Covenant's End - Ari Marmell Page 0,97

tell you.”

“No, of course not.” A sudden doubt clouded her face. “Renard?”

“Didn't want the post back, not that we'd have let him take it. Actually, he's debating whether he wants to remain in the Guild. I was actually hoping you might speak to him.”

“Oh.” Shins pondered a moment. “Sure, I guess.”

“And maybe about a few other things, while you're at it.” Then, at Shins's bewildered look, Igraine couldn't quite keep from grinning. “You're really blind sometimes, Widdershins.”

“So I'm told,” the thief replied, still absolutely clueless as to what that was all about.

Igraine tactfully changed topics. “What are you going to do?”

“Short term? Try to find Evrard. Or at least learn if he's still alive.”

“Still no word, then?”

“Nope. Just the mess at his suite. Blood and broken furniture, but no bodies. Not my favorite guy, but he helped. I figure I owe him that much. After that, help Robin and Faustine rebuild the Witch.

“But long term? I honestly don't know.”

“If they need a place to stay,” Igraine began, “or if you do…well, with so many Finders in gaol, there are a few empty safe houses. I could—”

“Thank you. Really. But no, we've got a temporary place.”

Igraine nodded, coughed at a puff of ambient cinders from the chimney—and then her whole face fell. “You didn't!”

“Why not? I mean, he's already paid for the place through summer. Until then, or if he turns up alive before then…. It's a really nice place. Or will be, once we get the blood cleaned up.”

Shins decided she'd stretched enough—and not because her thigh was starting to ache, dogs grommet!—and stood. She took the opportunity to brace herself, emotionally and even physically, in the process.

“None of this is why you came looking for me, though,” she said.

Igraine's expression was answer enough.

“Church stuff, then,” Shins said. “Sicard?”

“Driving himself crazy, trying to keep the rest of the city's clergy calm. Nobody knows if he had the right to do any of what he did. And that's just locally. Once word reaches Lourveaux, we're probably looking at years of conferences, investigations, political wrangling…

“But none of it matters. It's all just face-saving. All of us felt it when the Pact accepted Olgun.” Shins struggled not to wince at Igraine's use of the name. “At the end of the day, if the gods accept what Sicard did, the Church'll have to. To avoid open schism if nothing else.”

“I'm glad.” Part of Widdershins even meant it. The rest of her wished Igraine would go away so she could cry again. “He deserves their acceptance. He—”

“But that's still not why I'm here.”

Shins's brow furrowed.

“The story of Olgun is spreading through Davillon. And with it, the story of Adrienne Satti. Between that, and the fact that half the city's priests woke up from dreams declaring your innocence…well, you'll have some legal hurdles to jump, and there may be a few aristocrats here and there who'll never accept it. But Adrienne can have her life back, if she wants it.”

Widdershins didn't consciously decide to sit, didn't even remember sitting. One minute, she was standing a few paces from the priestess, the next her backside was in a cold puddle, her legs sprawled out before her.

“I don't…this…I never…”

“There's not much of the Delacroix estate remaining, but what's left has been put aside. We got enough of the Houses to agree on that much, though there may have been some legal threats made. You won't be anywhere near rich, but you won't go wanting for a good few years. When you decide, it'll be waiting.”

“Is it me, or does it feel like this building's foundation might be made of old fruit?” Shins asked weakly.

The priestess's smile was genuine but brief. “That's still not the full reason I'm here.”

“I'm pretty sure I'm not secretly a lost princess, and that everyone I think is dead…” She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, just for a moment, at the thought of the ghostly figures who'd saved her. “…really is dead. So I'm not sure what else you've got to surprise me with.”

Igraine carefully crouched, so they were again on a level. “Your situation with Olgun was unique. So was his entry into the Pact. To judge by the omens and signs, he made a few—bargains.

“This can only happen once, Widdershins.”

“I don't understand.” Shins felt something turn over in her gut. “What can only happen—?”

The priestess's eyes rolled back in her head. She began to topple, just as swiftly caught herself. Gracefully she stood, beckoning Shins to do the same.

“Hello, Adrienne.”

It came from