Page 93 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

“Do you think she would be able to disable it in a more… permanent fashion?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because I would like to disable it in a more permanent fashion.”

Novikke and Aruna exchanged a glance. Perhaps it was Crow’s imagination, but she thought she sensed them relaxing slightly. Like they’d been hoping she was hiding some small redeeming quality somewhere, and were relieved to find at least one.

“Is that so?” Novikke said.

“Can you help me, or not?”

Novikke hesitated, giving the others another look. Some silent communication seemed to pass between them. They still didn’t trust her.

“Our mage friend said that removing the binding completely is beyond her abilities,” Novikke finally said. “But it’s not impossible. Somebody at the Mages’ Conclave might be able to do it.”

Crow leaned back in her chair, dejected. “I’ll just bring a night elf right up to the front doors of the Conclave, then. Simple as that.” Not to mention Vaara’s bad experiences with mages in the past. He might rather just have the binding for the rest of his life than walk into a building full of overly ambitious human mages, even if they weren’t bound to report him to the watch.

“I didn’t say it’d be easy,” Novikke said with a shrug.

There was always the chance of him falling madly in love with her and breaking the binding that way. The thought almost made Crow laugh aloud. He might come to tolerate her, but he would never truly care about her. It would not be enough to break such a powerful spell.

She rubbed her eyes. She deserved a vacation. She was still annoyed that her last one had been interrupted.

She turned to Nero. “Hypothetically, if there was someone using dogs to track us, and possibly an additional person using magic to do the same, how likely is it that they’d be able to find us here?”

“You’re being pursued by someone else?” Novikke asked. “Not just the people from the prison?”

“No. There are… more.”

“This place is guarded with magic,” Nero said. “It can’t be found by non-Varai.”

“Are you certain?”

“It’s never happened in the fifteen years I’ve been here.”

“I admit, I’m curious how a place like this came to exist,” Crow said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It was founded by my mother,” Nero said, not without a spark of pride.

Suddenly, his presence there made perfect sense. “She was human?” Crow asked.

“She was.”

“And she recognized a lack of places in the city where a person like yourself might be welcome,” she guessed.

He nodded.

The idea of someone performing such an act of love for their child warmed her heart, and also made her bitterly envious. His parents had built him a home. A place where he could be safe and happy. All her parents had given her was a ridiculous name.

There was no secret home for half-Ashara in Valtos. She’d always been on her own. She’d done the best she could to survive, and she still always ended up alone, with everyone around her giving her the sorts of disgusted, mistrustful looks that the three of them were giving her right now.

But maybe that was what she deserved, after all.

“Hey,” Novikke said tentatively. “No need to look so upset. You’ll be safe here. We’ll figure out a way to deal with all of this.”

There was guarded concern on her face. On all their faces. Concern that was probably meant for Vaara, not her, but she was still relieved to see it.

“I know another mage I can talk to,” Crow said. “She may be able to help me find a lead. In the meantime…” She glanced up at Nero. “Would you permit us to stay here a while longer? I can pay whatever you ask.”

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