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I give her a stiff smile. “One of many. Yes, Brynla and Lemi are adept at finding eggs. There’s more to her, though, than meets the eye.

There’s a reason why Ruunon wanted her specifically to work for Dalgaard.

Two reasons, actually. One is her skill.

And two…if you know that the egg of immortality is being kept under lock and key at the fabled convent of the Daughters of Silence, then you would want someone who has experience with that place, who knows it in and out. Brynla does.”

“So do I,” Ellestra says quietly. “I had to spend most of my life there. If that was truly part of his plan, why not ask me to steal the egg?”

“Because you’re not the whole package, and I don’t mean the dog. It’s not just that Brynla could break into the convent and take the egg. It’s that there is something special about her. Isn’t there? Ruunon got wind of this somehow. And I know you’re aware of it too.”

She swallows hard and looks back to the stove. The water boils over from the pot, making the flames dance, but she doesn’t flinch. She slowly takes it off the flames and puts it aside. “I don’t know what you mean,” she finally says. Lying, of course.

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’ve watched dragons swoop down, ready to attack, but Brynla escapes without a scratch. It’s as if the dragons don’t want to hurt her, not if they don’t have to. Why is that?”

“I don’t know,” she says, finally meeting my eyes. She looks worn, like this whole conversation is exhausting her. “When I went to the Midlands with her back in the day, it sure seemed like the dragons would have eaten both of us. I fought like hell to keep them back.”

I believe what she’s saying and yet she’s omitting something. I just don’t know what.

“What does Brynla think about your plan?” she asks, changing the subject.

I let it go. For now. There will be plenty of time to badger her about it after. I might even bring it up with Brynla myself. She might know and if she doesn’t, perhaps she can ask her aunt all the right questions.

I clear my throat. “I haven’t told her yet.”

Her brows rise. “You haven’t told her yet?”

“I didn’t want to bring it up until I knew it was something she could do, that she would be willing to do it.”

Ellestra shakes her head and grabs a few mugs from the cupboard, throwing tea into them.

“You didn’t know that until now? Brynla’s been dreaming of revenge against the Daughters ever since she left them.

You give her a sword and order her to march in there and she’ll do it without hesitation. To her own detriment.”

“Look, I know you feel protective over her.”

“I would harm myself before I let any harm come to her,” she says, pouring water into the mugs.

“Her life is dangerous enough as it is.” She places the mugs on the table and then sits down, her head in her hands, and lets out a heavy sigh.

“But you’re also not wrong about the egg.

We Freelanders have our own knowledge that gets passed down. ”

“So you know about the slangedrage?”

She lifts her head and gives me a weary look.

“It might be extinct. It might not be. But that egg could change the world. Look at Magni. That sorcerer is still alive because of that particular suen, I know it. The Soffers just don’t want that secret out.

They want to believe he truly is immortal because not only does he possess magic but he is magic. It keeps up the facade.”

“We could use your help, then. You already know a lot more than we do.”

She gives me a faint smile. “I’ll help you, only because I want to make sure Brynla is okay and that the egg goes into the right hands. That doesn’t mean yours. It means I want that egg destroyed completely so that no one has it.”

“That’s fair,” I say, though I know I won’t promise her that. I need the egg for the Kolbecks. I need the egg for myself.

“Though I doubt there’s only one egg at the convent. I’m sure there are more. Maybe in the capitol buildings. Maybe all the Soffers have ingested it already.”

“You think they would share it among their followers?”

“You said that Dalgaard is building an army the same way. The Soffers have as much interest in immortality as anyone else. When those wards come down, which they are prophesized to do, which country will survive? The one that can’t die.

And when the prophecy ends up coming true, not because it was fated to be that way, but because it was engineered, then they’ll have the advantage over everyone.

All the realms, all the kingdoms, all the houses. ”

I frown as I take the tea from her. “Engineered?”

She gives me a look of surprise. “Don’t tell me you believe the prophecy isn’t something they’re controlling. They—”

Suddenly a knock at the door.

Both of us stiffen.

Lemi’s head goes up and he lets out a low growl.

“Stay here,” Ellestra whispers to me, carefully getting to her feet and motioning me not to move. “You’re a liability.”

I watch as she walks out of the kitchen and into the parlor, disappearing just out of my sight as she goes to the door.

“Who is it?” I hear her ask.

Despite her telling me to stay put, I silently stand up and start moving past the table.

“Zolar,” a man’s voice says faintly from outside. I don’t know who Zolar is or what he normally sounds like, but there’s something off about it.

Warning bells go off in my head, my chest tightening.

No. Don’t open it.

“It’s early, Zolar,” Ellestra says with a sigh.

“Wait!” I yell, running into the room just to see her slide open the door.

A man dressed completely in black, including a face mask, is on the other side.

A sword in his hand.

Ellestra looks from me back to the man.

Just as he raises the sword and slams it right into Ellestra’s chest.

Lemi barks and Ellestra screams, trying to rip the sword out of her heart, the blood spilling everywhere, and I’m running at the man, looking for the closest object to use as a weapon.

The man at the door is joined by three more, weapons drawn and advancing toward me.