A feeling of silence where his voice had been told her he had taken off the ring. She blinked as her eyes registered her surroundings again. Regin was watching her closely.
“Was it Lorkin or Osen?”
She stared at him. “How did you know Lorkin had one of my blood rings?”
His smile was lopsided. “As if you’d let him out of your sight without one.”
She nodded. “Yes, it wouldn’t be hard to guess that one correctly. It was Osen. Lorkin has been released, but the Sachakan king has forbidden him to leave the Guild House.”
Regin straightened. “That’s good news. Are we still travelling to Arvice, then?”
“Yes.”
His eyes narrowed. “Not simply because you want to make sure he gets home?”
Sonea crossed her arms. “You think I’d disobey the Guild?”
“Yes.” He held her gaze, but was smiling. “But only for Lorkin’s sake.”
“I didn’t run off to save him when he first disappeared,” she reminded him. “Anyway, Osen’s orders were to continue with our plans.”
Regin nodded. “All of them?”
“Yes. What plans did you think we might abandon, at this point?”
He shrugged and looked away. “I don’t know. You said ‘plans’ not ‘plan’. We have only one official reason to be going to Sachaka.”
“With multiple possible outcomes to deal with.” Sonea rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Are you going to spend the entire journey looking for hidden objectives and secret motives in everything I say?”
“Probably.” Regin grinned. “I can’t help it. It’s a habit. It could be considered a talent. An annoying one, perhaps, but I do try to use it for good.”
Sonea sighed. “Well, don’t annoy me without good reason. That would not be good.”
“No.” He shook his head in emphatic, exaggerated agreement, his eyes bright with humour. She felt a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth, until she recalled that he was right: there was another reason for their journey. She felt a brief but powerful urge to tell him about the meeting with the Traitors.
She sighed and finished her glass of wine. “Then I hope you don’t snore, because I’m used to working night shifts and wake up easily. If I don’t get a full night’s sleep I’m going to be cranky.”
He rose and started toward the bed on the other side of the screen. “Ah, Sonea. You ask for the one thing I can’t promise.”
Later that night she did find herself awake and listening to the sound of his breathing. It was not loud, but it was strange to be hearing someone else sleeping nearby.
Ever since the first time she had climbed down the hidden chimney between the panelling of Sonea’s main room and the outer wall of the Magicians’ Quarters, Lilia had wondered what its original purpose had been. All of the rooms had them, though she suspected none of the occupants knew of their existence. Bricks protruded at regular intervals up the narrow space, too convenient not to be intended as a kind of ladder.
Cery’s guesses included garbage chutes and latrine outlets. Fortunately, there was no sign that the gap had been used for either purpose for a long time, if ever. Lilia thought of them as chimneys, despite there being no sign of soot on the bricks or mortar.
Reaching the top, she peered through the spy hole Cery had drilled long ago. Sonea’s main room was unoccupied.
Perhaps the servant had gone into one of the other rooms. Perhaps she had been called away. Lilia reached out to the latch, then hesitated. It was still possible that Jonna was in one of the bedrooms with a visitor, though Lilia could not think of any good reason a stranger would be in there with her... except a few scandalous ones that Lilia could not imagine Jonna indulging in.
She tapped on the panelling lightly, in a random pattern that anyone who didn’t know there was gap behind the wood might think was a bug scuttling across the surface. A moment later, Jonna hurried into the room, her eyes focusing on the hatch. Though she couldn’t see Lilia, she nodded and beckoned with one hand.
The latch slid open without a sound, then the door swung inward silently. Jonna stepped forward to help Lilia out. The hatch was slightly higher in the wall than was comfortable to step down from, not helped by the fact that she had to fold double to get through it.
“How are they all?” Jonna asked.
“Fine,” Lilia told her. “Grateful for your help. Is Black Magician Kallen back yet?”
“Yes, about ten minutes ago.”
Lilia headed for her bedroom to change back into her robes. “I’d better hurry up, then, or I’ll catch him in his bedclothes.”
Jonna made a small noise of amusement. “That would be an odd sight.”
Lilia grinned. “It sure would be.”
The simple trousers and shirt Jonna had found for her to wear when visiting Cery and Anyi were much easier to climb in, and she felt a wave of gratitude as she saw the scuffs and stains she’d gained that night. Better she spoil these than her robes.
Changing quickly, she returned to the main room.
“Thanks for waiting for me,” she said to Jonna. “You don’t have to hang around now. I’ll come straight back after talking to Kallen.”
Jonna shrugged. “I don’t mind staying.” She straightened and placed her hands on her hips. “I promised Sonea I’d keep an eye on you, and I won’t sleep right unless I know you’re back here in your bed at a decent hour.”
Lilia rolled her eyes and sighed. “Nobody ever worried about that when I was staying in the Novices’ Quarters.” But she didn’t mind. It was nice that someone cared enough to look out for her.
Slipping out of the main door into the corridor, she walked to Kallen’s rooms and knocked. A short pause later the door swung inward. At once she smelled the faint scent of roet smoke, but it was stale and faded as if emanating from the furnishings. Kallen was sitting in a large chair, a book in his hand and a look of mild surprise on his face.
“Lady Lilia,” he said. “Come in.”
She stepped inside, pushed the door closed and bowed. “Black Magician Kallen.”
“How can I help you?” he asked.
He had the patient expression of a teacher interrupted at a bad time by a novice. She resisted a smile. She was acting as messenger, not a novice, and the content was far more important than mere lessons.
“You know I occasionally meet Anyi, my friend and bodyguard of the Thief Cery,” she began, sitting down on another chair. “Without leaving Guild grounds,” she added quickly.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“I’ve already told you that Cery is in hiding, and can’t maintain his...” She waved a hand, searching for the right term. “Business arrangements and... contacts.”
“Everyone in the city thinks he is dead.”
“It’s likely Skellin won’t believe Cery is dead unless he sees a body.”
Kallen nodded. “Or sufficient time passes.”
