Tenger cocked his head, enjoying his small victory. "Besides, I'm sure you're both hungry."
Neither of us had eaten in over a day. I wanted to see Darrow, but I also liked the idea of getting some food first. Maybe I could let him win this one.
"Give me that knife," Tenger said. "It wouldn't be a polite conversation otherwise." It wasn't a request. When I handed it over, he cocked his head toward his riders. "Get Simon onto the cart and check his injuries. Gabe, you'll escort our guest."
"No." I reached for Simon's arm but he had stepped farther away from me. "I'll ride on the cart, with Simon."
"If you do, you'll draw attention to us both." Simon barely met my eyes. "Go with Gabe. I'll see you in Silven."
It felt like he was pushing me away, now that he was with his own people again. Maybe it really was about avoiding attention--or maybe he would be different now, more like the coldhearted Simon who had intercepted my carriage three nights ago.
Another battle lost. Reminding myself again that I was here for Darrow and nothing more, I followed Gabe to his horse. He helped me up first and saddled in behind me, closer than I liked. I had hoped we would travel into town near Simon's cart, but Gabe took us on a wider route, away from the others.
"Kestra Dallisor." Gabe said my name slowly, savoring each syllable as if it were a dessert he wished to devour. "No wonder Simon didn't want me to know who you are. If I breathe the Dallisor name in the town square, we'll have a mob after you within minutes."
"Don't breathe in the town square, then."
"Spoken with ice!" Gabe chuckled. "You've got the spirit of a Dallisor."
"I'm not a Dallisor. Not anymore."
Not ever.
Up ahead, Gabe pointed out a small wooden box on the ground, stained nearly to the color of the soil. When I noticed it, I saw a line of them spreading out as wide as I could see.
"Proximity alarms," he explained. "Magnets that detect the iron inside Dominion soldiers' hearts. Any of them cross this line and the magnets will start snapping together, sending a signal into town. I designed them myself."
"Do they work?"
He chuckled. "Well, yes ... in theory. You'll be safe here, Miss Not-a-Dallisor-Anymore."
The Dominion soldiers didn't worry me. Tenger did.
As we entered Silven, I better understood what Simon had meant about the Coracks blending in with the population. This was a simple town of wooden buildings and rutted dirt roads. Open shops lined the dirt road, though there weren't many people around. I supposed they were out working. It'd be hard enough just to put supper on the table each night, so it would be easy for them to miss certain oddities about their town, or, more likely, to ignore them.
I thought of other towns I had passed through in years past. Were they all infested with Coracks this way, blending in with the local population until the opportunity came to attack us?
To attack them. The Dallisors were them to me now, not us.
"Hello, Gabe!" A girl from the far end of the street saw him and gave a friendly wave. She must not have recognized me, but I definitely knew her.
Celia.
Just as I had done once with Simon, I slid off Gabe's horse and began running. Gabe called for me to wait, but he had to secure his horse first, giving me a good lead. At some point, he would realize I also had his knife.
As soon as Celia realized that it was me racing toward her, she panicked, looking in every direction for a place to run. Let her try. She could scramble up the side of the nearest building and I would figure out a way to be on top by the time she got there.
Once I came within reach of her, Celia raised her hands, dropping the basket of bread she'd been carrying. "Kestra, I'm sorry!" Her eyes were on the knife, though I had yet to raise it. "They forced me--"
"Forced you to what? Wander freely about this town with enough money to buy a new dress and fresh bread? What torture you must have suffered here!"
"I didn't want to betray you."
I snorted. "And I didn't want to be betrayed. So we still have one thing in common."
Gabe had caught up to us now and stood beside us, ready to intervene if a fight broke out. It wasn't necessary. I would never hurt Celia. I only wanted to understand her. And maybe yell a little. Or a lot.
Celia sniffed with sadness. Which might've been genuine humility, but maybe not. When she had screamed out with pain the night my carriage was attacked, she'd obviously been faking because there wasn't a visible scratch on her, and she had just been openly flirting with Gabe.
She could say whatever she wanted. I no longer had any reason to believe her.
