Page 218 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Of course when she finally found herself alone long enough to use the journal, she had no way to slice herself properly. Just her luck.
Using the crate to aid her, she stood on shaky legs, but after a minute or two, she was able to stand without assistance. She pulled on her satchel and tucked the journal inside. Now to find shears or some sort of knife.
The hospital ward had both. The rations station might also have something she could borrow. She just wouldn’t tell anyone why…and hopefully she wouldn’t run into her mother in the meantime. That would infinitely complicate things.
She needed to have that conversation, the one they hadn’t finished, but the hope that she might find a way to do this without sacrificing herself made her push it to the back of her mind. She would have time later.
But before she could make it further than her cell, Fely appeared.
Blast it.
Before Hallie could duck back into her little cell, Fely made eye contact with her and walked over. “How are you feeling?”
Blast.“Fine.”
Even after adding a fake smile, Hallie could tell she hadn’t fooled Fely, who raised one eyebrow in silent judgement. “And you’re leaving the ward…why?”
Hallie tried to think of something that would work as an excuse, but she came up short. Maybe Fely would go along with Hallie’s plan. It was worth a try. She’d once cared about King Filip, at least to an extent. Hallie’s way might make certain his death had not been in vain.
“I need to go to the part of the tunnels from yesterday.”
Fely narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
Hallie looked around. A few nurses entered two cells just a few down from hers. Another entered the area where the majority of those ill or injured lay in crooked rows out in the open, not afforded the privacy Hallie had been given. The gaslanterns tucked to the side of the strange cloth corridor made the shadows upon the ground longer. She tugged Fely into her cell.
“I know where the Second Gate is. Possibly. I just need to check it out.”
Fely shook her head. “Saldr would have felt it.”
Hallie held in the frustrated retort and said, “Maybe, but will you please just humor me? If it’s nothing, it’s nothing, and I’ll move on to other ideas. But I need to check all possibilities…and I need something sharp.”
“This is sounding less and less like a good idea,” Fely said, crossing her arms. “I want no part of it. I was just on my way to see if Asa was showing any improvement.”
“Asa?” Hallie wracked her brain for someone by that name. A Yalv? No, no, it wasn’t that. “Wait, when you say Asa, are you talking about King Filip’s brother?”
Fely, Filip, and Correa had mentioned him once or twice, and with everything going on, Hallie had forgotten about him. But why bring him up now?
Fely gave her an odd look. “What do you mean? Of course I’m talking about him.”
Hallie was taken back by her tone. “I think I might be confused.”
“You must know he’s here. You saved his life. I was hoping to speak with him before any of the others had a chance to…coerce answers from him.”
Hallie stared at her hard. “I saved his life? When?”
Who was she talking about? She couldn’t be talking about Ben. There was no way. It had to be someone else, but he was the only one she remembered saving. Besides Niels. But it was absolutely impossible for it to be him.
Which left Ben.
“Today. Earlier. You used your power in the hover. You saved his life.” Fely’s annoyance turned to worry, and shereached out to lay a hand on Hallie’s forehead as if testing for a fever. “Are you sure you’re feeling well?”
Waves of heat and ice-chilling cold crashed into her body. She jerked away from Fely’s touch. “I…I don’t think I understand.”
But she did—in a way. Ben had been working with the Cerls. He was an Essence wielder. But Hallie had only assumed he was a pawn, someone with Yalven blood they could manipulate, because the Ben she’d known was kind and Kase’s best friend. Until he wasn’t. Until the Essence power took control in the Gate chamber.
Her heart pounded. Every fiber of her being pulsed to its rhythm. “So you’re telling me that Asa, brother to the King of Cerulene, is the man I know as Ben Reiss?”
“Ah.” Understanding cleared the concern from Fely’s gaze. “You know him by his false name. Yes, though I only learned of his false name myself this morning.” Fely opened the curtain again. “It will take too long to explain now, and it’s best if not many people know that—” she leaned over to whisper in Hallie’s ear, “—theonly living heirto the Cerl throne is in this hospital ward. In betraying Jayde in Myrrai, he was granted full heirship, though he was born illegitimate. I wasn’t aware of that detail until after the fact, which only shows I was not as well-placed of a spy as the Stradat Lord Kapitan would have liked, but…what’s done is done.”
