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“On two conditions.” Vesara held up two fingers, her nails painted a deep blue.
“Please make this good.”
“You tell me why you need it, and…” She drew out the word, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder at the central square packed with luxurious red tents. “You attend that tonight.”
Renton scowled as he took in the exuberant party decor. Bird and moon paper lanterns strung between tents. Rustic wooden tables and metal fire pits. Tasseled and beaded throw pillows heaped on elaborate woven rugs. And enough barrels of booze to drown the capital.
“Izral’s throwing me a party for my return,” she said, “but I have no true friends. Hass was it, and as you witnessed, he wasn’t pleased to see me.”
“That’s a bit pathetic, Sut’hik.”
She threw out her arms. “Will you just come?”
“All right,” he agreed. “As for what I’m doing, I believe the tome is in Cragnore. I plan to retrieve it.”
Her eyes glittered with excitement. “I’m coming with you.”
“I don’t have krotens to pay you.”
“Is it this hard to make friends?”
“Usually, you start by being polite,” he said. “I’ll attend your thing. The orb will be in my hands immediately after. You will stay here to watch over my brother and Tenah in case Boedworth is using this as a way to separate me from them.”
Vesara clapped and gave her knuckles a solid pop. “Won’t be hard to do. She’s quite nice to look at, isn’t she?”
Renton’s brows lifted. He had a thought to warn the assassin off Tenah, but she’d already slunk off like a nefarious street cat after a mouse.
En route back to the villa to demand Aeyis and Gireth attend the party with him, a breeze from the open gates caught him wrong, tensing up his muscles and awakening the shard in his chest with a jolt.
What the fuck is that?
He diverted, trailing the path of Chaos. Soldiers lazed atop the walls, and Renton frowned up at them. Though, he supposed they didn’t see much action with the Embassy looming at their backs.
At least a mile out from Denoden, tucked in a field of swishing wheat, he discovered a body. He’d recognize that smoky hair anywhere. He broke into a sprint, his blood pressure rising.
Renton dropped beside Tenah, ignoring the strange buzzing of a waning rift nearby. His nostrils flared at the scent of storms clinging to her scalding flesh. Without hesitation, he pulled her against his chest, his fingers stroking down the markings along her wrists, more elaborate than they’d been the last time he’d seen them.
Rage flooded in, overwhelmingly thick.
He’d left her to her own devices last night, and look what had happened.
By some unnatural force, Tenah lurched upright and sucked in a lungful of air. The shard launched an attack on his nerve endings, curling his torso over her as he grunted. It had almost become a sign of her proximity, this pain in his heart.
“Renton?” her voice was small. Weak. Unsure.
She extracted herself from his arms but remained on the ground. Her eyes landed on the sliver of the rift, and a shudder rolled through her. “Tell me you brought me here.”
Confusion marred his features. “No. I tracked the scent of Chaos and found you and that thing. Tenah, did you open another rift?” His question went unanswered, and unease settled in his chest. Forcefully, he asked, “Did you see anyone around you? What is the last thing you remember?”
“I was...” Her brows furrowed. “I went for a walk. And then nothing. I don’t remember a thing.”
Renton ground his teeth, sensing the lie twisted around her words.
“Another walk?” His tone was accusing. Clinging to his anger felt better than the helplessness threatening to take over. He wanted to save her, but he didn’t know how. “No one crossed your path?”
His mind split in all directions, running through potential attackers. Boedworth’s hunters. Her own father.
She shook her head then lowered her chin.
