That was a problem for later. He turned his attention to the man flailing on the floor. “Help him up and remove the bag.”
The assassins obeyed, but they were not gentle. Their captive gasped with pain as the bag scraped over his face. It was a face raw with bruises, bloodstains over purple welts, one eye swollen black. A gag was stuffed deep into his mouth and tied behind his neck. His one good blue eye glared defiance, and his mouth worked at the gag, but no sound emerged.
Sorin nodded at the two assassins. “You have done well,” he said.
They bowed and withdrew. The captive drew his lips back, as far as the gag would allow, and managed a muffled snarl.
“Welcome to my caves, Tellis,” Sorin said. “I have a proposal to discuss with you.”
The Renegai man couldn’t spit, because of the gag, but he jerked his head in a spitting motion anyhow.
Sorin got off the seat, calm and unhurried, and crossed the room. “If I remove the gag, I assume you’ll try to kill me with magic? Oh, I forgot. Renegai don’t kill. Ileni told me that, once.”
Tellis went very still.
“Yes,” Sorin said. “She’s still alive.”
Tellis closed his eyes, just for a second, relief and joy unmistakable on his face. Since his captive’s eyes were closed, Sorin allowed himself a scowl but kept his voice smooth. “I need your help to keep her that way.”
Tellis snapped his eyes open and glared at him with an absolute hatred that reminded Sorin of Ileni.
“We need her,” Sorin said, “and we need her alive. That’s why you’re here. To help her.”
He drew a dagger, reached behind Tellis’s head, and cut the gag. It fell to the floor, stained with blood and spittle. Tellis’s mouth opened.
“Kill me,” Sorin said, “and you fail her. Though I believe it wouldn’t be the first time.”
“You’re lying,” Tellis said. He was astonishingly handsome beneath his injuries—blond hair, blue eyes, chiseled face. Once he used magic to heal himself, he would be even more so. Not that it mattered.
“No,” Sorin said, allowing nothing to show in his voice. “Nothing I’m about to tell you is a lie. In fact, all I’m going to do is tell you the truth. Then you can decide what to do with it.”
Tellis drew in a breath. “Where is she?”
Sorin inclined his head.
“Sit down,” he said. It wasn’t a suggestion. “This might take a while.”
CHAPTER
16
By the time they reached the base of the mountain, up at least five staircases and four steep streets, Ileni’s calves were cramping painfully, and her upper arm burned where Karyn’s fingers were clenched around it.
They were halfway up the mountain, on a path littered with white and purple wildflowers, when Karyn finally broke the silence. “It’s difficult to get lost if you’re headed for the Academy. You just go up.”
Ileni gritted her teeth against the soreness in her legs. She didn’t want to waste the little power she had left, but as soon as she got close enough to draw on the lodestones, she could get rid of the pain . . . no. No, she couldn’t use the lodestones anymore. Could she?
She had to. Even knowing where the power came from, even with the old man’s scream burned into her mind. She had to keep pretending. She had to pretend harder than ever, now that she knew what she was fighting against.
“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”
“There won’t be a next time.” Karyn’s fingernails gouged Ileni’s arm. Ileni hissed through her teeth and muttered the words of a spell, recently learned, that would send pain sizzling through Karyn’s hand. Karyn brushed the spell away with contemptuous ease and sent an arc of agony through Ileni’s body.
Ileni cried out despite herself. Then she gritted her teeth and reached for more power. But she had almost none left, and the lodestones were still out of reach.
“Be careful, Ileni,” Karyn said softly. “Do you want to go back to what you were? I can take the magic away in a second if I want to.”
You should. Shame swept through Ileni. She knew now, without the possibility of doubt, where the magic came from. She had seen the people whose lives would be ripped away to fill the lodestones with power.
And she still wanted it.
“I’m not sure why you’re angry,” she said, through her teeth. “You gave me permission.”
“To accompany Evin. Not to wander alone in the city.” Karyn gave Ileni’s arm a shake. “What exactly were you looking for?”
Careful. Karyn was only tolerating Ileni because she thought Ileni might be won over to the Empire’s side.
But Ileni had to say something, and she didn’t think she could keep her revulsion out of her voice. Besides, she wanted to hear Karyn’s answer. Wanted to hear that this was, somehow, different from what it looked like. “I’ll tell you what I found: the people you steal your magic from.”