Still, she was trying. "I'd been coming to the market here in Silven for weeks before they figured out who I was. I never spoke your name to them before that. I never sought them out."
"So when they asked if you served me, that's when you told them?"
Tears fell onto Celia's cheeks. Also fake, I assumed. "Do you know why I worked for the Dallisors, my lady? My mother was a handmaiden for your mother. She knew things about you, the truth about you, but she never spoke a word of it, except to me. After your mother died and my mother was dismissed, I went to the manager of your father's household--"
"Gerald."
Her hand flew to her throat, apparently surprised that I should know him. "Yes ... Gerald. I demanded money or else I'd reveal your true history. Instead of paying me, he offered me a choice. Either to be sent to Woodcourt's dungeons, or serve you."
The corner of my mouth lifted. "What a terrible choice."
She missed the sarcasm. "It was, my lady. You have a reputation, of being--"
"Charming? Friendly?"
"Difficult." Celia's cheeks reddened. "But then I got to know you, the real you, and changed my mind. You can be nice, if no one tries to control you. And you can be fun, in a why-are-you-always-risking-my-life sort of way." She bit down on her lip, almost ashamed to look at me. "But I never forgot who you are, the kind of person you'll eventually become. So when the Coracks approached me, I listened."
She had intended to make me feel better, but her words stung my heart. "You never thought of me as just me. I was only an enemy waiting to happen."
"It wasn't like that. I told the Coracks where we'd be traveling, and when, but nothing more. They only wanted something retrieved from your home. I wrote the letter to your father, accepting the marriage arrangement, so that he would allow you to return. They swore not to harm you."
"They didn't make that same promise about Darrow." My knife lifted. "Where is he?"
Gabe cut between us. "Don't answer her, Celia. Tenger's orders."
"Celia, where is Darrow?"
She had forgotten how to speak, apparently, and I was running out of time. If she knew anything, I had to make her tell me.
Her mouth clamped shut, and it was a call on my bluff. I lowered the knife, handing it over to Gabe. "You continue to betray me. I might be difficult, but at least I'm loyal. I was your friend, Celia. You never were mine."
She called my name as I turned away, but I didn't look back. There was no point in it. She had betrayed a Dallisor girl who no longer existed. Which meant from now on, she was nothing to me.
Tenger and I made it into Silven just in time to observe Kestra's confrontation with Celia. As he helped me from the cart, he asked, "Is she always like this?"
My grin widened. "Actually, she's quieter than usual today."
Tenger's stare shifted to me, heavy enough that I felt it. When I turned, he said, "I didn't think it would happen to you, Hatch. Not with a Dallisor."
"That what would happen?"
"You're compromised. You have feelings for that girl."
There was no point in denying it. A blind man would've detected a connection between us. "I'm not compromised, Captain. I still believe in the plan."
"Believe in the plan from a distance. After tonight, you'll be reassigned."
I'd known this was coming, but hadn't decided what to do about it. Disobedi
ence meant expulsion from the Coracks. But if I left Kestra now, they'd swallow her whole.
My only choice was to make her tell Tenger where she had hidden the dagger. And then maybe, if I was lucky, I could persuade Tenger to let me find Gerald and retrieve it. Hopefully, before Endrick got to him.
Once it became clear that Kestra wasn't going to harm Celia, Tenger muttered that Celia had probably deserved worse and told me to bring Kestra to meet with him under the bookshop.
I wasn't sure what Kestra had said, but Celia was still standing when Kestra and Gabe walked away, so I took that as a good sign. Celia remained exactly where Kestra had left her, ashen-faced and frozen in place, which Kestra couldn't have seen, but I was sure she could sense it.
She reached my side and smiled. "I feel better."
"We need to talk, alone."
Her smile fell, and she cast a cautious eye at Gabe. He'd obviously been assigned to monitor us because he stayed on our heels, entering the same bookshop where Tenger had gone. The owner wasn't Corack, but he was sympathetic to our cause and could be trusted.
