Queen's Hunt (River of Souls 2)

“That is your mistake,” Alesso said. “Being sorry, that is. Do we kill her?”

“What? No.” But she eyed Galena uneasily.

Galena lay there, her eyes wide and pale. Valara had circled around and observed the scene with her arms folded. Her lips twitched in a smile when Ilse glanced in her direction. “Let her live,” Valara said. “She will hate that worse than dying. Won’t you?” she asked Galena. “Betrayal is a coward’s weapon.”

Galena flinched. “I am not a coward.”

“Nor a friend,” Valara said. “You have no reason to like or help me. But her”—she nodded at Ilse—“you care a great deal about her. Do you want her dead? Locked in prison and tortured? Better you let us go tonight and salve your conscience tomorrow.”

Bells whispered through the open shutters. Three quarter chimes. Ilse glanced at Alesso. He nodded. He, too, understood they had little time before the watch changed, before someone sent a runner to the garrison prison and Valara’s absence was discovered.

“Choose,” Alesso said to Ilse. “Death or—”

“Forgetfulness,” Ilse said. “I know magic to lock her memories.”

He shook his head. “Not good enough.”

He pressed the knife’s edge to Galena’s throat. Ilse reached for Alesso’s arm, but it was Valara who intercepted him before he could do more than make a shallow cut. “One moment.” Her voice was calm, dispassionate, as though they were not discussing murder. To Galena, she said, “Help me and I will take away the word on your face.”

Galena’s eyes went wide.

Ilse held herself still, watching them both, but especially Valara. Oh, she is perceptive. Even at such a time as this.

“Can you?” Galena asked.

“Of course.”

“They’ll see,” Ilse said. “Your captain and everyone else will notice if that mark disappears overnight.”

Valara shrugged. “I can make a spell with a lock. Your friend may wait a day, a year, then speak the words to complete the spell and set magic free to do its work.”

Leaving Galena free to join her brother at the borderlands, or farther west. But Ilse did not dare to interrupt. She, too, needed Galena’s cooperation.

Galena licked her lips. “I will then.”

Once more the scene rapidly changed. Alesso helped Galena to sit up. Ilse fetched a wet cloth to clean the wound on her neck. Valara murmured a string of Erythandran, and the wound closed to a bright red scar.

“Now,” Alesso said. “We make our plans quickly. You can’t slip past the city gates, or by sea. Those soldiers keep a strict watch by the harbor as well as the highway. Even if you could, there’s the fort. They’ll snatch you up within two miles of Osterling. No, the only possible way is through the tunnels.”

“What tunnels?” Ilse said sharply.

But Galena nodded slowly in recognition. “From the old days before the empire,” she said in a wondering tone. “The kings of Fortezzien had them built in case of a siege. They could send messengers past the enemy, to summon aid from another city.”

“You know where the entrances are?” Alesso asked her.

“Inside the Keep’s ruins. They used to set guards outside, but not anymore. But I don’t know anything else about them.”

“How far do they run?” Ilse asked. “Far enough?”

Meaning, would the tunnels take them past the first circle of patrols. Alesso seemed to understand because he nodded. “Back in the old days, the tunnels ran halfway up the coast. Most collapsed years ago, but it’s still passable for a few miles, if you don’t mind rats and rubble. Is that acceptable to my lady?”

He left a great deal unsaid, but Ilse could piece together the clues. Alesso and his colleagues used the tunnels for their own activities. Which meant the regular soldiers did not. “It is,” she said. “What if they decide to follow?”

“Then we make certain they don’t. You and your friend go to the tunnel. Soldier girl reports to her harbor duty. Certain of my friends will arrange a distraction, while I handle things here in the pleasure house to explain your absence.”

Ilse gazed into Alesso’s eyes, wishing she could read what lay behind them. Trust was indeed a gift. You could not ask a bondage price for it.

“Give us until the next hour bell,” she said.