Page 67 of Silverbow (The Godsung Saga #1)

Liam turned his face to the bay where clouds of steam still billowed and the bloated, shiny bodies of dead fish rose to the surface, boiled to death in their own watery domain.

It struck Liam as wasteful when so many were starving in the Foreshore.

How many nets would those fish have filled?

How many bellies might they have stopped from rumbling?

And as he watched them wash upon the shore, it wasn’t fear, but disgust that knotted his insides.

He turned to follow Enya and the demi-elf back into the crowd.

“You can’t seriously be going through with it after what we just saw,” he said as Enya turned toward the Flame Quarter.

“It’s time, Liam.”

“What?” He asked incredulously.

She darted a look back in the crowd. “We have a shadow you need to take.”

“I don’t want to be a distraction while you go risking your neck,” he hissed.

“You have everything you need?”

Liam gaped at her. That had been the plan but …

“I’ll see you back at the inn,” she said flatly. “And Liam, light me a beacon fire.”

The demi-elf tugged Enya between two passing carts and they vanished down a crowded street. Panic rose in Liam’s chest. He may very well have just lost Enya Ryerson again. For good.

Oryn

Oryn was half surprised when a glance around the common room did not find Enya twirling around to the jaunty jig.

He shouldered open the door to the dining room, where he instead expected to find her deep into the fire wine and only found Aiden frowning over an array of heavy parchment cards in a game meant for one.

“Where is she?” He asked, not bothering to keep the sharpness from his voice.

Aiden shrugged but didn’t look up. “It’s Bade’s turn to watch her.”

“He’s not come back?”

The fire wielder blew out a long sigh. “If he’s not upstairs and he’s not in here, I think it’s safe to say he’s not come back.”

Oryn took a deep breath, trying to dispel his temper.

“She’s probably out enjoying the show or putting on one of her own,” Aiden grinned. “Pull up a chair, I’ll deal you in.”

He glanced at the clock on the mantle. The festivities were in full swing.

The alchemist’s show would be starting soon.

It was entirely possible she was taking in the sights and she had both Colm and Bade with her.

Or at least, she had Colm with her and Bade trailing after them in the shadows at his request.

Begrudgingly, Oryn lowered himself into a chair.

Aiden gathered his cards and shuffled them together, whistling merrily with a dancing light in his eyes that suggested he knew it was grating on Oryn’s temper.

He had barely dealt two hands and explained the game when a scuffle in the hall made Oryn reach for the hilt of his sword.

The door swung in to admit Liam, stumbling from the rough shove Bade gave to his back. Oryn’s stomach dropped to his boots.

“I’ll deal us all in,” Aiden quipped.

“Where is she?” Oryn asked, looking from glowering blademaster to snarling stable boy.

“Ask him,” Bade growled .

“I’m not her keeper,” Liam spat.

Oryn frowned at his companion. “I thought you were tailing them.”

Bade’s eyes narrowed. “The other two slipped the leash.”

Oryn scrubbed a hand down his face. Whatever she was up to, she was doing it now.

“This one set fire to Ralenet’s townhouse.”

Gods above.

Aiden whistled through his teeth. “I think we ought to make you both honorary Enons.”

“Did a bloody good job of it too,” Bade added. “Half the Gold Quarter is burning.”

“The alchemists will be disappointed with the competition,” Aiden mused.

“Where is she, stable boy?”

“I left her at the parade with Andril. She…wanted some air.”

Air. As if there was air in Misthol. Oryn rose slowly, his chair scraping across the floor. Liam seemed to realize his mistake as his eyes darted around the room.

“You’re the diversion, aren’t you? For us or them, stable boy?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied.

Dread filled the hollow place in his chest left vacant by his dampered gifts. “For both of us, isn’t it?”

The bob in Liam’s throat set Mosphaera rattling him from the inside out.

Her sudden return almost knocked Oryn off his feet.

Oh, gods. He was across the room in two strides, seizing Liam by the collar as Aiden cursed softly.

Bade hadn’t so much as lifted an eyebrow, still standing between the boy and the door.

“Tell me what you know.”

Liam stared down at Oryn’s hands. “I don’t think I will.”

“Gods damn it, Liam. Just tell me so I can help her.”

“She doesn’t need help.”

“Is that why she sent you back? Or does she not want you to see her head roll?”

Liam shuddered, but he heaved a breath and said, “Enya Ryerson does what she wants. ”

The name crashed into Oryn like a tidal wave in the bay and he realized Enya’s omissions about his dealings with Hylee had been strategic. “She did not tell you.”

He could see the war raging in those gray eyes - torn between snarling a retort and asking what it was she hadn’t told him. He almost pitied Liam. Almost.

“Where. Is. She.”

“Why does it even matter to you?” He hissed.

“Because I promised to see her to safety and that is a promise I intend to keep.”

He swallowed. “What didn’t she tell me?”

“You’ll have to ask her.”

His eyes slid to the clock and he wet his lips. “I’ll make you a trade.”

Oryn relaxed his hands on the boy’s collar but didn’t let him go.

“What she didn’t tell me, for what she didn’t tell you.”

Oryn considered. It was not his to tell, but if she was in danger… She already hated him. What was a little more betrayal? “Deal.”

“You first.”

In spite of the ward, Oryn lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “She’s not really a Ryerson.”

Liam’s brow furrowed. “Of course she is.”

“Your end of the bargain, stable boy,” he growled.

