Erin Evans - The Adversary

Mehen took it from her gingerly, as if he were afraid of the note-which was silly, Havilar thought, watching him. Mehen wasn’t afraid. But then he tapped the roof of his mouth nervously, and she wondered. He read Farideh’s message, and when he looked up again at Havilar, there was so much fear and horror in his face that she wished he would just be nervous again.

“Did she go with Lorcan?”

Havilar looked away, out into the crowd. “No. He was looking for her too. Everyone’s looking for her .”

“Now is not the time, Havi. Where did she go?”

The crowd around them parted for Tam. “You two,” he said, to Havilar and Mehen, “come with me.”

Tam’s study was at the top of too many stairs, but Havilar kept her complaints to herself. The room already held plenty of people-the handsome half-elf fellow she’d chased off when he’d watched her too long, the lady Harper who’d been with Dahl when they arrived, Brin. Havilar found herself a corner and tried to disappear into it.

But Tam wouldn’t let her. “Your sister vanished from my office with Dahl.”

Worse and worse-she’d run off, run off to save the day, without Havilar and with some good-looking fellow. Because Farideh got everything. She clung to that angry, spiteful thought because under it, powerful as a tide, came the panic. They couldn’t stop Farideh if she’d vanished. They couldn’t make her come back if she’d disappeared.

“And?” she said, surlier than she meant to.

“And I want to know who took them,” he said. “Where they went. Whether I need to clear this safe house. This sort of thing doesn’t happen.”

“This sort of thing happens to her all the time,” Havilar said, feeling bold. “I don’t know why you’re so worried.”

“Havi!” Mehen gave her an awful, shocked look. Even the strange Harpers looked appalled, and Havilar wished she could vanish too. She didn’t dare look at Brin. The panic squeezed her chest.

“I don’t know where she went,” Havilar said. “You’ll just have to find her.”

“They left no sign?” the half-elf man asked. “No trace of where they might have gone?”

“Nothing,” Tam said. “They were there, I turned my back, they were gone. No trace of a spell, no marks of a portal.” He waved his hand. “This room is warded against that sort of entry-so is it some new spell we weren’t ready for?”

“Have you tried locating him?” the woman asked.

“Briefly,” Tam said. “The spell didn’t find him, but such things. .” He spread his hands. “We’ll try again. In the meantime-”

“You have to find her,” Havilar said again.

She was in the library,” Brin offered. “Looking for something.”

“I’ll search it,” the Tuigan woman offered.

Tam turned to Havilar. “Why has she been acting so strange?”

“How should she act?” Mehen said hotly. “World turned her upside down.”

Havilar thought of the note, still crushed in Mehen’s hand. A devil. That Sairché. That’s who took her, she thought. Maybe who took Dahl. But Tam wouldn’t want to hear that-what would he say? That it was Farideh being wicked. She wasn’t wicked-she was just stupid.

Tam was still staring at Havilar. “What was she looking for in the library?”

“I don’t know,” Havilar said.

“She’s not in trouble. Not yet. But you have to help me here, Havi. Where might she have gone?”

“I don’t know ,” Havilar insisted. “She wouldn’t have left. She knew better. Someone else must have. . Someone could have taken her.”

Mehen sighed. “She left a note,” he admitted. He handed it over to Tam. “Doesn’t say where she’s going.”

Tam cursed. “Who’s Sairché?” Havilar covered her face. This was everything she didn’t want. “Havi,” Tam said sharply. “Who?”

“The devil,” Havilar said, her voice squeezing tight. “The one who-”

Havilar’s reply was overtaken by a voice coming out of the air-Dahl’s voice, whispered and quick.

“ Netherese stronghold. Soldiers, shadar-kai, heavily armed. Somewhere cold. High up. ” Dahl’s voice hung for so long Havilar was sure he’d finished, but then he added, “ Farideh came intentionally. I’ve lost her, both wounded. Have one reserve sending, sword and dagger. ”

Tam hissed as if he were trying not to curse. He scowled at the desk a moment more before saying to the air. “Lie low. Get me better idea of your location, quickly so rescuers can find a portal. Find Farideh. Determine where she stands.” He blew out a breath and shook his head again, as if there were no end to the curses he wanted to say. “Stay safe,” he finished instead.

“ ‘Rescuers’?” Brin said. “Is that necessary?”

“We’re in the midst of a war and someone in a Netherese fortress just pulled a high-level handler out of the heart of our operations,” Tam retorted. “We’re not taking chances.”

“And the tiefling?” the half-elf man said. Tam was silent.

Mehen bared his teeth. “She stands exactly where she did before.”

“With a devil?” the half-elf said skeptically.

“You can’t think she’s a traitor,” Havilar said. “You can’t.” There were a lot of bad things she could say about Farideh, after everything, but not traitor. Never traitor.

The woman threw open the door, out of breath and clutching another scrap of paper. “Netherese,” she panted. “Was in one of the books she had out.”

Tam took the paper-and Havilar marked the writing, the same sort of writing she’d seen all over the place, when they’d sought out that creepy Netherese arcanist before. Tam considered the paper, his expression becoming harder and harder.

“Havilar,” Tam said gravely. “If you know anything about this, you need to speak up.”

The wine was turning sour in her stomach. Farideh might be stupid enough to listen to Lorcan’s sister, but she wasn’t on the devils’ side. She wasn’t a traitor. And if Havilar said the wrong thing-if all her anger tricked her clumsy, tipsy tongue. .

“I don’t know anything,” she said quietly. “Can I go to my room?”

Tam studied her, as if he might search out what she wasn’t saying written on her face. But after a moment he nodded, waved her toward the door. “Don’t leave,” he said tersely.

Mehen followed her out of Tam’s offices.

“They’ll find her,” he said. “They’ll know she’s not a traitor. And I will make sure of that. Everything will be fine.” When she didn’t stop, he grabbed her arm. “Havi, wait.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “I drank too much, all right? I’m no good to them, not now. I’m just going to sleep.”

Mehen didn’t look as if he believed her either. “We could sit. Talk about this?”

Havilar shook her head. “Tomorrow,” she promised. She hugged him tight and kissed his scaly cheek. He held her so long she felt guilty for turning him down. But she slipped away anyhow, went back to her room, to her half-empty bottle of wine, to her sadness and her quiet. She pulled the blanket up over her head and resolutely did not think about anything at all.

The door opened. She didn’t look out.

“So the Harpers think Farideh is a traitor,” Lorcan said. “And they don’t know where she is. Anything else?”

Havilar curled up tighter. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough,” Lorcan said. “It sounds like you’ve gotten everything you wanted.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means she’s not coming back. Not this time.”

“Of course she’ll come back,” Havilar said, throwing back the cover and sitting up. “She always gets out of these things.”