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If Alek puts two and two together after he’s got the unusual treasure in his possession, somehow I don’t think he’s going to make a fuss about it.
The palace bell rings distantly to mark the seventh hour of the later day. I veer around another set of shelves, debating giving up my search for now in favor of dinner.
My stomach puts in its vote with a gurgle.
But then my persistence pays off. I spot Alek’s messy black hair and the gleam of polished leather across his bronze-brown face a few rows down this aisle.
I step toward him—and a different figure moves in front of me with a brush of fingertips against my arm.
I freeze, staring up at Wendos’s coppery features. He’s got less than a foot on me, but Julita’s shudder reverberates through my nerves, putting me twice as on guard as I would be otherwise.
If her brother’s old friend notices my reaction, he doesn’t show it. He offers a relaxed smile with a flash of white teeth. “Sorry if I startled you. You’re Ivy, right? Julita’s friend?”
Julita practically snarls.What under the gods’ gaze does he want with you?
I remember at the last second that I shouldn’t have any idea whoheis. At least, not as much as Julita has told me.
“Perhaps acquaintance is more accurate,” I say, keeping my voice as light as I can manage while my pulse thumps hard. “My family’s from the other end of Nikodi. We didn’t visit often.”
That should explain why he won’t remember me.
He doesn’t let the subject go immediately, though his tone stays casual. “Still, I’m surprised we never ran into each other. I’m Wendos—I was a good friend of her brother’s.”
Julita lets out an inarticulate hiss.
I bite back the words I’d like to chide her with. Doesn’t she realize I need to concentrate?
I tilt my head to the side as if in thought. “Oh, I think possibly we did meet once. I’m not sure we were fully introduced. You and Borys were just racing off on some adventure, I suppose.”
The picture I painted must fit Wendos’s childhood enough for him to believe it, because he chuckles. “I apologize if my manners weren’t the best back then. Maybe I can make up for it now. I tried to look out for Julita after she arrived at the college, since Borys isn’t here to do it…”
He pauses and sketches his hand down his front in a hasty gesture of the divinities. “I’m worried. If you have any idea what’s happened to her, I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
Help dig me a deeper grave, he’d like,Julita sneers, her presence writhing against the back of my skull, so agitated my scalp itches.What a pack of lies he’s trying to sell.
Is it possible he does actually feel guilty now that she’s disappeared? He’s definitely evaluating me, but it’s possible he’s checking whether I’m a potential ally rather than an opponent.
After all Julita’s obsession with him, she hasn’t turned up a scrap of evidence that he’s stuck with his old, awful ways.
Not that I’m going to tell him anything. I don’t trust him farther than I could spit a rat.
But I’m keeping my mind open to evidence on both sides, since she obviously won’t.
I twist my mouth in a regretful grimace. “Unfortunately, she barely told me anything the last time I saw her. I assumed she was doing something for school, nothing that would cause her any trouble. Do you have any idea what else she might have been involved in?”
Wendos sighs and runs his hand through his shaggy hair. “No. It took me by surprise. But if you come across any indication, will you let me know?”
I force an ingratiating smile. “Of course. I’m not sure that’s very likely, though. I assume the school authorities are looking into her disappearance, and I’ve left them to it. It’s not as if there’s anything I can do on that score.”
Wendos holds my gaze for a moment longer. “We’ll just have to hope they turn up something and that she’s all right. And if I can lend a hand with anything at all, Ivy, do let me know.”
He strolls off, leaving my nerves jangling and Julita sputtering a string of curses I wouldn’t have thought a noblewoman would know.If I could reach out of your body and strangle him…
“He’s gone now,” I say in the quietest possible whisper, feeling like I need to try to settle her down somehow. “And he doesn’t know any more than he did before.”
To my frustration, Alek is gone too. I head toward the row of bookcases where I saw him before and duck down it, but there’s no one browsing the texts there now.
A quick skim reveals that this section is focused on the study of stones and soil. Not a popular subject among the elite, apparently.
