It was hard to be certain from outside the door, but Wynn thought she heard Nikolas expel a shuddering breath. She clenched her fists at the old sage’s cruelty in reminding Nikolas of trust, especially given what Shade had shown her of the night Nikolas tried to flee with Sherie. Wynn wondered what story had been provided to explain the old duke’s death; certainly it had not been the truth.
Whatever Sherie and Karl had decided to say, perhaps Jausiff had been given the same lies as everyone else regarding that night. But Nikolas blamed himself for the elder duke’s death, accident or not.
“Will you stay and help?” Jausiff asked again.
Again a long pause, and then a quiet, “Yes.”
The sound of footsteps came toward the door.
Wynn scrambled away, pulling Shade a short distance down the passage before the door opened and Jausiff looked out.
“Journeyer?” he asked. “Is there something else?”
“I thought to wait for Nikolas. With guards placed near our rooms, it seemed better not to walk about without someone known here.”
The wrinkles of Jausiff’s brow deepened. “Guards?”
Nikolas came out, breaking the moment, but he was almost as ashen gray as his robe.
“And you two are friends at the guild?” Jausiff asked, suddenly good-humored again. “For some time now?”
Wynn kept silent.
“Yes,” Nikolas answered absently.
“Splendid,” Jausiff said. “Go find some supper, as a meal should be ready by now down in the kitchen.”
Eager to be far from this study, Wynn took Nikolas’s arm. “He’s right. Let’s go find something to eat.”
She hurried him away without looking back until she heard the door close. The old sage was nowhere in sight, and only Shade trotted after them. Halfway down the passage, Nikolas exhaled, and Wynn slowed.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
He came to a complete stop and closed his eyes, and a little of his color returned. “My father wants me to help him and Sherie with Karl. I said I would ... but ... I can tell she’s sick at the sight of me. I don’t know how long I can stay here.”
Wynn hesitated again. As of yet Nikolas had no idea what she was really doing here, but if he had access to the family, he might be able to help her.
“You can see there is something very wrong here, can’t you?” she asked, and when he didn’t answer or open his eyes, she went on. “If you want to help the duke, you need to find out what has happened to bring about the change in him—his odd behavior, according to your father; his insistence on a plague; his refusal to let anyone come or go, even for messages to be sent. Once you know more, you’ll have a better idea what to do.”
Nikolas opened his eyes, and when he looked at her, he appeared so tired and locked in dread.
“You think I should talk to Karl? Ask him about these things?”
“No.” Wynn shook her head, and this was the tricky part. “I think you should talk to Sherie.”
Nikolas’s body stiffened.
“You said she and your father want your help,” Wynn rushed on. “If so, then she’ll talk to you. Ask her how this all started, and see ... see if she knows anything about why Karl stopped all messages being sent to or from the keep. And given that, how your father managed to get a letter to you.”
Nikolas frowned, but he was paying more attention now. “How my father sent a message? Do you think that’s important?”
“Aside from some obsession over a plague, real or not, why would your old friend not send for help with that ... or let anyone else do so? That alone is worrisome, and maybe a sign that whatever is wrong is getting much worse.”
Wynn gave him a few breaths to mull that over, though it was only a half-truth.
Finally he nodded. “I’ll try. Maybe tomorrow.”
Wynn took a careful breath in relief, but after her exchange with Jausiff, something else still bothered her. Though she hadn’t known what to expect upon meeting him, he didn’t strike her as the type of man to have actively sought to adopt a child, especially considering his profession. If she was to succeed here, she needed to know more about his character.
“Nikolas,” she began, not quite certain how to word this. “How did you ... How did you come to be adopted by Master Jausiff?”
For once Nikolas wasn’t averse to speaking of his past. “I don’t remember any of it. I was only an infant, but Father told me that my parents were apothecaries down in the village, and he was fond of them. They were the closest things he had to friends at that time. A fever passed through the villages, and though my parents did all they could to help, they were struck down themselves. My father brought me to live up here ... the same year that Sherie was born.”
His expression became pained again, and Wynn did not press him further. His explanation did help her understand Jausiff a bit better: he was loyal to those he considered friends, enough to adopt their orphaned child. Then again, that didn’t mean much in the end. She assumed even minions of the Enemy might be loyal to some friends.
Taking Nikolas by the arm, she urged him on. “Let us find this promised supper, considering how late it is. I’m starving, and Shade, well, she can always eat.”
Her thoughts turned back to Nikolas’s promise to speak to Sherie—to try to learn the identity of the messenger. Whether he could learn anything of use was still to be seen, but at least it was a start after her horrible blunder with his father. She was determined not to let that happen again the next time.
All she needed was some reason to go at the master sage again, and it might depend on Nikolas acquiring some answers first.
Chane paced the small room he was forced to share with Osha. The elf sat in silence on the bed closest to the door. Not that Chane minded silence, for their having to speak to each other would be worse, but he hated the present situation.
Wynn had been escorted away at the master sage’s request and had been gone too long. Chane rebelled against the very thought of her alone with anyone here, for no one in their group knew whether some new minion of the Ancient Enemy might be hiding among the residents of this keep.
Finally he could stand it no longer.
“I am going out,” he rasped.
Osha rose instantly. “I come, too. She gone too long.”
Chane stalled at the door, with Osha an arm’s length behind him. “No. You stay. I will be back.”
He had no idea how he might search for Wynn, given the guards at both ends of the passage, but he did not want the elf along. Yet a fight to put the interloper in his place was out of the question. Wynn would not forgive him for that.
Osha merely stood there, slightly taller than Chane—which was beyond annoying—with his ridiculously long white-blond hair hanging loose. In exasperation Chane opened the door, stepped out, and of course Osha followed.
They both stopped upon seeing the woman called Aupsha pass by the guard near the stairs and come straight toward them. Her dark eyes flickered slightly in surprise at the sight of them outside of their room.
“A meal has been prepared in the kitchens,” she said. “I am to bring you.”
“Where is Wynn?” Chane demanded.
Aupsha remained stoic. “I will bring her and Nikolas when Master Jausiff has finished speaking with them.”
“Nikolas is with Wynn?” Chane asked, looking past her toward the stairs.
“Take us to her,” Osha said.
The woman said nothing to this. She simply turned and headed back the way she had come.