Page 102 of Vale of Dreams

“Well.” Meriadec shrugs. “Can’t account for different tastes. Pour me a glass.”

Brados does so and walks off, leaving us alone.

“What’s going on, Nia?” Meriadec asks. “If any of your darling prince’s spies see us here together, they might wonder what you and your drunk father are doing so far from home.”

I eye him. “I’m going to need you to get back to the farm for a few days, at least. Talan might look for me there. You’ll need to tell him that I stopped by, but I’ve gone into hiding. Make him think I’m still in Brocéliande, okay?”

“What do you have planned?”

I’m trying to think of how much I should share with Meriadec. I lower my voice. “First things first. Did you smuggle iron through the ley portal?”

He takes a thoughtful sip from his mug. “Nivene did, and she handed it to me for safekeeping.”

“But you sold some of that iron, didn’t you?” I hiss.

He shrugs. “I had a good offer for it. Some noble wanted it to off another noble. What do I care? I spent decades here starving. Every day a noble dies is a good day for us. And the revolution needs money.”

“I was the noble!” I snarl.

He frowns at me, looking unimpressed. “Oh. Well, you seem fine. And arguably, this only helps your cover, right?”

“Except for the fact that this caused the prince to station guards around the ley portal,” I say. “He knows that’s where the iron came through. I’m trapped here now.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Yes. Very much, ‘Oh, shit.’”

“I didn’t know the prince even knew about the ley portal.” His eyes sharpen on me. “It’s your job to find those things out.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a secretive person. He probably didn’t know anyone was using it. But once he found out about the smuggled iron, he realized the truth.” I pause, deep in thought, then slap the counter. “Saxa!”

“What?”

“That’s where I had my coming-of-age dance. Hey, Brados, my coming-of-age dance was in Saxa!”

Brados lifts his eyes from the glass and glances at me, clearly unimpressed.

“Anyway, I need to get back to Avalon Tower,” I say. “I have some information I desperately need to pass on.”

“From what you’re describing, that’s a problem.”

“Worst-case scenario, I fight my way to the portal to get through. But that’ll blow my cover, so I won’t be coming back.”

“That’s not an option,” he says emphatically. “Plans are in motion. You can’t just blow your cover and leave us hanging.”

“There’s another possibility,” I say slowly. I put my hand in my pocket, feeling the portal key I stole from Talan’s room. “But I think I’ll need help. How quickly can you get Raphael here?”

“He’s in hiding on the outskirts of town,” Meriadec says. “I can get him here within an hour.”

“Good. Let’s do that.” I sip my mead. “Hey, Brados, did a young woman recently show up here? Silver eyes? Really pretty?”

Brados nods. “Ysolde. She’s been here for a while. Staying in one of our rooms.”

“Good. We should get her here, too. Raphael will want to meet her.”

CHAPTER 38

Sitting in the back room of the tavern, I take out the stolen portal key and start moodily twirling it around my finger. I find myself counting the seconds, knowing that time is running out. I have less than two days to get from here to the gate, and then to someone from Avalon Tower’s command. And instead of rushing out, I’m sitting in this dank room, waiting for my ex.

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