Page 109 of Keldori By Daybreak

“I’m fine,” I promised her, and she fell into the seat next to mine. The shadows under her eyes indicated a late night. “But what about you? Ferrin…”

I trailed off. We’d killed her uncle. Maybe. If we were lucky.

“If he’s dead, it’s for the better. And I won't have to worry anymore about what I might do if I face him.” She looked at the wood grain of the table rather than meet my eye, but then jerked her head up to force a smile. “Really, Wren. It’s hard to worry about him when I’m so relieved to see you up and well.”

I nodded, hoping she couldn’t read the guilt I was sure was splashed across my face. I still didn’t know how Orla would react if she found out we’d lured him to the canyon on purpose.

Iseult was having no qualms about the situation, I remembered. Heat rose in my face. The shadows under Orla’s eyes suddenly made more sense.

I shoveled eggs into my mouth with my fingers to hide my blush, my fork still on the floor a table away.

“We’ve been asking around about the library since we got in, but so far no one seems to know what we’re talking about,” Orla said. “I spent the whole day walking around the citadel with Iseult yesterday, and—Oh! She’s awake!”

She shot to her feet as Iseult, Tiernan, and Fana entered the tavern from the back hall. Orla rushed to greet Iseult, and Fana hurried to hug me.

“You aren’t dead!” she said, taking Orla’s abandoned seat after letting me go. “Tiernan said you were dying.”

“I did not.” Tiernan limped to take the seat next to Fana’s. “I said we were lucky she didn’t die.”

“Right, because she was dying. You were dying, weren’t you, Wren? But you didn’t.” Fana beamed. “Because Tiernan doesn’t know anything, including about libraries, because he said there was one here, but so far we haven’t found any libraries run by Lyrians.”

“I did say it was just a rumor.” Tiernan pushed a twisted lock back from his face and frowned at me. “Hello, Wren. Glad to see you’re not dead.”

“Don’t make me blush, Tiernan.” I picked at my eggs with my fingers, and an inn worker set a plate of pastries down at our table. “I didn’t order this.”

The woman winked as she brushed her hands off on her apron. “A guard came by this morning. He was asking about you and your friends.”

I froze and counted the exits, already formulating an escape plan in my head.

“Why?” Tiernan demanded.

“Something about an assault in an alleyway. A high ranking captain was found with all his fingers broken and covered in rashes.”

I stared at the woman so that I wouldn’t have to look at the others, but I saw both Fana and Tiernan whip in their seats to look at me.

“Wren?” Tiernan growled. “What did the Grimguard do?”

“Only what I told him to,” I hissed back through gritted teeth.

“Don’t worry.” The woman chuckled and stooped to pick up my abandoned fork. “Anyone who is an enemy of the Barony is a friend to Willow’s Grove. Besides, your brooding friend with the tattered cloak and dark hair pays well.”

She patted her apron pocket, her rings thunking against glass through the fabric. Ciarán had slipped her a bottle of Skal.

“But aren’t we in the Barony?” I asked stupidly.

Tiernan made a warning sound, but the woman waved him off.

“She’s fine, love.” The woman scoffed. “We were a free city-state of the Skalterran Highlands until the Baron decided otherwise.”

“She forced you into the Barony?” I asked.

“He. It was nearly fifteen years ago now, and the Baron at the time was the current Baron’s father. He was a vicious man who loved his Skal, and Willow’s Grave was too tempting of a prize.”

“But I thought you didn’t have any Skal springs here,” I said. The woman flashed me her ring, and I recognized opal as the center stone.

“No springs, just trees of Skal-made gemstones. He wanted to mine the Great Willow.”

I twisted towards the window, as if the massive willow standing resolute at the center of the citadel might have disappeared. It was still there, however, un-mined and whole.