Page 34 of Jeweler to the Blessed (Champions of Chaos #1)

I didn’t second guess myself as I crossed the street and pulled open the door to Forest’s Edge.

A quick glance had my target in sight. Ava was behind the bar.

She must have been there all night. Her gaze locked on mine when I walked in, and she did not look happy to see me.

A tip of her head gestured me toward one of the sheer curtain-covered alcoves.

As I was here to ask her something, I followed her lead.

Parting the curtain, I sat on the edge of the plush couch.

Ava entered and pulled the curtains closed behind her. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I need to talk to you.”

“To me?” She looked genuinely confused. “I told you the seller would contact you. He did.”

I wondered when Hart had found time to return but decided it was irrelevant. “I have new information I want to discuss with you.”

She put her hands on her hips and let her head fall back, looking to the ceiling for patience I was sure she was out of. Raising a hand, she gestured for me to proceed .

“Alaric told me the youngleaf was taken care of.”

Ava’s head tilted to the side. “You spoke with him? You know where he is?” She slid down on the couch next to me, her interest showing as she leaned forward in anticipation.

I shook my head. “No, but …”

“What? He left a note?”

I sighed. I’d need to tell someone. If I wanted her help, I had to trust her with something.

Reasonably, I knew she worked with Soren.

She was probably as tangled with the Feared as Hart was, but I couldn’t ignore how she peppered me with questions about Alaric.

She was eager for a scrap of information about him, as if she cared about him.

And whatever else, she didn’t seem the type to stab me in the back—she’d have no problem driving the blade through my heart.

“Yes. I found a note.”

“What did it say?” Her voice was a whisper.

“Wherever he went, he left on purpose. But he also thought Mother’s tonic would be handled.

Now, I did talk to the seller , as you insist on referring to him, and he drove a different bargain for the herb.

” I held her gaze as I asked the heart of my question.

“I just want to know if I have any options.”

She laughed, leaning back and stretching her arms out over the top of the couch. Ava may tend bar here, but her position held power. I was sure of it. “Well, it sounds like the seller has overplayed, hasn’t he?”

My brow furrowed, unsure what this meant.

She clapped her hands in front of her chest as she rocked toward me.

“He thought he held all the cards. Turns out you might have a better hand than he realized. The question is …” She brought her hands together in her lap and looked at me with a devious smile. “What are you going to do about it?”

I still wasn’t sure I understood. “So, Mother’s tonic … It’s taken care of? ”

She arched a brow at me. “Has Alaric ever lied to you?”

I hesitated before conceding. “No, but apparently, he’s seen fit to leave out a lot of information.”

“As he did with all of us, Gem. But I choose to believe I knew him. Which meant he had his reasons.”

I wished for her confidence, even as her words had me on the edge of my seat.

Alaric wouldn’t have wanted me stuck in this position with the royal family.

It was the only part of him leaving on purpose that didn’t make sense.

In his perfect world, what? I found the note, knew he was alright, and that Mother didn’t need me, and I just … left Kavios?

Even if Vaddon hadn’t found me, I wasn’t sure it would have worked that way. Something still didn’t make sense.

Ava’s information soothed me even as uncertainty raged within. “Do you trust the seller?” I asked.

She’d been so honest about Alaric. I hoped it would continue.

She nodded without hesitation. “I do. But I’m not sure it matters. I don’t think trust is transferable like that.”

I sighed, conceding her point.

“What did he want in exchange for the herb?” she asked.

My hands balled into fists at my side, thinking of the unspecified favor he’d extracted. Then, I replayed our conversation. First, he’d asked me to trust him.

Maybe Ava was more correct than I realized. I’d told Hart that was unreasonable. He couldn’t demand trust that way. Similarly, I knew Alaric had trusted Hart, and I kept latching on to that to convince myself I could trust him too. Neither of those scenarios were how trust works.

I didn’t trust easily. Especially not a Blessed. But something in my gut that I’d been working hard to ignore kept telling me to trust Hart.

He’d been as unreasonable as I had been, trying to barter trust. Talking to him seemed like the best choice. I never got the answers I wanted, but he always seemed to have an answer I needed to hear.

Ava’s catlike smile said she knew her question had struck a nerve.

She waved me off, wishing me luck with the seller.

My thoughts were scattered as I left the tavern.

I didn’t need a run-in with Soren. It was getting late, but since I snuck out, I still wanted to check on my parents before returning to the castle.

I pushed open the door, stepping onto the street, when a hand wrapped around my wrist, lifting and pulling me around the corner to the eastern alley.

I reached for my knife, but my attacker was faster, slamming my hand above my head against the wall before I could stab.

My mouth opened to scream for Ava. Then, the attacker’s hood fell back, and eyes the color of the Oldwood’s canopy stared back at me.

Anger raged in them even as his lip curled into that smirk.

His hand around my gloved wrist flexed, pressing it back against the wall again.

I was at his mercy, and he knew it. And boy, did he look unhappy I had snuck out.

Hart glanced at the building behind us. “If you wanted a willing partner, Chaos, you need only have asked.”