Her eyes moistened and she stopped walking long enough to release a slow breath. "You're still going to help me? After knowing my secrets?"
"It's because I know your secrets." I sighed, dreading the next few hours. With what I now knew, we shouldn't have come to Silven. Kestra couldn't possibly be prepared to meet Tenger, to stare him in the face and lie about a fake dagger. If the burden fell to me, would I lie to my own captain, a man I was dedicated to serving?
An idea suddenly lit inside my head. The solution to the one question she would not answer. It was equal parts dangerous and cautious, reckless and logical. Kestra wouldn't do things any other way.
I said, "I think I know where the Olden Blade is."
She released my hand and took a step back, her breaths suddenly coming in bursts. "You don't know. You're guessing, hoping I'll give the secret away."
"As we were leaving the dungeons, Gerald wanted to stay with you, but you ordered him to leave."
"Yes, to save his life."
"Or was it to save something else?" Gerald had not spent two decades as a spy at Woodcourt, waiting for Kestra to come of age, only to leave at her first request. "I think Gerald took two daggers into those dungeons. The first was the fake one he planted in the pit. But he also has the second dagger, the real one. On your orders, he escaped with it, right under Tenger's nose."
By then, she was calmer, although she had become silent, her eyes darting around as if searching for a way to convince me that I was wrong. When she failed to come up with a plausible excuse, she merely shrugged and said, "If that was my plan, then admit it's a good one. The Blade belongs to the Halderians, and no one else."
"You think that'll be good enough for Tenger? You think he'll laugh this off, what a good joke you've played on the Coracks, and now all is forgiven? You have no idea how badly you've complicated things!"
"I had to complicate things. Tenger is dangerous!"
"You are every bit as dangerous! If he is manipulating who the Infidante becomes, then so are you!"
"That dagger is ransom for the life of my friend. Do not equate my actions with his."
"What of Gerald's life? Don't you respect the danger he is in?"
Her voice became flat. "Do not lecture me on danger! I know exactly what I've done, and I'd do it again."
I cursed and started in with a retort, but heard a sound in the distance. Horses. I squinted in that direction, hoping it was anyone but Dominion soldiers. It probably wasn't them--they preferred the faster oropods. I then hoped it was anyone but Tenger.
Whoever was coming, my third hope was that Kestra wouldn't be careless enough to speak her Dallisor name. Silven wasn't exactly bursting with a Dominion-loving population.
"They're looking for us," Kestra mumbled. "Should we hide?"
Around us, gorse and heather fluttered in the evening breeze, along with vast patches of Corack weeds. A mouse would have trouble hiding here. Someone on horseback shouted, a voice I recognized.
"Do you know him?" Kestra asked.
"Gabe Willen," I mumbled. He was a year older than me, tall and muscular with coal-black hair that he kept tied back at the nape of his neck. All the girls had eyes for him, and he knew it.
He was also my friend. I raised a welcoming hand and kept my tone casual. "It's just me."
Gabe sauntered closer, his eyes settling on Kestra far too long before shifting my way. A smile widened across his face and he slid off his horse. "Simon Hatch! What stampede ran over you?"
"The other guy looks worse." He laughed when I said it. That was a good sign.
"I heard you were part of some secret plan. Was she part of that plan?" Gabe's eyes returned to Kestra, with a flirtatious smile I'd knock off his face once my ribs were healed. "Who's this?"
"A friend," I said. "Why are you out here?"
"A wagon driver pulled into town an hour ago, trying to sell a ruby necklace he claimed had been given to him by a couple of young people stowing aboard his wagon. Tenger ordered us to investigate."
"Tenger's here?"
Gabe motioned vaguely behind him. "Back there, on one of the other horses. We brought a cart, because that driver also mentioned someone was injured. You, obviously." Gabe put an arm around me, failing to notice my grunt of pain when he did. "Tenger thinks you're dead. We even made a toast to your loss last night. Guess I'll have to take back all those nice things I said."
I tilted my head toward Kestra. "If I'm still alive, then it's thanks to her. Listen, I need a place for her to stay. I'll wait here for Tenger."