"Corack tunnels run beneath most of Silven," I explained to Kestra. "This bookshop accesses a secret room downstairs."
"Below a bookshop?" she coolly replied. "I didn't know Coracks could read."
"We can read. Or ... most of us can. Careful with the insults, Kes, I'm a Corack too."
"Yes, you are." She stopped and this time her eyes turned on me like a whip. "And I am not."
Maybe she could be, if she'd just tell the truth about the dagger. It was a secret she was willfully keeping because no matter what her feelings were for Simon Hatch, the boy, she still did not trust Simon, the Corack.
I glanced at Gabe, who was standing closer to us than he needed to be. "Give us a minute alone."
"I'm supposed to bring you directly to Tenger."
I cocked my head. "Tell him I overpowered you on the way inside. There was nothing you could do to stop me."
Gabe chuckled. "Not even on your best day, Hatch." But he did leave.
When he'd gone, I led Kestra down a row of thick books that reminded me of the hedge path where Basil had spoken to her last night. From the spark in Kestra's eyes, she might've been drawing the same comparison. I wondered again what had happened between her and Basil. Was that something else standing between us?
She folded her arms against a rigid body, displaying stubbornness at the worst possible time. Tenger had led the Coracks for the seven years of our existence. Time after time, we had outsmarted the Dominion, outmatched forces with twenty times our numbers, and survived despite being targeted for annihilation. Credit for all of that went to the captain. Kestra would not win at this meeting.
"We don't have much time," I began. "You said you have a plan for the Olden Blade. I want to hear it."
"What I said is that the plan is my secret, and it will stay that way until Darrow is returned to me."
She was maddening, deliberately so. "You trusted Gerald with the plan, but not me?"
"Gerald only knows what little I had to tell him."
"Such as where to hide the most valuable weapon in Antora?"
"Hush!" She shifted her weight to the other foot, clearly irritated. "If you knew my plan, what would you do?"
"I would tell Tenger, so we could find Gerald and get that dagger back." Before she could object, I added, "The Dominion will already be after Gerald for escaping the dungeons. And now he's carrying the one object Endrick desires most. That's your doing, Kes."
She licked her lips and looked away. This was clearly something she had not considered.
"Talk to me." I was almost begging now. "Any Infidante is better than losing the dagger again."
"Now who's naive?" she asked. "Do you think everyone who might claim the Blade is the same quality warrior? If we want to see Endrick defeated, the Infidante must be the strongest possible choice!"
"But it's not your choice. The dagger will choose who it wants, no matter who tries to claim it."
"What if it's Tenger?"
"If it is, I'll support him. I don't always agree with his methods, but the Dominion fights in the mud. If we intend to fight back, we have to get dirty."
The muscles on her face tightened. Through gritted teeth, she said, "That's why Darrow should bear the Blade. He won't compromise right and wrong to win."
What a convenient answer that was, to have the luxury of cheering for a battle from the sidelines. "Tell me this much. Do you know where Gerald is now?"
A beat passed. "I can't tell you that."
"Are you sure he can keep the Blade safe?"
"Are you sure Tenger could?"
Another minute of this and my brain would split apart. I took a deep breath. It didn't help. "If Tenger agrees to release Darrow, can you get the Olden Blade back again?"
Her eyes softened. "Stop asking questions you know I won't answer. Don't make me keep refusing you."
"Kes--"
"A few nights ago, Tenger threatened me. Now it's my turn. If Darrow isn't released tonight, there will be no Infidante. I'll disappear by morning and take my secrets with me."
"If you disappear tonight, it's because Tenger doesn't accept threats! You must know what he will do to you!"
"Then he'll lose any chance to get the Blade!"
Gabe poked his head around the corner. "Time to go." Kestra started forward, but he put out an arm to block her. "You made it hard for me to eavesdrop, Miss Dallisor, but I have some idea of what's going on. You should know that Coracks never play fair. Our only chance at winning is to cheat, and Tenger is a master at it."
