Page 44 of To Kill a King
She swallowed as chills raced up her skin. “Anything in my ability to grant.” She coughed. “In my current situation.” For whatever good that was. She was on the run, with nothing to offer anyone, which the gnome would discover soon enough if he didn’t already know. And then he’d get angry, and who knows what sort of personal or political repercussions there would be.
But at least she’d survive to deal with that problem another day. If things went poorly, she wouldn’t live to face the consequences.
She wheezed. “Yes. I promise.”
“Excellent,” the tenor voice said. “Let’s get started.” A warm hand rested over her side, and heat flooded her torso, drowning out the pain.
She welcomed the darkness as it pulled her back under.
Aliya blinked. The dark room reeked of unwashed bodies and blood. Lots of it. Something hard dug into her back. She was lying on a table. The pain was gone, and her headache had vanished.
She opened her cracked lips. “Hello?”
Something crashed in the corner. With a muttered “Valek!” Elessan’s face popped into view. “Good, you’re awake. How do you feel?”
She frowned, taking stock of her body. Her thoughts were clear. “Other than being a little tired, I’m fine.”
“And you remember what happened? With the healer?”
Oh, right. The favor she owed. Great. There was no way this would go well. “Did he say what he wanted?”
Elessan shook his head. “But he’s waiting outside.” He reached for her but let his hand drop. “I tried to offer him a service in your stead. I’m not without connections. But…I’m sorry.”
Pressing her lips together, she exhaled through her nose. She would’ve held out for a royal boon, too. “It’s okay. Thank you for saving my life.” The little gnome could wait for a few moments longer. Raising a hand and gesturing to the room, she peered at Elessan. “Where are we? This isn’t a normal doctor’s office.”
“No.” He stared down at his feet, careful not to meet her eyes. “This was the only place I knew to go where I trust them not to turn you over to the king.”
“How so?”
“The healer’s also a magus. He’s lying low, avoiding the king’s men, like you.”
Right. “What’s the Mage Underground?”
He turned to her with a flat expression. “What it sounds like. Magic users, in hiding. They don’t want to be murdered for their magic any more than you do.”
“Oh.” Aliya blinked. She hadn’t realized there were others, but she should’ve. Heat flooded her face, making it tingle. “Other people know? That the king is killing mages?”
He nodded. “The elves have known for a few decades. The magic users, too, obviously. I don’t think it’s common knowledge among the populace.”
Yet.
She chewed the inside of her cheek. “I don’t understand why the mages wouldn’t say anything.”
“They probably tried. Mages aren’t exactly welcome in most places in the realm.”
She nodded, thinking back to the No Mages sign on the inn’s door the first night of her escape. “So no one listened to them, and they gave up?”
Something glistened in his eyes as he gave her a crooked, knowing smile. “Not so much gave up, per say, as went…underground.”
She rolled her eyes. “Except the mages in the Mage College.” They’d been out in plain sight.
“I can’t say for sure, but I suspect the ones at the college thought there was safety in numbers. Or maybe that in standing together, they had a chance against him.”
Swallowing, her gaze unfocused as her blood chilled. That had proven disastrous.
Malkov’s killing spree had lasted for years and would continue unless someone did something.
Someone smarter and stronger than her.