Page 11 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

Her eyebrows pinched together. “There are many ways to chain someone down other than physically.”

“Which ways?”

“People with power have many ways of controlling someone who has little power.”

“A fool,” he repeated.

Crow frowned at him, biting her tongue. It wouldn’t have made her so angry if she hadn’t had the same thought before—if a secret part of her didn’t believe that he was right and she was just a coward.

“I’m not going to tell them,” he said.

She blinked, anger giving way to surprise and relief. “Why not?”

“Because I would rather have you here than risk another one like the old mage.”

Guilt pulled at her gut. He didn’t know she’d be leaving in a day or two. For all he knew, she’d be here for years, protecting him from someone worse taking over.

“I would appreciate that very much,” was all she said.

“Whatever it is you’re here for—is it something that will cause trouble for Alexei?”

“I believe it will, yes.”

He looked at her squarely. “I would appreciatethatvery much.”

Crow gave a wry smile.

Vaara shifted, as if to try to get more comfortable, and winced. His hands, still cuffed together in front of him, tightened into fists. His bare chest rose and fell heavily. He had a lean physique, undoubtedly from poor nutrition at the prison, but with an underlying lithe strength.

She didn’t realize she was staring until more than a few seconds had passed, when he frowned at her and she averted her eyes.

She crouched beside him again. He stiffened and followed the movement carefully, as if expecting her to suddenly strike him. She rested a hand on his forearm. His gaze flicked down toward the touch, annoyed.

“How do you feel now?” she asked. The healing magic should have had enough time to have its full effect by then.

“Fantastic,” he said.

She peered at a wound on his shoulder. It was halfway healed. A perfectly respectable amount of healing. It would pass for the work of a real mage. “Then I’ll take my leave,” she said. She lowered her voice. “You’re sure that you’re not going to... say anything about this?”

She could have given him a nudge—push a suggestion on him, just gently enough to make him think he’d thought of it himself. She nearly did so, then held back, against her better judgement. Using empathy to influence someone’s actions was always a little distasteful, but it was a lot easier to justify when it didn’t feel like kicking someone who was already down.

“I said I wouldn’t,” he said.

She listened to his mind. There was unease in his thoughts that she couldn’t detect in his voice. She realized it was because he was worried she’d do something to stop him from breaking her cover. He was expecting it, in fact. She caught a brief image of a mouth, a knife, blood. And there was a vague aggressive impulse behind the fear, like he was getting ready to fight back if she tried to hold him down.

But she couldn’t sense a lie, nor any desire to betray her to the warden. He’d spoken truthfully. It was in his best interests to say nothing.

“All right, then,” she said quietly. “Thank you, Vaara.”

Maybe it was just because she had a severe shortage of not-so-bad people in her life, but he didn’t seem so bad, for a night elf. In fact, he was a great deal more personable than Toreg, so far.

She stopped with her hand resting on the door handle, looking back at him. He was staring at the ceiling.

Was she really a fool, chaining herself to Patros with her own fears? Anything would be better than her current situation in life, wouldn’t it?

She shook her head to herself as she left the room.

Chapter 4

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