Page 144 of A Tower of Half-Truths
“See? Perfectly legitimate.” Neldren opened the door. “Now, are you coming, or are you going to stand there all morning?”
Mavery frowned. Traversing the countryside with an inexperienced driver at the helm wasn’t the most reassuring plan, but they didn’t have the luxury of time to devise a better one. She nodded to Alain, readjusted her pack, and climbed into the coach. Neldren offered a hand, but she ignored it and made use of the handholds. She took Alain’s staff and satchel, then gave Alain himself a hand.
“Thank you, my love,” he said softly, and Mavery’s heart skipped a beat. Though he’d used that term of endearment several times between last night and this morning, she was still growing used to it.
The coach had appeared larger from the curb. With four passengers—one of whom was well north of six feet tall—and their effects, the interior was cramped. Mavery sat across from Ellice and had to angle her legs to prevent their knees from touching. Alain sat directly across from Neldren. The latter stared at the former with his arms crossed.
“Ready?” Evrard called from the driver’s seat.
“Ready,” Neldren said stiffly.
Evrard cracked the reins. The stagecoach pulled away from the curb and took off toward the city’s southern gate.
“So,you’rethe reason Mave decided to stay in Leyport,” Neldren said, peering at Alain.
Alain started. “Er, yes, I suppose I am.”
“You know, I had my suspicions last night, especially when you left the pub hand in hand, but I didn’t want to assume—”
“Why does it matter?” Mavery snapped. “Didn’t youtell me you’d moved on?”
“I have.” His eyes flicked at Ellice, who’d been throwing him a warning look the entire time. Her pink cheeks and clenched jaw suggested she was struggling to hold her tongue. Neldren’s gaze settled on Mavery again. “It matters because I thought you’d do me the courtesy of telling me I’d be partnering up with your current lover.”
“Well, sorry for leaving out that detail.” After parting ways in the Garden District, she’d assumed they would go about this as adults. Evidently, he still had a few bones to pick from the carcass of their former relationship.
“It’s funny,” Neldren said. “When I told her to ‘go fuck off with the wizards,’ I didn’t think she’d take thatliterally.”
Alain scoffed. “Were those your parting words as you left her in the infirmary with a bullet in her stomach?”
“Gods, are you really going to bring that up?”
“Yes, Ireallyam.”
Neldren rolled his eyes. “I already apologized!”
Mavery touched Alain’s shoulder as she muttered in his ear, “As much as I appreciate it, I’d also appreciate not letting things come to blows while we’re confined to this carriage for the next couple of days.”
Neldren barked a laugh. “If it comes to that, you can bet on a short fight—especially ifthat’sall he brought along.” He pointed at Alain’s staff. “Aren’t those staffs supposed to have magical gems?”
“Staves,” Alain mumbled.
“Come again?”
“The plural isstaves.And this one did, until about a year ago.”
At the crown of Alain’s staff, branches entwined like spindly fingers that normally would have clutched an Ether-sensitive gem. He gazed at it forlornly, then looked to Mavery. He didn’t need to say a word for her to know the missing gem had been one of the many things he’d sacrificed for Conor.
“So, it’s just a useless stick.”
“Nel…” Mavery groaned.
He held up his hands. “I’m only saying, with him being a wizard and all, I’d expected him to bring along some powerful artifacts.”
“Artifacts alone wouldn’t help us,” Alain said. “A gem would only amplify my own arcana, which I already have in abundance, rest assured.”
Neldren cocked an eyebrow as he eyed Alain from head to toe, as though skeptical that someone of Alain’s stature could hold an abundance of anything.
“Oh, just whip out your cocks and measure them already, why don’t you?” Ellice said.
