“Why? Who is she?”
Alex raised her head and haunted eyes met Gavin’s for the first time. “She is the Mistress of Vines,” Alex said. “She is life. And she is death.”
Chapter Fourteen
The inside of the Dragon was still in complete disarray, though Jessica had gone to work trying to get the tavern back together, organizing chairs and tables, letting Gavin and Gaspar move bodies far enough away from the Dragon that the constables wouldn’t come here to question them. It still didn’t feel like enough.
It was empty, which was not altogether surprising at this time of night. There was just the small grouping of them at one table. Gaspar sat off to one side near Imogen, Wrenlow sorted through his stack of pages, and Alex sat next to Jessica, who seemed to be trying to console the young girl.
“We need to know more about the Mistress of Vines,” Gavin said. He looked over at Alex and tried to hold her attention, but she looked away.
“I’ve heard of the Mistress of Vines,” Gaspar said.
“When?”
“Before,” he said.
The tension between them lingered. Gavin knew Gaspar didn’t care for the idea that he’d learned Gaspar had once been a constable, but why would that even be an issue? It didn’t matter now. Gaspar was something else. He had become something else. He’d continued to grow and change and evolve. Like all men had to.
“Who is she?” Gavin asked.
“Someone who shouldn’t be in Yoran,” Gaspar said. “Back when the war was going on, the Sorcerers’ Society called to her for help. She didn’t answer.”
“Because she’s powerful.” Gavin looked over at Alex. “What I want to know is what she wants to do with you.”
“They’re trying to take me,” Alex whispered.
“Who is?”
“They are. I just want to go back with my family. That’s all.”
Something about this didn’t feel right to Gavin. The steady blows he’d felt when Alex had attacked had been significant, but there was something off. It hadn’t been a sorcerer’s magic. “You’re an enchanter, aren’t you?”
She nodded slowly. “I don’t have much skill. What I have isn’t that useful.”
Gavin chuckled. “I think you’re wrong there. And your family?” She shook her head, as if to say they were gone. “You were taken from them by the Captain?”
“I was taken, but…”
“But what?”
“I don’t really know what happened to them,” she said.
A part of him went out to her. As strange as it was, he understood what she had gone through. When he was younger, there had been many who’d been brought in by Tristan, presumably to be safer, and he had trained them. Gavin wasn’t the only one.
All of them had come from some place of sorrow. All of them had been freed from the life that they had known. And all of them had been introduced to something far more dangerous.
“Did the Captain tell you what he expected of you?” Gavin asked.
“He didn’t expect anything.”
“He would’ve expected something. They all do.”
Gaspar looked over, frowning at Gavin for a long moment.
“What now?” Jessica said.
“Now… now I don’t know,” Gavin said. “We now have an enchantress—or sorceress—angry at us. We now have to deal with the danger of the Captain. And somehow we have to figure out what to do with her.” He tilted his head toward Alex.
“You don’t have to do anything with me,” she said.
“We have to do something. We can’t let you leave until I’ve neutralized the Mistress of Vines,” Gavin said.
“I don’t need you to protect me.”
The El’aras dagger rested on Gavin’s lap, and it started to glow again. He looked over, smiling at her. “You’ve just proven my point.”
“What did I prove?”
“You can’t go using your magic around the city like that.”
“Why? Are you afraid they’re going to catch me?”
“The constables will catch you,” Gaspar said softly. “They’re trained to find those who use magic. The constables are skilled at it. They have enchantments that allow them to pursue that power and to deflect magic that’s used on them.”
Gavin had a sense from the old thief that there was something within what he said that troubled him.
“In order to keep her safe, we have to figure out what we’re going to do. We could return her to the Captain”—Gavin looked over, and he could tell from Alex’s face that she didn’t want that—“or we keep her safe.”
“We have to keep her safe,” Gaspar said.
“There may be a way to do so,” Wrenlow said.
“How?”
“Well, think about that other job you were offered.”
Gavin frowned. “The egg?”
“Right. The other job. There were other enchanters. Isn’t that what he said?”
It’s possible that we might be able to hide her there, but even if we did, is that necessarily safe?
He didn’t know. Alex was still too young to be off on her own, and unless she had somebody to protect her, they weren’t going to be able to ensure her safety.
“What about your family?” Gavin asked.
“My family is gone,” Alex said.
“What happened to them?”
She looked over, holding his gaze, and she shook her head. “They’re gone.”
“What does that mean?” Wrenlow asked.
Gavin glanced over and shook his head slightly. “Don’t.”
“What? If her family is gone, then we can find them. I mean, I have resources within the city I can use and leverage to do that. I’m sure Gaspar, having been in the city as long as he has, has resources as well. Between the two of us, we should be able to find what happened to her family. Even if they were removed.”
“Don’t,” Gavin whispered.
“Gavin—”
“They’re gone, kid,” Gaspar said, leaning forward. His voice was harsh and rough, and he glared at Wrenlow.
Wrenlow didn’t seem to take the hint, and he ignored it.
Gavin sighed. “Were you there when it happened?”
“No. Well, I heard it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What did she hear?” Wrenlow asked.
Jessica stood and tapped Wrenlow on the arm. “Why don’t you help me in the kitchen and gather some food and drinks. I think the rest of the crew is needing to
