Page 126 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

Vaara smirked and said something to him that sounded like ribbing. Aruna just gave him an unappreciative look. One of the waitresses appeared and handed him a cup of the same drink Crow had.

“Could you get me another, too?” Crow asked the waitress, handing her a coin.

“Did the first one not help?” Vaara asked.

“It did. I just liked it.”

He sighed. “Only an Ardanian would actually enjoy the taste oftakoraleaves.”

“It’s pretty good. Maybe you should give it another try.”

“I think not.”

Crow worked on her map. Vaara watched her hand, his eye carefully following every line and mark she made.

When she finished, she pointed to the marks one by one. She’d written labels in Ardanian, and she wasn’t sure how well Vaara could read it. “These are doors. This is the main hallway. Up here is the west wing, where your cell was. This, here, is where we went through the wall last time. They’ll have patched that up by now, and barricaded it with magic. We won’t be able to use it again.” She glanced up at him, searching for the fear she knew he had for this place. If any was present, it didn’t show.

She turned the paper over and tried to parse some meaning from the foreign script and the scribbled drawings. “What are you planning?” she asked.

“I don’t have it all laid out yet.”

“What do you have so far?”

He hesitated. “I spoke to Aruna about it already.”

She tried not to be annoyed that he’d told Aruna before he’d told her. “And?”

“He agreed to come with me to the prison.”

She glanced up at Aruna in surprise. He looked at her, then back at Vaara, as if sensing the tension between them.

“I’m coming, as well,” Crow said.

“No,” Vaara said shortly. He seemed to have already had the answer queued up, like he’d known she was going to ask.

“What do you mean, ‘no’?” She waved a hand in Aruna’s direction. “You’ll ask this asshole to accompany you, but not me?”

“I can understand you,” Aruna murmured.

It was only then that she noticed the enchanted collar he was wearing. “Perhaps you’d like to give people a heads-up when you decide to wear that thing?” she suggested. “Because it would make things a lot easier for me if there was some consistency.”

He gave her a dry smile. “Maybe I want to know what people are saying about me when they think I’m not listening.”

She shook her head, turning to Vaara again. “You’re delusional if you think I’m going to stay here while you go get yourself killed.”

“It’s no one else’s business. This is my problem. I’ll deal with it.”

She jerked her chin in Aruna’s direction. “And him? How is it his problem?”

“Varai have an obligation to each other. You wouldn’t understand.”

Her jaw clenched. “And you and I have no obligation to each other?”

Vaara’s expression was guarded.

Was that really what he thought? What they’d been through together already—did it mean nothing to him?

“You said you needed help,” she said flatly.

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