She only stared forward until he gave up and told us to follow him downstairs. With my injured ribs and a pit in my stomach the size of a boulder, I lagged behind. By the time I got there, Kestra was seated at a large table across from Tenger and Trina. Gabe stood against the wall and caught my eye, subtly gesturing to the lever blade at his side. Tenger must have just given it to him. Surely Kestra noticed it too.
Once I took my seat, a meal was brought in, some flatbread and boiled rabbit and a sheep's milk cheese made in Silven. As was always true for us, the food was simple, nothing to draw any attention to itself, but I dug into the food with enthusiasm. Kestra was eating too, though with measured bites. She wouldn't give Tenger an edge by letting him think she needed anything.
We weren't far into the meal when Tenger reached beneath the table with the hand that wore the grip glove, and put the fake dagger on the table. He was sending Kestra two strong messages: This dagger could be touched, and there would be consequences if she couldn't explain where the real dagger was.
The first bead of sweat broke out on my brow.
"I'm curious," Tenger began. "How did you know this was the Olden Blade when you found it?"
I set down my fork. One sentence into the meal and Tenger had already killed my appetite.
Kestra mostly ignored the captain. She took a forkful of food as she said, "After seventeen years, any other blade would've rusted in that pit."
"True, if this one had been down there that long. But what if this had only been in that mud for a few minutes?"
Kestra remained calm, though I caught the flutter of her lashes. "I know why you're suspicious. You expected it to light up for you, or whatever fool you hoped would become the Infidante. Since it didn't, you accuse me of tricking you."
Tenger's smile darkened. I'd seen this expression on his face before, and it wasn't good.
"Perhaps you can explain this." Tenger turned the Blade over and pointed to the handle. "The name Dallisor is carved here, in very small print. A person could miss it if they were not studying every detail of the Blade as intently as I did."
Kestra didn't blink, though it was obvious she had made a serious error. "If Risha chose to honor her captors, who are we to question it?"
Tenger threw the dagger into the corner of the room, letting it clatter onto the ground. "Where is the Olden Blade?" It was a demand, not a question.
/>
She responded just as fiercely. "Where is Darrow?"
"If she knew about the Blade, I'm sure she would tell us," I said meaningfully. When her only response was to take another bite of food, I added, "Kestra and I searched Risha's cell together. It wasn't there."
"Then you looked in the wrong place!" Tenger turned to Kestra. "You must go back to Woodcourt and search until it's found."
Now she dropped her fork. "You can't be serious. After all I've done, all you forced me to do, you know very well I can never return there!"
"You're a Dallisor. They'll take you in before admitting that one of their own blood could betray them."
"That's the whole point--" I began.
She quickly interrupted. "The point is that even if they do accept me, I was supposed to marry tonight. If I go home, those plans will immediately resume. I won't be at Woodcourt long enough to find the Blade."
"What are your choices?" Tenger asked. "You have no means to survive on your own, and no Antoran will accept you. I'm your only protection, and to get it, you'll do as I say."
She arched her neck in defiance. "Or I'll leave Antora."
Trina snorted. "What country would take you in, risking Endrick's wrath?"
No one would. Not for any price. Kestra knew this better than anyone.
But she didn't show it. Her brow was knit in concentration, as if trying to control her temper. "Wherever I go, it won't be in service to the Coracks."
"Then you failed to deliver on your agreement!" Tenger stood so quickly his chair fell to the floor behind him. His right hand widened, a quick test of the grip glove. "You know what that means!"
I knew. It would start with the grip glove and an absence of mercy. It would end with her death, or Darrow's. That explained Gabe's lever blade.
Beneath the table, my hand quietly shifted to my sword. Even if I had the strength to swing it, I still couldn't use it against my captain and friends. Nor could I let them harm Kestra. My heart pounded against what was left of my ribs, leaving my chest throbbing with pain.
"Kill me, and you'll lose your last chance to find the Olden Blade." Kestra raised her voice. "Heed my demands, and you might yet see it."
Tenger's tone darkened and he made a gesture toward Gabe, silently ordering him to pull out his weapon. "Heed your demands? No, my lady--"
"If you want the dagger, you will not threaten me."