyes on Ms. Erring, trying to signal her to lie.

Ms. Erring batted a hand at Lyssa. “Clare appears to have been seen with a suspicious man.”

Never mind. It was Ms. Erring who was the traitor.

Tatianna blanched. “What? Is she all right?”

Ms. Erring threw her hands up in defeat. “Let us settle this now, shall we?”

But by the time they made it down to her bedchamber, Clare was standing outside her open door with a harried look on her face.

“Clare?” Tatianna asked tenderly, gliding across the floor and grasping her former betrothed’s hand in her own. “What can I do for you, darling?”

Clare seemed to blink out of a trance at the endearment, eyes wide as she extricated her hand from Tatianna’s.

Lyssa had to stop herself from booing.

“I’m fine,” Clare said shakily. “Just a bit out of sorts. I need to make arrangements for my father’s sea burial and notify Malcolm. It’s all overwhelming.”

“You’re certain there’s no strange, cloaked man holding you hostage in your bedchamber?” Ms. Erring asked bluntly, and Lyssa clapped a hand over her mouth.

Clare’s eyes went wild, but only for a moment before her face shuttered, all emotion vanishing before their eyes. “No…why would you think such a thing?” she asked flatly.

Tatianna and Ms. Erring gave Lyssa a look so pointed, she was surprised it didn’t break skin. “After all the people who have gotten in and out of a place that is supposed to beimpossibleto break into, am I to be punished for being cautious?” Lyssa asked, innocently blinking up at the two women.

They sighed heavily. Which meant Lyssa had worn them down to victory. A special talent, well-honed by performing it on her older sister practically since birth.

“Lyssa is right,” Clare said, looking far off into the distance.

“I know,” Lyssa said succinctly, clasping her hands in front of her.

“Caution is a virtue.” A smile tugged Clare’s lips up, but they flattened again when her eyes flicked behind them. “I have, uh, much to do. Core healers’ burials are a bit more complex in nature than the average person’s. I…must be off!” Clare cried, moving down the hall and around the corner at a rapid clip.

Tatianna attempted to stop the woman, but it was for naught. Clare had already gone, and Lyssa was left feeling an odd sensation at the back of her head, a wrong sort, like someone had been watching them.

“Come, Lyssa. Let us go check on your mother,” Ms. Erring suggested, already starting back toward the stairs, Tatianna following behind.

It was for the best. Lyssa did love a good story, but this one was veering far too close to scary territory, and despite her interest in villainy, that was not her genre. At least not yet, anyhow. But before she could follow the Human and Magical Creature Resources woman, a flash of white in the corner of her eye stopped her.