“You’re not asking questions right now, Absalm. You’re answering them. What did you tell Bazel to do?”
Despite Sorin’s best effort, his voice hardened, just a bit. It wouldn’t have given him away to most people, but Absalm had lived in the Assassins’ Caves for years. His gray eyes narrowed. “I think you know.”
Anger is a weakness. Sorin had to work to keep his face cool.
“You told him,” he said, “to kill Ileni.”
“Only,” Absalm said, “if he believes she’s going to betray us.”
“Bazel hates Ileni. I think he’ll find that easy to believe.”
“He’s an assassin. He won’t let personal feelings interfere with his mission.”
Sorin allowed his anger to show, and told himself it was a calculated decision. “How very subtle.”
“It was the master’s intent,” Absalm said. “To kill her if she wouldn’t go along with his plan. He didn’t leave loose ends.”
“She won’t betray us,” Sorin said. “She will see the truth about the Empire, and she will help us destroy it. She’s not a loose end.”
“If you’re so sure,” Absalm said, “why are you recruiting people to convince her?”
Recruiting, not sending. Sorin’s expression didn’t change, but Absalm looked satisfied anyhow. “Oh, yes. I know about the Renegai boy.”
“I’m reminding her who she is,” Sorin said. The edge in his voice made the sorcerer flinch, but not step back. The air between them felt hot. “But I’m not worried. She’s on our side.”
“In that case,” Absalm said, “she’ll be in no danger at all.”
CHAPTER
21
The front of Death’s Door was far more respectable than its side entrance. A fa?ade of pink-veined white marble stretched beside a narrow street, occupied only by a trio of slouching young men, a mangy dog, and an old woman squatting next to a basket of apples. None of them seemed startled when three sorcerers popped out of thin air in front of the imposing building.
They did glance over when Ileni pitched forward onto her hands and knees and vomited on the dirt street. But only for a second.
“Oh, good,” Arxis said. “That’s inconspicuous.”
“Too many translocation spells,” Evin said. “I wish I had Karyn’s silent-spelled boots—they’re the only thing that would make them easier. But you understand why I couldn’t put in a request.”
“I’m fine,” Ileni said through gritted teeth. Sourness burned her mouth, her face muscles hurt, and she was more chagrined than she wanted to admit that Evin was seeing this. Without thinking, she used a trickle of magic to clean her mouth and breath. As she did, the blond girl’s desperate eyes floated through her mind, reminding her what she was using. Where this power came from.
She got to her feet. Evin flicked his fingers at the small puddle of vomit, and it vanished.
An auspicious beginning. Cheeks hot, Ileni faced the front entrance of Death’s Door. Ironically enough, it consisted of two doors, austere and imposing, both built of heavy dark wood and inscribed with symbols she didn’t understand. Nothing like what hid behind them, the lines of beds with their suffering victims, waiting to be tortured and killed.
“What now?” Evin said.
Ileni squared her shoulders. “We go inside and ask where that woman’s child is.”
“Ask who?” Arxis drawled.
The silence stretched. Ileni frowned at Evin. “Don’t you know?”
He shrugged. “I’ve never been here before.”
“But you knew where it was.”
“Sure. I’ve heard of it. But I’ve never had a reason to come here.”
Of course not. That way he didn’t have to see the beds, hear the cries, truly understand where the Academy’s lodestones were coming from. “Fine. We’ll just have to figure it out as we go.”
“That should be easy,” Arxis said. “We’ll explain to them that you want to rescue a baby, but you haven’t the first idea what its name is or where it might be.”
“She,” Ileni said. “It’s a girl.”
“Oh, good. That should narrow things down considerably.”
“You said you promised her mother,” Evin interrupted, before Ileni could retort. “What do you know about her?”
“That she’s dead, and she died at Death’s Door.” Ileni couldn’t resist adding, “She died to give her magic to the Academy. She traded it for her child’s care.”
Evin nodded. “Then the Black Sisters will take care of her child. If we can find her.”
Disappointment dropped right through Ileni’s throat and into her stomach. She wasn’t sure why. Had she really thought that Evin might not know? Or if he knew, that he would care?
“Of course,” Arxis said, “that brings us right back to the finding her problem. If neither of you have any idea where to start, may I suggest—”
“Actually,” a familiar voice behind Ileni said, “I believe I can help.”
Ileni whirled. One of the wooden doors was now partly open. Bazel stood in the entrance, wearing a white robe and a large blue belt.