Page 73 of Ties of Frost

She chuckled, although I felt her quiver.

After I removed my barrier, I sent my magic carefully over Zidra’s body, checking that I’d left nothing behind. Satisfied, I drew my power back into myself and released her arm. The door creaked and clicked closed as Sajen made his escape.

Zidra started to sit up, but Rouven held out his hand.

“No, stay like that. This may make you woozy. Kyrundar, bring that chair from my desk over here. This old man needs to sit.”

While I did as asked, I subtly sought out the heartbond.

It was still there.

Bent over the chair with my back to Zidra, I allowed myself a grin. But I smoothed my expression before turning around and left the heartbond alone. I’d wait for Zidra to react to its continued existence before I said anything.

Rouven started by using his magic to lightly chill Zidra’s skin, just to dull the pain. I tried to watch, but the moment the scalpel cut into the skin outside the ring of blackened flesh, I spun away. Zidra whimpered. My stomach lurched, and the cabin tilted around me worse than the ship had at sea.

Rouven sniggered. “Warriors always think they can handle surgery. But it isn’t the same as blood in the heat of battle, especially when the patient is someone you care for.”

After what felt like an eternity of listening to Rouven’s reassuring murmurs and Zidra’s muffled cries, Rouven declared he was done. I turned around to find the physician wrapping a clean bandage around Zidra’s arm and giving her instructions for wound care, including reiterating hisstrong recommendation to find a fleshmage.

The moment she sat up, I rushed to her side. “How do you feel?”

“Like I almost died.” Her weak laugh only added to the twisting in my stomach. “But I didn’t. Thanks to you.” Her soft, breathy tone toyed with my heart, as did the way she watched me, her golden-brown eyes smoldering like coals. But then she abruptly looked to Rouven, who had moved to his desk and was washing his hands. “And thanks to you, of course. Truly, I am inexpressibly grateful.”

“Thank Iskyr. I wasn’t even certain that would work.” Rouven dried his hands and turned toward us. “How did that happen, anyway? Is the responsible ice elf dead?”

“I believe so,” I said. “The ice elf who struck her is dead, although I can’t be certain he crafted the curse.”

“Good. Most likely he did. They’re difficult to keep stable and respond best to the same magic that created them.” He sank into the armchair in the middle of the room. “But why would anyone create such a curse and then use it on a rengir?”

“Actually…” Zidra took a deep breath. “We were hoping you might have an idea. Have you ever heard of a league that believes the rengiri are corrupt? And that might want you dead?”

Color drained from Rouven’s cheeks, and he went still as a frozen lake. Then he shoved to his feet and pointed at the door. “Out. Get out! I let my magical defenses down to let you in, and that healing was exhausting! If they’ve followed you—”

“Who isthey?” I crossed my arms. “Why do you think they’d follow us?”

“I didn’t move out here for pleasure. I’m hiding! I knew I’d be found eventually, though,” he muttered. “But if they’re hunting you, you might have brought them to my door when I’m unprepared—”

“Then we’ll help you!” Zidra buckled on her pauldron. “But whoarethey? What do they want? If you can tell us anything to identify them—”

“Ha!” Rouven shook his head. “Anyone who can identify them, who knows too much, who gets too close and doesn’t join them, ends up dead or missing or both. If they’re targeting you, they must think you know too much.”

“What if a lot of people know too much?” she pressed. “I know they consider themselves a league and have some kind of religious motivation, as they call their leader an archon, but they don’t honor Iskyr. I know they have assassins, including a night elf. I know they’re stationed in Laedresh. And I know they have ties to the murder of a magistrate, and that my investigation into his death started all of this. And everything I know, Kyrundar and Sajen know, and as soon as my letters get to her, Archon Aekyrdra will also know, and then the entire Order of the Rengir and the imperial palace will know.”

Rouven studied her for a moment. “Clever. If they start taking out that many people, they’ll only confirm their existence and draw more attention, which is the last thing they want.” He worked his jaw, then sat back down, far stiffer than before. “What do you want to know?”’

“Anything you do,” Zidra said.

She sat back down on the edge of the bed. I almost sat next to her, but not wanting to push her, I chose the wood chair next to the bed instead.

“It started a few years ago, with a human stonemage who came into Merael’s seeking treatment for a wound. She tried to claim it was a run-in with a wolf, but the claw marks were too big. Had to be a wolvus. Finally she admitted it was a ‘training exercise,’ but she wouldn’t say training for what or where. I looked into her, and she wasn’t a student at Harcos or a rengir or a member of the city or imperial guard. But she didn’t seem frightened and said she was safe, so I didn’t report it to the guard.”

Rouven sighed and slumped a little. “I should have. My silence told them I was trustworthy. I started getting more patients with strange wounds and no clear accounting of how they got them, and not just at Merael’s, but at my home. Shifters, elves, humans. Then a man came to see me. A human firemage. He said the Ascendant League had deemed me worthy. He wanted to recruit me to their cause.”

“Their cause?” I asked.

“He was vague, but I got the impression he believes that the Order of the Rengir are hoarding some secret source of power that is related to Ascadrion the Earth-Shaker. I suspect they want to bring Ascadrion back, but I didn’t ask. I said I wasn’t interested. He didn’t like that,” Rouven said darkly.

“He said he was the archon of the Laedresh conclave,and that the ‘sovereign’ of the League would be disappointed. He implied that they have bases all over the continent and that one day they will take control of the empire, and he said I should join them while I had the chance to do so willingly. I said I’d think about it, just to get him out of my office. I thought he was insane.”

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