Page 85 of Fragile Oath

After the entireday had gone to hell, I wasn’t expecting to see Galina. We had spent the past few nights here together, pouring over notes and missives, trying to learn all we could about the Viper before she retired to her rooms for a few hours of sleep.

My cousins had been noticeably absent during that time, clearly aware of Galina’s visits. At least they hadn’t brought it up yet. Small mercies.

So I wasn’t surprised when Gwyn and Gal headed to the room Avani was staying in instead of mine, but I was surprised to find my own suites occupied.

Galina was there, seated at my desk, leaning over what appeared to be a map. I had told her she was welcome in my rooms when I wasn’t here if she needed to reference any of the notes, but this was the first time she had taken me up on it.

Malishka yawned and stretched from her spot near the fire, her tail wagging as I walked into the room. Galina’s reaction was more subdued, obviously, her gaze raking over my weary features and pausing on the darker spots that peppered my black coat.

“What’s happened?” she breathed.

“The guard is dead,” I said flatly, not bothering to explain further. I knew Avani had filled her in on where the twins and I had been for the entirety of the day.

Galina got to her feet, gesturing for me to sit down. I did, mostly because I was too tired to stand any longer. She poured me a glass of whiskey and pushed it into my hand, her fingers brushing against mine. I let my hand linger there for perhaps longer than I needed to before pulling it back.

Color flooded her cheeks, but she kept her features even until she raised her eyebrows in a question. “You think someone slipped him more poison?”

“We had already removed his false tooth. Maybe there was another we missed?” I theorized, running a hand over my face. “Unless it was just a coincidence with the timing of the break. Stars if I know.”

“Did you inspect his clothes?” she asked, her brow furrowing in thought.

“Yes,” I answered. “But not until after the fact. They had a normal amount of patchwork on them for a guard. Nothing overt, but easy enough to hide a capsule of poison in, I suppose.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “Or it was in the food or drink.”

“Which would be infinitely worse.” That would mean someone here had poisoned him, that my staff was in on it, or the Viper had gone around them.

“So probably that one, then,” she said drily, and I let out a humorless chuckle.

“The way our lives are going,” I added, taking a sip from my glass.

My attention drifted to the parchment she had been focused on when I walked in. It was a map of Lochlann, and next to it was a row of tiny different-colored pots of ink. Upon closer inspection, there were symbols and words scrawled on the map, the colors correlating to the ink.

“What’s all this?” I asked.

“Oh.” Her cheeks flushed again. “I asked Gwyn to procure me a recent map.”

That made sense, since Gwyn was probably the most familiar with our maps, given her extensive training from Uncle Finn. But that didn’t explain why Galina needed one.

“What are the markings, though?” I gestured to where she had drawn small purple Xs, blue stars, red triangles, and other symbols, all with numbers to the side.

“I was wondering if it might help us, knowing where some of the attacks had been or where we have reports that allege the actual Viper was present. The Xs are the deaths by poison. The red triangles are where a potential meeting happened, and the blue stars are the outright attacks.”

I studied the map with interest. Already, there was the barest hint of a pattern emerging.

“This is brilliant,” I said.

“It’s nothing.” She shrugged. “I’m not even sure if it will have any results.”

“No, it’s perfect.”

Her eyes flicked briefly to my lips, and I wondered if, like me, she was remembering the last time I said that word to her. The way I had whispered it over and over against the softest parts of her until we were both spent and out of breath.

She cleared her throat, looking away. “Well, I should leave you to get ready for bed. For sleeping, I mean.”

“What else would you mean?” In spite of my truly terrible day, I couldn’t help but tease her, just as I had the last time she slipped up while sitting in that very chair after one too many sips of whiskey.

Before she left.

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