Page 60 of The Uncrowned Prince

“That is his story to tell,” Karreya said quietly. “If he chooses.”

“You asked for my help,” Senaya reminded her. “But I cannot give it unless I know who he is and what his intentions are.”

Vaniell wanted to laugh. His intentions? He had not been asked about his intentions since… Perhaps no one had ever thought to ask him. He’d always made them spectacularly clear.

“You realize that just because I cannot walk does not mean I cannot hear,” he said, though he was unsure how long that would last. They had quite a distance to go before they reached the warehouse, and his strength continued to ebb.

“Then tell me why you reek not of liquor, but of magic.” Senaya’s tone was hard. “Dark magic, at that, of a kind I never thought to encounter on these shores.”

“I decline,” he returned wearily. “You may have saved us, but I have no reason to trust you.”

She sighed. “And what would it take for you to trust me with that information?”

“Karreya?” He felt her shoulders tense beneath his arm. “Perhaps you would be willing to tell me who this person is to you?”

She was silent for a half-dozen steps. “Or perhaps this conversation should wait,” she said at last. “Till a time when we cannot be overheard, and…”

“Wait.” Vaniell held up a hand. “Do you hear that?”

It was faint at first, but it was not long before they could make out the sounds of shouting from behind them. Coming from the direction of the palace.

More than likely they’d discovered Karreya’s handiwork, and decided the perpetrator was no longer within the walls.

“We’re going to have to hide,” he said grimly, cursing his weakness and lack of control. If he had not allowed the collar to drain him so completely… “I doubt we can return to the warehouse before they overtake us.”

“My home is closer than the docks,” Senaya offered. “I will hide you, if you can trust me that far.”

He was not sure that he could. But she seemed to have some interest in preserving his life, and no one else was offering.

“Karreya?” He stopped and looked down at her in the dim light of the streetlamps, taking in her pale, set face and resigned expression. “Can we trust her?”

“I trust her not to betray us to the palace guard,” Karreya said in cool, clipped tones.

The pursuit was growing closer, and there was no time to second guess. “Then we accept.”

Senaya nodded almost formally. “This way.” Her pace increased as she left their present course and led them away from the wealthier areas of town, into some of the darkest, most dangerous alleyways in all of Viali. Neither woman spoke, but both seemed to know where they were going as they turned into the gap between two tall, narrow tenement houses.

Senaya led the way down a dark stair to a nondescript wooden door, which opened with a quiet creak of hinges.

“One moment,” she murmured, and crossed the floor to light a pair of oil lamps that brightened the space considerably, revealing a homey interior. “Whoever they believe they are searching for, they are unlikely to look here. You will be safe until tomorrow.”

Karreya helped Vaniell across the room until he was able to collapse into a well-used chair and sink into the threadbare cushion. A knitted blanket was folded over the back of the chair, and as his head fell back to rest against its softness, his eyes began to close. He fought to remain conscious even as he listened to Senaya moving about the space, drawing the curtains, lighting the stove, and pouring water into the kettle.

Homey sounds, those, that could easily lull him into a sense of safety if he was not careful.

“Karreya, you know I must ask.” Senaya sounded stern, almost parental. “What is this man to you? Why do you protect him? And why do you put your own mission at risk for his sake?”

For a handful of moments, Karreya said nothing, and Vaniell felt himself straining to hear her response, desperate for those same answers. Whyhadn’tshe left him? And why would she lay aside her own errand in order to save him?

“He is… a friend.”

Coming from anyone else, it would have felt like a slap, but from Karreya…

He heard Senaya’s breath catch. As if that single word had shocked her.

“Do they not still forbid such attachments at the Enclave?” she asked. “Or has that rule been abandoned?”

“I am notatthe Enclave,” Karreya retorted sharply. “Nor do I answer to you. Even if I am guilty of breaking every rule in existence, I do not regret my actions, and you have no grounds to question me. Not when you have forsaken everything in exchange for your ownpeace.”

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