The Crow King's Wife (The Elder Blood Chronicles #5)

When he had been captured in Rivasa he had thought there might have been a chance of corruption in the Fionaveir. Then Shade had echoed his thoughts on the matter which raised his suspicions further. However when important people began disappearing from the Fionaveir ranks he knew without a doubt there was corruption, and it was only recently that he had managed to trace it all back to Faramir.

That in itself was disquieting. Faramir was married to the leader of the Fionaveir, and Caspian didn’t seem to notice any problems. Either she was lying very well to her husband, or Caspian was involved in the corruption. Remedy calmly pushed that thought away and let out a long slow breath. If he was going to save Symphony he would have to face it eventually, but for now all he needed to worry about was what Faramir was up to currently. She had seemed pensive all morning, and there were several times when her expression had shifted to fury without warning. Had anyone else been present, Remedy might have believed it was a part of a conversation that he had missed that had shifted her mood. She had been alone all three times however, which meant she was in mental communication with someone, and the news she was hearing wasn’t pleasant. Now all he had to do was follow her long enough to try to get some indication of what was wrong.

Faramir paused in the hall ahead of him and turned to look back over her shoulder. Remedy froze in place, even going so far as to hold his breath. It was ridiculous of course. The nature of his magic didn’t make him invisible. It infiltrated the minds of those around him and simply forced them to ignore him. It wasn’t as if he had to be silent. If his magic was functioning as it should, his quarry wouldn’t acknowledge any noise he made. Faramir made him too nervous though. In the past few days he had seen a side of her that he had never noticed before in all of his years living amongst her with the Fionaveir. She was acting more devious and some of the magic she had used when she had believed she was alone were spells that there should have been far beyond her mastery. Faramir simply wasn’t that great of a mage, at least she hadn’t been from what he had known about her. The Faramir he knew was an archer and a damn good one, but not a mage.

She turned once more and walked a few steps before stopping in front of a door. Turning slowly Faramir scanned the hallway once more and slowly stepped into the room. It took every ounce of speed and stealth that Remedy possessed to slide through the door before she could close it behind her and the action put him much closer to Faramir than he wanted to be. Her eyes narrowed as the door clicked shut and she turned slowly to stare about the room with searching eyes. Once more Remedy found himself holding his breath until her attention passed over him.

“I’m losing it.” Faramir whispered softly and shook her head slowly as she moved to the far side of the room.

It was a bedchamber Remedy realized with a start, and from the location they were at in the palace it must have been one of the rooms reserved for visiting dignitaries. By the looks of the furnishings and linens it hadn’t seen much use yet, but then that was understandable. From what he had heard in the halls lately the entire world was still fighting, and he doubted any dignitaries had time to spare for an overnight visit at the palace.

Faramir walked slowly across the room and placed her hand against the wall. A slight grating noise grew in the stones and a panel slowly slid back. Remedy stared at the hidden tunnel for a long breath as the full extent of his latest revelation slowly sank in. He hadn’t even realized the palace had a network of hidden tunnels, and it likely meant there was no place safe for him to drop his guard. Who knew how many tunnels there were or how many spy holes might be in the walls. Even when he thought he was alone in a room, there was a very good chance he was still being watched.

He barely managed to rein his thoughts in as Faramir stepped inside the shadowed hall. With a silent prayer for luck he slipped in behind her hoping there would be enough room in the tunnels for him to stay out of her reach. His magic would work flawlessly, unless she happened to brush against him rather than the stone wall, or she was a better mind mage than he was. If she had strong mind magic she would detect him at close range.

This is a mission better suited for Vaze. Remedy thought for what must have been the thousandth time. He wasn’t a spy, and he wasn’t used to skulking. The Fionaveir had always sent him on missions of diplomacy or at times to gather information from certain individuals with his charm. Vaze was the one they relied on to skulk. Remedy had never before had to rely on stealth this much, and it quite honestly wasn’t his strong point.

Vaze was gone though, and everyone else was acting too strangely to trust enough to approach. Lutheron seemed aggravated all of the time, and Symphony existed in a sort of haze that he had never seen her in before. The few times he had managed to glimpse the Empress she had been oblivious to everything and had simply nodded to Faramir for most of the conversation. The only one that left was Caspian, and he was acting the strangest of them all. It had been his idea to clean the streets of Sanctuary, and Caspian was going about it with the fervor of a fanatic. If the rumors in the halls were to be believed the prisons were overflowing with petty criminals, and there was talk that the executions would start soon.