I forced a giggle out as one of his sweaty hands grabbed mine. I put my wrist on his shoulder, preparing to place the magical marker on his back. It would shine for the soldiers so they could sniper the targets quickly. We made small talk while we danced. For all his grotesque appearance, he made a good dance partner, and he didn’t complain when I accidentally stepped on his foot. At the end of the dance, he bowed, and I made my excuses as I moved away.
I repeated this process what felt like twenty or thirty times, but probably was closer to ten or fifteen. I had more targets than David and Travis, mainly because there was only one of me, and there were two of them. There were also more male targets than female. My feet were beginning to ache, and I knew I was about out of time. I had been including people not on my list to try to make it less obvious, but I had about five more people to tag, in about ten minutes. Fuck this.
I walked up to the next target, laying my hand on his shoulder as I pretended to trip. “Oh, excuse me, sir. I’m so sorry.” And on to the next. I should have been doing it this way all along.
I was on the last target, when I saw myself walking up to David. What the hell? I called out to David in my mind to warn him, but he was already on it. He laughed with her, and drew her into a dance, placing the target on her shoulder as he did. I was ashamed to admit that a spike of jealousy went through me, and that I stood there for a solid minute fighting the urge to beat her to a pulp. They had done something to her, because she was very much like me now. She moved like me, and she had the same mannerisms. It was kinda creepy, thinking that I’m watching, and getting jealous, myself. I shook my head and searched for the final target.
This one was Alarr. I was going to have to interact with him more, since he presumably would know who I am as soon as he sees me. A light touch on my elbow made me jump. I spun, and the person I was looking for was standing behind me.
“Oh, hello.”
He bowed. “Hello, my dear. Would you care for a dance?”
“Certainly, sir. My name is Alva.”
“My name is Alarr, but I think you already know that, Evalia.” His eyes were sly, as he watched for my reaction to his taunt.
“Evalia? Who’s that? My name is Alva.”
“Hmm. Okay. We will play that game, if you want. What brings you to our fine gathering?”
“My grandmother has decided that I am old enough to join the Svikari. This is my first gathering. It’s all very grand.”
“Mm, very grand indeed. I’m tired of this game.” His hand tightened painfully on my arm, and he started to drag me away.
“Excuse me! Let go of me, sir!” I made an ice dagger and attempted to stab him in the ribs. It slid off. Ugh. Time for the secret weapon, then. My free hand went to my hair, where I had hidden the tiny iron dagger that Sibhre had given me. I drove it into the fleshy part of his hand, between the thumb and the palm. It was small enough that it disappeared completely into his skin. He yelled and let go.
“What was that?” He grabbed his hand with the other as he examined the small spot of blood that was welling.
“I asked you to let me go! You didn’t, so I made you.”
He stepped in close, putting his face in mine. “Impertinent girl! I’m trying to save your life! The Svikari are after you, and your clone is here, looking for you. She can absorb your memories directly, and then you will be nothing but a shell.” That warm feeling in my chest told me he was telling the truth.
“You say this like it’s a big surprise. We knew all that. I also highly doubt you are trying to save my life. It appears you are working with them.” I bluffed my ass off.
He sighed and ran a hand down his face. “I am, but only to a certain extent. I do not approve of their methods.”
“What do you want, Alarr? Why did you want to talk to me?”
“I want my throne back. You cannot and will not stand in my way. I wanted to make that clear to you.”
“The throne is Orn’s and will stay that way. You, or your people, caused a dimensional rift that needs to be reversed. You don’t deserve to be King.” I didn’t mention that if his group hadn’t attacked me, I would never have known about the throne in the first place.
He waved a hand at me. “You don’t know what you are talking about.”
I took a cautious step back. Either he was an exceptionally good actor, or he really didn’t know. That feeling was telling me he didn’t know. “Magical beings are dying. Magic is siphoning out of Shadoewynne, but they don’t know where it is going. The ‘accident’ that scattered the royal household caused it. You caused it, with your experiments.”
The color drained from his face. “No, it’s not possible.”
An evil idea came to me. I had just embedded an iron needle in his hand, and he appeared to have no idea, although I didn’t know why he wasn’t in pain. “Yeah, magic is failing everywhere. Kait said his magic isn’t working anymore.”
Alarr’s eyes widened as he thought about it. He held out a hand, concentrating on his palm. Nothing happened, and his eyes took on a wild look. “No. No! That can’t be right.” His eyes narrowed on me. “What did you do?” He started scraping at his hand, picking at the blood spot. Soon, the tip of the needle was visible in
