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Just then, I saw a flash of red in the stairwell in front of us.
Bloodbain.
“Well, that was easy,” Kah said.
The commander was moving fast, his red cape flapping behind him. Careful not to make a sound, I followed him down the wide spiral staircase to the lower level of the tower. I wondered if he was keeping the girl locked away down here. Except, he was headed toward the kitchen.
I hid in a small alcove when I heard Bloodbain speaking to someone.
“It’s not working. I need you to make it stronger,” the commander demanded.
“Who’s he talking to?” Kah said.
I peeked around the corner. “I don’t know. She looks like one of the tower servants. Maybe an Arden.” The girl appeared slightly younger than me, with auburn hair that was woven into a single plait and markings that looked like tangled vines twisting up her forearms.
“I could do a better job without the collar,” the girl said to the commander after apologizing profusely. Her voice trembled as she spoke.
“Remove your collar?” the commander’s voice was agitated. “So you can rely on your cursed magic? There will be no magic used in Malengard. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Just make it stronger. Bytonight.”
“But—but if I do that without magic, it could kill her,” the girl said, staring at the floor.
“Well, then, make sure it doesn’t. Not yet. Not until I get what I need from her.”
“Killherwho?” Kah said. “The girl from the mine?”
“That’s exactly what I intend to find out,” I murmured.
Seconds later, the guard commander stormed out of the kitchen. I flattened myself against the alcove wall as he passed. I couldn’t risk him recognizing me. The cuts on my face he’d given me were already healed thanks to my Kovakian blood, but he might still remember my face, which would—complicate things.
Before I could follow, another angry voice rang out from the kitchen.
“Stupid girl! When the Guard Commander asks you to do something, you do it!”
I peered around the corner again to see a hefty woman with a stained apron scowling at the Arden girl.
The girl tried to say something in response, but the woman’s meaty hand smacked her across the cheek. I felt my hands clenching into fists.
“What would your brother think if he knew his sister was this incompetent? Too bad you’re not going to see him for a while to ask.” The crease in the woman’s pudgy forehead deepened as she bustled to the other side of the kitchen and yelled over her shoulder. “Find Krish and get that tray delivered to the commander’s chambernow!”
“We have to follow him,” Kah said as the sound of the commander’s boots faded in the corridor.
“Or should we followher?” I watched as the girl made a mixture of some sort and poured hot liquid over it with trembling hands. My gut told me to follow her and track down the commander later.
When the girl exited the kitchen, a Jakeen girl joined her, carrying a large box. I trailed behind them, keeping my distance as they scurried up the stairs, high into the tower.
“I don’t want to hurt her,” I overheard the Arden girl say to her companion, her voice filled with remorse. “She barely made it out of the mines alive.”
“If you don’t do what you’re told, they’ll throw you in the mines, and the girl will die anyway,” the Jakeen girl responded. “Is that what you’d prefer?”
They had to be talking about the Zavien girl. I breathed a quick sigh of relief.She was alive.
I stayed hidden in the stairwell when they turned down a long hallway and hurried toward a set of double doors with two towerguards stationed in front. With a grunt from one of the guards, they entered the room, heads bowed.
This must be the commander’s chambers. The fact that it was guarded in his absence told me he was keeping something valuable inside.
