Page 34 of Dark Elves of Ardani

“Will you tell me your name now?” she asked. A new light glowed to life within the inn. Shadows moved beneath the door.

He arched an eyebrow. Of all the things she could have asked, that was the question she chose?

“Nero,” he said.

Chapter 12

“Iam fine, Basira.” Zara pulled away from her as she fussed, shrinking back in her chair. She’d finally moved from her bed back to the communal table in the inn yesterday, and she was glad to be upright and with the others again.

Basira pressed her hand to Zara’s forehead. “You still feel warm,” she declared. “Are you drinking enough water? I’ll get you some tea.”

Tahir gave Zara a sympathetic look, and Zara smiled at him as Basira hurried to the kitchen. A week had passed since Zara’s return to the village, and she’d almost stopped coughing. Tahir’s alchemical brews worked wonders.

“Are you sure you do not have a bit of magic in you, Tahir?” Zara asked.

He shook his head. “No magic. Just plants.”

“As it should be,” came a voice from the doorway. Zara suppressed a sigh as Paladin Theron strode inside, Naika following him silently like an angry shadow. Zara had managed to put off seeing him until now, thanks to Basira barring him from approaching her shed, but she’d known she would have to talk to him eventually.

All of them had survived the avalanche, albeit with a few injuries. Basira had told her that one of them had a broken leg and was slowly mending under Tahir’s care.

Theron leaned on the table, looking over Zara closely. She tried not to shift with discomfort under his scrutiny. “How are you, Lady Zara?”

“I am fine, Theron. Thank you for your concern.”

“Of course I’m concerned. It was our failings that led to all of this.” He sat down across from her. Naika sat a few seats away and put her feet up on the table, examining her fingernails.

“Tell me everything,” Theron said.

“There is not much to tell.”

“Of course there is. We saw the night elf carry you away. What happened after that?”

“He said he wanted a hostage as leverage against you.”

“And?” Theron prompted. He scanned her face, looking stuck somewhere between anxious and furious. It reminded her of the way he’d looked when she’d explained her Goddess symbols. “All this time, I’ve been imagining what he must have been doing to you…”

Zara clenched her jaw. There was something possessive in his tone, as if he took her hypothetical injuries personally. And yet she sensed an odd lack of concern for her well-being, as if he was the primary party being wronged by someone else touching her.

“Theron,” Basira said, a warning in the word. She set down a large mug of tea in front of Zara.

“He did not do anything to me,” Zara said. “Nothing. I only grew ill after falling in a river.”

“A river?” He glanced over at Naika. She nodded without looking up from her nails. “Then he was taking you north. Could he have been heading toward the peaks in the northeast? We’ve not explored that area thoroughly yet. We thought the terrain would be too difficult to bother with, but perhaps that’s just what they want us to think. Where else did you go? Do you recall any landmarks?”

More than anything, she remembered violet eyes. She was not eager to help the Paladins find him again. “I am… not sure. I do not know this land well.”

His eyes narrowed on her. “Did he say anything about where he was going?”

“No. He did not explain anything to me.”

Theron’s eyes bored into her. “Well, have you remembered anything else? About how you found your way back?”

She had told them she couldn’t remember how she’d ended up on Basira’s porch. They wouldn’t believe her if she told them he’d brought her back. “It is… difficult to recall,” she said.

Theron stared at her. There was something judgemental and unfriendly hidden deep behind his polite demeanor. It was uncomfortably reminiscent of the way some of Avan’s friends looked at her.

“She was very ill, Theron,” Basira chastised. “On death’s door. Leave her alone, for Astra’s sake. Our safety is more important than your night elf vendetta. Or haven’t you learned anything from what happened the last time you tried to use her for your ends?”

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