“Yes,” Ileni breathed. “How—”
“It was made back in the days of conquest, when we took power from captured enemies. They say the high sorceress killed ten thousand enemy soldiers to create these fountains.”
She blinked at him, then at the water, so clear and elegant. And still so beautiful.
She remembered the cavern of stone pillars in the Assassins’ Caves, and the Elders’ warning: Parts of the caves are very beautiful, but don’t let that distract you from the evil within them.
“Back in the days?” she said finally. “So you don’t do it anymore?”
Evin gave her a horrified look, which made her bristle. “It wasn’t our proudest moment. That particular high sorceress was somewhat . . . excessive.”
“And also,” Arxis said, “they ran out of captured enemies. One of the downsides of having conquered almost everything in sight.”
Ileni glanced at him, startled; that seemed like an unwise thing to say. But Evin, of course, just laughed. As Arxis must have known he would.
“What is this place?” Ileni said.
“A home for orphans.” Evin gestured at the bland, dust-colored stone building behind the dancing fountains. “The Sisters of the Black God run it.”
How many colors of gods were there? Once again, Ileni was overwhelmed by how much she didn’t know. The compound was large, but at least half of it was taken up by the fountains. That building couldn’t possibly hold all the orphans in the city. How did they decide who got to live in it and who ended up starving on the street?
“All right,” Evin said. “If you want, I can meet you—”
A wordless shriek pierced the fountain’s music, and a tiny form barreled past the water and threw itself at Evin.
Ileni flung out an instinctive shield, using much of the magic she had pulled in before they left. The shield shot across the space between her and Evin, shimmering white, and enveloped a . . . child. A small, broad-cheeked, brown-haired boy, who struggled for a moment, with his arms and legs thrashing, then shouted an insult and repelled the spell back at her.
The backlash sent Ileni staggering into the street. She collided with a large man, who swore in a language she didn’t recognize and shoved her. Still dizzy, Ileni pitched onto the cobblestones, landing on her hands and knees.
Arxis laughed, longer and harder than was really necessary. So did a couple of passersby. Suddenly, being an unknown didn’t seem like quite such a terrible fate. Ileni scrambled to her feet, cheeks burning.
The boy who had undone her spell was on his feet, glaring at her. He looked almost exactly like Evin: deep brown eyes, jutting chin, unruly tufts of hair, all in a rounder, softer, smaller version of Evin’s face. The main difference was the complete seriousness with which he stared her down.
Ileni tried to think of something to say and came up with nothing better than, “I’m sorry.”
The boy glared at her. He couldn’t have been older than five or six. “You’re not supposed to use magic on people for no reason.”
“I thought you were . . . uh . . . attacking Evin.”
She braced herself for a why? that she would have no answer for. Instead the boy tilted his head to the side and said, “I wasn’t. This time.”
“Er—” Ileni said.
“He didn’t hurt me, so I won’t hurt him.”
“Don’t be so sure you could hurt me,” Evin said, grinning. “Training matters more than raw power, Girad.”
“Got it,” Arxis said. “You can hurt him more than he can hurt you. Probably. Now, if we can move past this tender brotherly moment—”
Evin’s hand closed around Girad’s, and the little boy screwed up his face. “Is she coming with us?”
“I expect not,” Evin said. “I think you scared her off.”
Girad threw his head back and laughed. It was so like Evin that Ileni blinked, but there was something different in the pure delight that pealed from him, in the unself-conscious glee on his face. She had thought Evin was completely carefree, but she had been wrong. This was what carefree looked like.
Girad’s laugh trailed off into a series of uncontrollable giggles. Evin tousled his hair.
Ileni transferred her gaze to Arxis, who was watching Evin and Girad with patient boredom. When he caught her stare, he returned it blankly, as if he had no idea what she wanted from him.
Irritation prickled Ileni. But he had promised to show her the lodestones’ source, not to be nice about it. “I’d like to see the Merchants’ Triangle,” she said. “Will you take me?”
“No,” Arxis said.
“What?”
“Find your own way. Just head straight into the city, away from the mountains. You can’t miss it.”
Ileni stared at him incredulously. Evin cleared his throat. “She’s never been here before, Arxis. Maybe you should—”
“She’s meeting someone at the Triangle,” Arxis said.
“What?” Ileni said again.