Page 165 of Silverbow
Light, I can’t even sleep with it.“Not really.”
Alloralla nodded pensively. “If you wish to talk about what stalks your dreams, Lady Ryerson, I am at your disposal. Otherwise, I can offer you a tonic or a similar warding.”
“The tonic?”
“I’ll have it sent to your room.”
“Thank you.”
The elven woman was still studying her. “Should you need any other tinctures or tonics, you need only send word.”
Enya realized what she was offering and felt herself turn scarlet.
Oryn
Oryn sank into the oversized tufted armchair in front of the hearth in Leon’s private audience chamber, piling the saddle bags containing Enya’s plunder in a heap at his feet. The room smelled of pipe smoke and old parchment. It soothed his frayed nerves.
Leon wasted no time in tossing his crown onto the desk littered with leather bound books and scrolls with broken wax seals. Alsbet busied herself pouring tea for four. “What business can you have that cannot wait until after we’ve had a meal?” She demanded.
It was terribly against custom to discuss business before dining in Drozia, but Leon’s wife would have to forgive him this once. “Enya asks sanctuary,” he said.
Leon paused in lighting his pipe to wave a hand. “She’ll have it, of course.”
“You should know the extent of it before you agree, brother,” Oryn said.
Leon’s eyebrows rose, and a look passed between husband and wife. “I thought you vouched for her,” Alsbet said, settling back in a chair with a cup and saucer.
“I do, but there are risks.”
“Such as?”
“It’s her story to tell.”
“And what’s yours, Oryn?” Alsbet prodded.
He loosed a long breath. “If you’ll grant her sanctuary, I’d like to claim guest right for her.”
Alsbet’s look turned hawkish. She held out her palm and with a resigned sigh, Leon pressed another gold mark into it. Oryn watched with dismay. He had been relieved to find Alloralla had answered Colm’s summons. Stillwater, while more skilled than Oryn, wasn’t a full healer and only answered to his uncle, but the woman was taking her bloody time with it. Alsbet’s grin was unsettling.
The door adjoining the two audience chambers finally opened and a bright faced Enya stepped through, free of her sling. A tension Oryn hadn’t realized he was carrying loosened from between his shoulders.
“Two weeks,” Alloralla said firmly before bowing herself out.
When Alsbet was done fussing over how Enya took her tea and Leon was blowing smoke rings into the air from where he leaned against his desk, the Prince of Dwarves growled, “Out with it.”
Enya fidgeted nervously in her armchair. “I seek sanctuary, Your Highness.”
“I figured as much when you arrived on my doorstep.”
She met his gaze, unflinching. “There is a price on my head, and it may get steeper if others learn who I am and what I’ve done.”
Leon huffed. “This is Drozia, girl. Ten thousand gold marks isn’t enough for one of my lords to defy my protection.”
“Fifteen,” Enya corrected. Oryn watched Leon and Alsbet’s brows rise. It wasn’t the sum that startled them. It was the gap in their information. “It’s fifteen thousand, because I am also Innesh’s Arrow.”
Leon barked a laugh. “You found a Silverbow, eh?”
Oryn inclined his head, but Alsbet was tapping a finger on the porcelain cup in her hand.