“That’s a half answer,” he protested and Oryn wondered if it was genuine confusion in his face or a stalling tactic. He gave the boy a shake. “She’s in Misthol.”

Oryn stared at where Liam’s pulse beat in his throat and contemplated ripping it out. “Where. Is. She.”

“Who is she?”

“Something far more dangerous than a Ryerson. Something that should be protected, boy ,“ Oryn breathed, watching color drain from his face as he dragged him closer. “So where. Is. She.”

He gave Liam another shake and the words came loose, tumbling out. They ripped the air from Oryn’s lungs like an air wielder on a battlefield.

“Blackash Keep.”

“Bade, with me.”

Fear and fury boiled in Oryn like a kettle left too long over the fire as he raced toward the Flame Quarter.

His own were so intense, he hardly felt Mosphaera’s.

Surely Enya bloody Silverbow was not fool enough to face Drulougan the Dread with nothing more than her bow.

Surely, Colm would not have helped her to her death.

I will deal with him later. He and Liam both. The latter was lucky Oryn didn’t have time for him right now. He would strangle the stable boy, bring him back from the dead, and strangle him again.

He ought to strangle himself while he was at it for not piecing together her reckless plan from her sudden interest in dragons. Stupid, foolish, reckless. No sane person would attempt to enter Drulougan’s domain. It was exactly the kind of thing he should have expected her to do.

The streets around Blackash Keep were deserted, the revelers pulled elsewhere.

An orange glow lit the dark sky near the castle, the flames ravaging the Gold Quarter.

Holy gods. Oryn wasted no time marveling at Liam’s work.

His eyes were fixed on the dark dome rising ahead.

Bade watched over their shoulders for unwanted shadows.

As they turned out into the street before the keep’s wall, a familiar hoot of an owl beckoned them to a dark alley with a view of the gate.

Colm waited there, casually leaning against the brick, his arms crossed as his gaze raked over Oryn. “For your sake, I hope you left the boy alive.”

“For now,” Oryn ground. “But I’m not certain you’ll leave this alley.”

Colm shrugged. “She has a bargain to fulfill. I’ve done what I can.”

Oryn waved at the black stone that seemed to gobble up light. “This is your idea of keeping her alive?”

Colm stuck out an arm, blocking his path as Oryn tried to push through. “If you barge in there, you’re likely to startle him and get both of you killed.”

“You let a girl walk into that keep with Drulougan at home ?”

“The guards didn’t even notice.”

Bade let out a low whistle.

“And now?” Oryn spluttered.

“We wait,” Colm said coolly.

“For what?” He snapped, his heart pounding at a tempo that was far too fast for their short run. “Do you think Drulougan is going to sound the alarm before he rips her limb from limb?” It was an effort not to shout.

“You really should have chosen a girl with better instincts for self-preservation,” Bade muttered, but he too leaned back against the brick, content to watch the street. Oryn wanted to flay them both alive as he took up pacing .

“This is what her mother wanted?” He hissed, dragging a hand through his hair. It came away dark with the powered dye, but he hardly noticed. “To pay a visit to Drulougan?”

“To take from the keep what she couldn’t, I suspect,” Colm answered softly. “Her bond wouldn’t allow it.”

The clutch. Oh, light. He should have seen it. He should have known . Oryn had to brace a hand against the wall. “How many men have tried and barely escaped with their necks?”

“No one’s ever tried when he’s at home.”

“Because it’s madness.”

Colm scratched at the shadow of his beard. “Maybe, but it is technically her keep after all. Sort of.”

“ Her keep,“ Oryn spat. “It’s no more her keep than mine, Colm. And even if it were, only bonded riders and the occasional keeper ever have been allowed to come and go.”

“Which is why we remain here to wait. She is the daughter of the rider bound to Drulougan’s mate. He will know her on sight.”

“And if he doesn’t? His mate’s been dead twenty years and he’s never actually seen the girl, has he?”

Colm didn’t answer. Bloody wonderful.

“How long has she been down?” Bade asked calmly.

The flick of Colm’s gaze indicated longer than he would have liked. “Ten minutes.”

Ten minutes was more than long enough for Drulougan to be picking her out of his teeth. Half a heartbeat was all he would need to turn her to ash.

This is my fault. This is all my bloody fault. If he hadn’t made his bargain with Hylee, if he hadn’t sent Enya straight into that bounty hunter’s camp…

Oryn thought he might be sick as he paced up and down the alley, unable to watch the dark dome. He should have tied her to her horse and dragged her kicking and screaming to Drozia.

“This is what she saw?” He demanded.

“It seems so.”

“Colm,” Oryn scrubbed a hand down his face. “Tell me she comes out.”

When he didn’t answer, Oryn seized him by the shoulders .

“When the dream ward snapped, I was pulled in, just for a moment,” Colm said calmly. “I didn’t see this, but Hylee showed her her own death, Oryn. It wasn’t here. It wasn’t today.”

“But you always say that’s not a guarantee,” he protested. “One wrong choice…”

Colm nodded. “I don’t believe today is the end of her song. I don’t believe her mother would have asked her to do it if she thought Drulougan would harm her.”

“The woman’s been dead for twenty years,” Oryn retorted. “What does she bloody know?”

“More than us,” Colm mused.

That bloody bargain. Oryn stared up at the black swell etched against the sky and swallowed. Only Solignis could help her now, and he’d stopped hearing that godsong in the months after he made his bargain.