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I shook my head slowly. “No. They can be gruff and violent when they are offended—as you all saw when we had that misunderstanding in communication a while back. But…it’s hard to put into words…but if the trolls have a problem with us, they let us know. Like this. They didn’t jump to retaliation; they simply wrote asking us why they are being shunned and expect us to explain our actions to them. They don’t play games the way so many others do. They’re…simple. Direct. If I responded to them with lies or provocation, then they’d get violent. But not before that.”
Mirri nodded. “That is the impression I got when I helped navigate the other misunderstanding. If the trolls are raising this issue, it’s because they’ve either heard that the dwarves obtained mage dust from us, or they’ve seen evidence of it themselves. They wouldn’t make this up to try to coerce a trade agreement out of Elfhaven. They don’t think that way.”
“Remember that information leak we thought was plugged?” Fife asked with a raised brow. “Perhaps it was more than information that was leaked. Perhaps the dwarves have been given Larkwood mage dust.”
I rubbed my hands over my face as frustration and exhaustion warred for dominance inside my head. The trolls and dwarves hated each other. This was going to be a mess to sort out while still maintaining our own neutral stance.
“I’ll have to let the king and queen know about this letter. And I’ll need to draft up something letting the troll chief know that we have not officially started trading mage dust with anyone and see what we need to do to calm him.” Sitting back, I glanced around the room. “This is all related to the other crap, isn’t it? To the sabotage and the attacks?”
“It would seem that way,” Adder said with a dark look.
I shook my head and grabbed a scone, waving for my mates to help themselves as well. “So nothing has changed. We still need to figure out who would benefit most from my failure or demise.”
Mirri sighed and took out his notes. We reviewed his findings, and I dismissed a few people simply based on my knowledge of their character and my friendship with them.
That still left us with at least five people who could possibly want me dead, either so they could take my position themselves, or so they could back a new candidate who would agree to trade arrangements or business deals that would benefit them. And now we had to figure out if any of them had connections with Dwarfhall.
"This is all so stupid," I whined. The idea that some idiot out there was willing to commit murder and treason just to make more money or set themselves up in a position of questionable power was just absurd to me. But I knew that was how some people were, especially among the elder nobility.
"It's impossible to know who is at fault just by looking at what we have on paper," Mirri said sadly. "But I feel like we need to do something. The officials are likely to drag this out for months."
I huffed. "I agree. The king and queen of Elfhaven are terrifying and powerful. But they love their games. And the hunt. And I'm sure they are hoping to get more out of this than catching one little scheming traitor." I shrugged. "I think sometimes they forget that not everyone is as awe-inspiring and indestructible as they are. And that not everyone actually enjoys the game." I didn't think the king and queen would ever maliciously put me in danger. But they just might overestimate my ability to survive while they sorted things out.
"We can't just sit around and wait for someone else to solve this problem," Bach said, his voice full of determination.
"Of course we won't," Fife agreed, leaning out of his seat in a nearby wingback chair to snag a frosted cinnamon pastry. "Because you're going to finally let me cast my net spell. We'll have the bastard responsible within the week."
I expected the others to protest, to want to protect Fife from overusing his magic, but no one spoke up. "How much risk is involved?" I finally said, taking a sip of my spiked tea.
Fife shrugged. "To me? Very little. A bit of magical strain—and no, nothing to really fuss over, before you even start in on that." Then he gave me a feral smile. "The only actual risk will be to whatever idiot falls into my trap."
Chapter 23
The next day, I was preparing for a trip into town with my mates when Saffron announced that Gambol had come to visit. It was early still, and my mates were finishing up a few things before we set out on our task for the day, so I had the Saffron tell my old friend I would meet him in the informal family parlor. Grabbing up my jacket and boots, I hurried downstairs in my socks.
When I darted into the kitchen to grab a leftover muffin from breakfast, Saffron paused his conversation with Cook to give me a once-over and a raised brow. But he didn't chastise me for my lack of propriety or manners. This was my house, after all. And the only people here were me, my mates, and my childhood friend. As children, Gambol and I had swum in the river, played in the mud, and run amok over the fields and woods all day. He was hardly going to faint at the sight of my socks or my muffin-filled cheeks.
I met Cook's warm brown eyes and grinned around my full mouth, earning a chuckle and a fond smile from the woman, whose appearance was that of a kindly, wrinkled old grandmother. Then I hurried out to see Gambol before the others were ready to leave.
I found my friend looking out the window into the side garden while he waited for me. When I entered the room, he turned to me with a happy smile. "Kat! I thought maybe you had run away to the capital again, since I haven't heard from you."
I huffed and sat down on the couch to pull on my riding boots over my soft suede breeches. "I'm sorry, Gambol. I meant to have you round. Really, I did. I've just been so busy."
I sat up to find him standing nearby, frowning at me with his arms crossed over his chest. "I heard how busy you've been. First the fire at the stables. And this morning I heard a rumor that you were caught in a rockslide in the mountains!"
I waved away his concerns. "I'm fine, don't fuss. I had my mates with me, and they are more than capable of helping me avoid disaster."
He huffed and went to grab a brown paper sack from the side table before taking a seat on the couch beside me. "Are you sure about that? I hear one of them has fire, and the other has a stone affinity."
I took the package from him and peered inside, my mouth already watering at the smell of fall spices and baked apples. But I yanked my attention away from the tantalizing apple tarts as the implication behind his words sank in. "Wait. What are you saying, Gambol? Are you…accusing my mates of causing a fire and a rockslide?"
He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the floor. "Well…maybe? Clearly the rockslide was one coincidence too many. And who would want to harm you? I mean, we don't know these men, Kat. Just because they won some royal tournament doesn't mean they're trustworthy. Believe it or not, the royal family does make mistakes sometimes. These highborn men could have ulterior motives. And it is awfully convenient that they just happened to be there when these disasters happened."
He took my hand and gave it a squeeze, his brown eyes earnest. "When I realized you were involved in that fire, I nearly stopped breathing. I could see the flames and smoke from my shop.” He frowned. “I tried to get to you, but of course they were there, pushing everyone else aside. And then the gossips in town said you were nearly crushed to death soon after. You could have been seriously injured!" He shook his head. "Nothing like this ever happened in Larkwood until you came back with these strangers!"
I rolled my eyes. Gambol was always so overdramatic. "You're wrong," I said firmly. "They're not strangers. I know them, and they would never harm me. They put out the fire, contained it, so no one was hurt. And Bach saved my life during the rockslide. They aren't here as part of some nefarious scheme to cause trouble."
He narrowed his eyes at me. "Fine. Maybe not," he huffed. "But I still think it's awfully convenient. Maybe they set themselves up to look like heroes."
