Page 49 of Elven Lies

Discussing Colorado and the Gateway, though, would only lead them further down the road of where Rebecca had been during her time on Earth. She’d crossed the country from Colorado before settling in Chicago, and she didn’t want Rowan to know how involved she’d been in the Gateway’s opening, however indirectly.

So she didn’t push him anymore on the subject, and they walked in silence for a significant length of time. Rowan seemed to take in the sights, but Rebecca suspected he was coming up with some other plan he meant to enact while they were out here, just the two of them.

Shortly, Millenium Park came into view.

She started to think they might actually make it to their destination without any other significantly uncomfortable discussions.

No such luck.

“About Harkennr…” Rowan began.

“Rowan, please.”

“Iknowthat’s who this is,” he said. “I heard enough of your meeting to get the picture. However that slippery littleskirramade it out of Ryngivát and all the way out this way, I’ll never know. But now he’s part of the story, and I gotta hear how you got caught up in anything withthatasshole.”

Gritting her teeth, Rebecca debated with herself the pros and cons of telling him anything. On one hand, if she’d wanted Rowan involved, she would have called him to the meetings. On the other, he’d already heard everything. She couldn’t pretend that wasn’t true.

It was always better that he heard the information straight from her instead of coming by it secondhand. No telling how warped the facts might become if the grapevine became his only resource.

“Well, he’s in Chicago now,” she said.

Rowan chuckled. “I gathered that much.”

“He’s built a base for himself at the Old Joliet Prison. It’s been abandoned for decades, so I’m sure he found it easy enough to repurpose however he wanted with no one to get in the way.”

Now that they were here, walking alone without the need to speak in riddles, Rebecca slipped easily and with an old familiarity into sharing with him. At this point, the knowledge couldn’t hurt him, nor was this a special Shade secret anymore.

So she told Rowan everything she currently knew about Kordus Harkennr and his operation in Chicago, which was the same basic information she and Maxwell had relayed to her council. Rowan had sat in on the end ofthatmeeting, spying from the other side of the door in the hallway, but she didn’t think he’d heard about her and Maxwell’s visit under old-law truce this morning.

She was right. After every detail she gave him, the Blackmoon Elf looked more and more stunned. He didn’t interrupt orask any questions. At one point, she thought he even looked marginally concerned to hear what Harkennr had been doing in the old prison.

Beyond those general facts, though, she couldn’t tell him anything more. Not even the information extending so far back in her past to make it more relevant to Rowan than to Shade.

That was a dangerous road to travel with him—confiding anything else in the Blackmoon Elf. Every move Shade made against Harkennr now had to be meticulously planned and perfectly executed. Nothing less. If Rowan knew half the things she did about the warlock’s past crimes and what he was truly capable of, she didn’t think she could count on Rowan to keep that information to himself.

When she finished, Rowan fell oddly silent, as if contemplating what she’d told him. At least, she hoped that was the cause of his silence.

Just when she’d grown used to the relief of not hearing him spew nonsense—even grateful for it—he opened the conversation again with more questions she absolutely didn’t want to answer.

“What’s keeping you here,Kilda’ari? Truly. Because I see how intent you are on staying, and I just can’t figure it out.”

“Because I like what I’m doing here,” she said. “I’ve found a place I belong, and I think I’m doing something that matters.”

“Even with Kordus Harkennr involved?”

“Even then.”

Rowan pressed his lips together in thought, swiping stray hairs away from his face and neck. “Then I say we bring this bastard down as quickly as possible. The sooner that’s over with, the sooner you and I can get back to doing what we were meant to do. Together.”

“You say that like you’re so sure we were meant for anything.”

A bitter laugh escaped him. “How can younotbe? All the pieces are falling into place, and you and I have a duty to put the rest of it into action. A destiny, even, if you wanna call it that.”

“I call it bullshit.”

“But you know I’m right. Forget the prophecy, just for a second—”

“You mean we can actuallydothat?” she asked flatly.

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