Page 30 of Silverbow
“If it’s about the apprenticeship-”
“No, my lord,” he said too quickly. “It’s Enya.”
Oh, light. The poor boy.
Renley sighed and closed his ledger. “Liam, Enya needs to wed a-”
“It’s not that my lord. Have you seen her this morning?”
Renley frowned. No, in fact, he hadn’t seen her since they last gathered at Alys’s table. “Is she not in the stable?”
He saw the boy swallow. “No, my lord. I uh…that is my da and I were up half the night tending to Piper, and…Arawelo...”
Panic was spreading across the boy’s features. It was contagious, it seemed, for Renley’s own heart took off at a gallop, his mind racing through possibilities.
“When was the last time anyone saw the mare, Liam?”
“Night check, my lord.”
Renley bolted out of his chair.
Light, Enya.
Had she simply gone for a ride, she would have told someone. Had she fallen and gotten hurt, in all likelihood, Arawelo would have returned to the house. Had she eavesdropped at that godsforsaken door…Crushing dread rolled over him like a boulder.
Liam’s hurried steps followed him through the house and Alys came trotting from the kitchen. The yard was abuzz as Renley hurried down the porch steps. Del was already forming the stable hands into search parties.
“What do we know?” He asked gruffly.
“She went out the Greenridge gate sometime between night check and dawn,” Del answered. “Marwar already started on the trail.”
Renley struggled to dislodge the claws of panic that tried to seize hold of him. A whole night and half a day and no one noticed the most precious thing in the world had vanished.Gods help me.
“What is she thinking?” He turned to Liam. The boy had gone a shade paler. “What do you know?”
He rocked nervously on his toes. “She…I….she...I think she means to turn herself in.”
“Solignis’s nine hells,” Alys cursed. “I told you, Renley.”
Renley felt as if the world tilted beneath his feet.Gods.He should have kept a closer eye on her. He should haveknownshe would do something like this.
“Did you know, boy?”
“I...I...”
“Did you know?” He roared.
Del sidled a step closer to his son.
“No, my lord,” he blurted. “It was just something she said after the Testing. I didn’t think she’d actually do it.”
Marwar cantered through the front gate and skidded to a stop in a spray of dirt and pebbles. Liam had to leap out of the way or risk being knocked out of his boots. “She doubled back to the road,” he said.
“Which way?” Del asked.
“Tracks angle west before they hit the hard pack.”
If the wielders were still in town, they’d take her. But Renley didn’t know if they were, and neither did Enya. The closest wielder’s outpost was in Windcross Wells. Enya would know that too. But what if shehadgone to Westforks? To Louissa Adler of all people, Pallas’s most trusted wielder.
