He’s a Uathúil too? Keep him talking, Nym. “What’s your power?”
He leans so close his mouth touches my ear. “Sometime I’d like to show you. But for now, if you’ll excussse me, I think Princess Rasha has just arrived. Which ought to be fascinating watching her and Lady Isobel paired next to each other in Adora’s houssse, don’t you think?” He spins me away and strolls off, leaving me to regain my balance in front of Eogan.
CHAPTER 24
EOGAN’S FACE IS A MASKED WALL AS HE WATCHES Myles stride away.
I dust off the lord protectorate’s clammy slime from my arms and mutter, “You didn’t tell me he was your pupil.”
Eogan shifts his cool gaze to mine. His eyes drop to my lips, and a glint of irritation flares, then disappears. “There are a lot of things I don’t tell you. And, clearly, there’s no need seeing as you’ve quite an effective way of soliciting information on your own.”
I frown. “He kissed me. And I believe soliciting information was the reason for us attending these parties.”
“That’s a bit daft considering today’s conversation and the fact that I specifically asked you to leave Myles to me.”
An instant later his expression brightens with fakeness. “Ah, Colin! Perfect timing. I think Nym was hoping you’d keep her company for a while. If you’ll both excuse me . . .”
He walks off as Colin bumps my arm and chuckles. I paste a grin on my face before I’m tempted to rip his off and hope to kracken he doesn’t notice me shaking. “So you survived the lovestruck mermaids.” I nod to the dance floor. “For a minute there I thought we’d see blood and limbs flying.”
He flexes. “I was like music for those ol’ gals. So, you gonna tell me what you an’ Master Bolcrane did today? And please don’t let it be that you destroyed half the Bron armada without me.”
“Only a third of it,” I correct, and then smirk when he can’t tell I’m teasing. I start to fill him in on our trip to the valley but stop when it’s clear he’s never visited the place and his only interest is whether violence was involved. “So what’d you do all day?” I ask instead.
“Slept in the library most of it. Until Adora caught me. She wanted to go over her plan for me an’ you savin’ the world. It’s a pretty good one actually.”
I’m immediately all ears. “Go on.”
He scratches his bald head before ducking close. “Okay, so here’s the thing. Rumor has it that the top Bron generals really ’ave taken the pass just above Litchfell Forest. And there’s goin’ to be a meetin’ in a keep there in two days time. Right around the same place that the dwarf said the plague hit. Good cover, huh?”
I wait, with a premonition that says I’m not going to like the rest.
“All we do is sneak in an’ assassinate—”
I’m shaking my head before he finishes. “No. No way. I’m not killing them.”
“Nym, you can’t be serious. Don’t you get it? Like Eogan said—they’re going to wipe out Faelen if we don’t.”
“Like Eogan said.” And yet he seemed to say differently today. I shake my head again. “How about let’s not talk about it tonight?” I say to Colin. Mainly because I don’t want to fight about it. My head hurts and I don’t know what to think, and Eogan’s got me confused again.
“Tell me about Princess Rasha,” I add with my sweetest smile, hoping he’ll take the drift in topic.
“Did you see her? She’s got reddish eyes. Talk about strange. Bet it’d scare the bloomers off Breck to know I stood near her.”
I follow his hand to where he’s pointing, but the crowd blocks my view as they’re abruptly moving toward Adora’s banquet hall. Someone’s just announced it’s time to eat.
“Did you see Breck today?” I ask hesitantly. We trail behind the flow of guests to the wide doors until we hit a wall of bodies caught up in conversation.
“Nah, Lady Isobel’s been too busy bossin’ ’er around.” Colin presses us forward to see what the interruption is just as I catch my name spoken unusually loud.
“My precious nephew and twice-removed niece,” Adora is saying as the crowd shifts, revealing the twisted grin plaguing her face. “You’ll have to forgive Nym though. It’s hardly been over three weeks since I rescued her from her horrendous life—what with her parents and the favor house.”
I stall as my stomach hits the floor.