AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Finally, she managed to swallow back the lump in her throat, walling it inside her chest. It still hurt, as if her tears were pressing against her throat, eager to pour out again.
Essie swiped at her face, her skintight with all the dried tears. “Sorry.”
“I’ve gotten used to it over the years.” Averett handed her a handkerchief. His mouth had a ghost of a smile, even if his eyes were still shadowed. “At least you didn’t wipe your nose on my shirt again.”
“I haven’t done that since I was six or seven.” Essie took the handkerchief, wiped her eyes, and blew her nose.
Averett sighed and gestured to the couch. “Why don’t we sit down?”
The report couldn’t be good, not if it was a delivered-sitting-down kind of report.
Essie took a seat in the center of the couch, and Edmund and Julien dropped into the seats on either side of her.
Averett claimed the armchair, pulling it forward to better face the couch. “You don’t have to do this.”
Essie drew in a deep breath. Composure. She needed to be composed. Calm. Farrendel needed her to hold it together. “I need to know what they found there. Please. I need to know.”
“Lots of bodies.” Julien’s voice rumbled to her right. “Farrendel put up quite the fight. I hear you didn’t do half bad yourself.”
It wasn’t something to celebrate. She’d been desperate. Angry. Scared. “Who was killed?”
“Lord Bletchly, Mark Hadley, and two other Escarlish men. It looked like some of the trolls may have been killed, but they took those bodies with them.” Averett rubbed his palm with his thumb. “We didn’t find any elf bodies.”
That meant both of the elven traitors had most likely survived. Essie clenched her fingers together. Would it have been better or worse if Melantha had been killed in the fighting? As bewildered as Farrendel had been, Essie was sure he wouldn’t have killed her, but one of the trolls or the explosions might have.
“Based on your description, Jalissa thinks the second elf traitor is Thanfardil. He is apparently in charge of the train schedules in Tarenhiel.” Edmund’s gaze focused on the floor.
In all the pain of the past day, Essie had forgotten about Jalissa. Essie wasn’t the only one suffering right now. Jalissa’s brother was missing—probably captured—and her sister had been revealed as traitor to her kingdom.
“I thought he looked familiar. I must have seen him around the train station in Estyra.” Not someone she had paid any attention to, but, apparently, that was what made him such a good traitor. He could schedule the trains to hide the fact that he was ferrying weapons to the trolls. “Was this news passed to King Weylind?”
“Yes, but we haven’t heard an answer if he was able to stop the trolls from crossing Tarenhiel.” Averett met her gaze. “All we know is he wants to meet on Linder Island tonight.”
If King Weylind got the message, then there was hope. Maybe he had already rescued Farrendel.
Except that Melantha was working with the trolls. Even if this Thanfardil failed to secure safe passage across Tarenhiel, she probably still could.
Would she do it, after what she had witnessed? Would she realize in time that the trolls had no intention of peace now that they had Farrendel?
Even if she did, Thanfardil might have co-conspirators who would help him get Farrendel and his captors across Tarenhiel to Kostaria. Hopefully the elves would look into all of Thanfardil’s contacts and underlings to see if any of the rest of them were also involved.
Seriously, a traitor infestation. Cockroaches would have been easier to eliminate.
“At least King Weylind knows who the traitors are. You succeeded in giving him that information.” Next to her, Julien patted her shoulder, as if she was one of his soldiers who had done a good job. “When we conducted our raid, we discovered evidence that suggests Charles Hadley was unaware of his son’s treachery. We found the doctored books in the son’s office. We’ve already rounded up the other accomplices, both at the factory and in the army’s receiving warehouse.”
That was something, at least.
Yet, capturing the traitors didn’t have the joy of victory she’d thought it would. Maybe because the price had been so high.
“Is Jalissa here?” Essie’s voice came out flat, ringing hollow inside her chest. She couldn’t feel. Couldn’t think. Just exist. Breathe in. Breathe out. One moment at a time.
“Yes. She’s waiting on the train.” Averett gestured toward the door. “We need to board the train now to make it to the meeting with King Weylind on Linder Island this evening.”
A part of her just wanted to keep sitting there. Moving, even to stand, was too much effort.
But she couldn’t stay here. She was still a princess, and she still had a duty. King Weylind would be furious, and Farrendel would want Essie to do her best to talk him down.
With a deep breath and the last shreds of her strength, Essie pushed to her feet. “Let’s go.”
