Page 56 of Avalon Tower
“Did I hear the word ambush?” asks Arzel.
I look back at the main road but don’t see anyone. “I heard someone talking about an ambush in Allevur. And since there’s nothing else around here but The Silent Woman, I thought the ambush might be meant for you.”
Raphael frowns at me. “What do you mean, you overheard someone? Who were you listening in on when you were waiting for us in the woods?”
I swallow hard. “It’s tough to explain.”
“Try.”
“It’s just something I overheard,” I say firmly. “That’s all you need to know, but if it’s true, your life could be in danger.”
The hilt of Raphael’s sword gleams in the darkness. “Fine. We should at least check what we’re walking into. Freya, can you slip ahead to check the tavern’s stable? Arzel, circle around the building. Have a look in the windows, the roofs, the shadows. Search for anything that doesn’t quite seem right, and make sure no one sees you.”
Without another word, the pair ride off into the darkness.
Once we’re alone, Raphael folds his arms, his penetrating silver gaze searing me. “What is it that you’re not telling me?”
As the wind rushes over the grass, I breathe in the faint scent of woodsmoke and wild roses that grow along the field’s edges. “Sometimes, I hear voices,” I say at last. “I used to assume they were nonsense. But occasionally, the things the voices say come true.”
He lets that sentence float between us for a few seconds, the silence broken only by the grass rustling in the breeze and a loud snort from his horse. At last, he says, “Okay. Tell me more.”
“When I was waiting for you, the sergeant cornered me in the forest.”
Raphael’s expression hardens, and he shifts closer. “He what? What happened?”
I shake my head. “Nothing. He was easy enough to get rid of. But as it happened, I heard a voice in my mind, a voice that mentioned an ambush in Allevur. And I also heard a sentence just before the sergeant said it out loud, like I was hearing the future, maybe? I don’t know that the bit about the ambush was accurate, but I didn’t want to take the risk of ignoring it.”
“A disembodied voice in your head warned you about an ambush in Allevur,” he says levelly.
Frustration tightens my chest. “And he mentioned a traitor. Someone called Varris.”
Raphael’s eyes open wider. “How did you hear that name?”
“I literally just told you how I heard it.”
He studies me. “His name is confidential. Only I know it. Not even Arzel and Freya know it. Varris is the person we’re supposed to be meeting.”
I could hear the future, then.
“The sergeant’s thoughts said, ‘Allevur will be a bloodbath again tonight after the ambush, if that traitor Varris can be believed,’” I tell him. “It doesn’t seem like a good sign, does it?”
“No.” His gaze slides down my body. “What happened to your leg? You were limping when I first saw you, and you’re favoring your right leg.”
“I sprained my ankle jumping into a train car from the roof.”
“You did what?”
“That’s how I got here,” I say. “I took the Gobannos train. It was the only way I could make it here on time. But I didn’t have a ticket, so I had to board the train through the roof.”
“Why do I feel like you’ll be the death of me?” he mutters, and kneels down.
“What are you doing?”
“Healing you. The left one, right?” He brushes the back of his knuckles over my ankle where it hurts the most. How does he know exactly where I need him to heal me?
The heat of his magic whispers over my skin, a glowing caress that makes my eyes flutter. He slides his hand around my ankle, but the sensation of his magic doesn’t stop there. It’s a faint kiss of velvet stroking up my thigh. As his magic sweeps over my skin, the pain dissolves, leaving only a throbbing heat in its wake. I lick my lips, my breath growing shallow.
“Are you nearly finished?” I ask sharply, trying not to think about how it would feel if his hand moved higher up my leg.