Page 17 of Fragile Oath

“Of course you aren’t, Horas,” I cut him off with a wave of my hand. “But more to the point, we are currently in a bit of a pickle, and you seem to be just the man who can help us out of it.”

His mouth clamped shut, his gaze hardening.

“Don’t make us do this the hard way, not when we were just becoming friends. I would hate to use our power and rank to get what we need, but I suppose if we must…”

“What were you thinking, Cousin?” Gal asked, his expression the picture of nonchalance.

“Well, we could always arrest him for conspiracy of collaborating with the rebels,” I suggested. “Or, we could simply leave and spread the word about how helpful and cooperative he’s been.”

“The Viper wouldn’t be too pleased with that,” Gal offered, and Horas blanched, his head shaking back and forth.

“Quite right, Cousin. Quite right,” I said with a nod. “And that would take any potential blood guilt off of our shoulders, since the Viper’s men would be doing all of the actual dirty work.”

Gallagher made a mock thoughtful expression, tilting his head back and forth as though weighing the pros and cons of that scenario.

Horas swallowed hard, his eyes darting between my cousin and me like he was searching for a tell that would clear up this entire situation — proof that we weren’t willing to throw him to the wolves.

Gallagher nodded confidently. “I like this plan. Where do we think the news would spread fastest? Here, in the inn? Or perhaps down the road at the brothel? We could always go straight to the magist—”

“I don’t want any trouble, My Lairds,” Horas said quickly, panic widening his eyes.

“And I really don’t want to be responsible for the deaths of you or your family,” I responded with a shrug. “So help us both out, will you?”

He nodded emphatically. A bead of sweat dripped from his wrinkled brow, and he wiped it away before placing his hands on the desk in front of him.

“All I know is there was a girl. A Socairan lass.”

I feigned a sigh, though inside, my heart was pounding at the confirmation. “That’s old news, Horas.”

“She came in a carriage,” he added quickly.

“Obviously,” said Gal, his tone bored.

We hadn’t actually known that, but it was our going assumption.

The man looked frantically between us. “There were guards with her.”

My eyebrows climbed, prompting him to go on. It was the first anyone had mentioned of more than one man accompanying her. Horas caught my reaction and nodded.

“They were wearing cloaks, all of them, but I heard them talking…in Socairan, just like her.”

* * *

Further questioning provedthat Horas had little more to offer, aside from a basic description of a carriage that could have belonged to any merchant in the kingdom. We left with a scribbled note to the local magistrate, telling him where to find the rebel sympathizer. Then I sent another bird to the guard station at Hagail, asking for the names of every Socairan trade envoy or emissary who had come through the tunnels.

The pass was closed, so whoever was with Galina should be on that list. After what felt like far too long, we headed back to the stable.

“Still think she wasn’t planning this?” Gwyn asked, her thoughts a bitter echo of my own.

Gallagher looked away. “I think that not everything is as simple as you want to make it, Gwynnie.”

“Well,Ithink that she left Davin’s room of her own accord,” Gwyn shot back. “She had guards outside her room in Lithlinglau that she didn’t bother to call for. She left a note, for stars’ sake, and we’ve had nothing but confirmation that she’s traveling of her own accord.”

One by one, she ticked each point off on her fingers, waggling her thumb for emphasis on the final blow.

“Now we find out she’s with her own people – people she would have had to collaborate with well in advance – and you’re still trying to pretend like this was all an unfortunate accident.”

Gallagher opened his mouth, probably to offer another vague, overly optimistic defense, and I cut him off.

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