middle of the night, and it probably had tired him to use his magic through her like that.
Get some sleep. I’m fine. Essie tried to send him the sense of holding his hand, leaning against his shoulder.
He relaxed enough that Essie’s tight muscles eased as well.
When she opened her eyes, the conversation had trailed off. She squirmed. Hopefully she hadn’t been muttering to herself while trying to communicate with Farrendel.
Averett had his head bent, peering at her. “You get a strange look on your face when you’re talking to him, you know.”
“And you make facial expressions along with whatever silent conversation you’re having in your head. Just in case you were wondering.” Julien waved a hand at her face.
Great. Essie would now spend her time wondering just how strange she looked when she attempted to talk to Farrendel through the heart bond.
“Anyway...” She straightened her shoulders and faced all of them. “If I’m interpreting the emotions we were sharing back and forth correctly, then, yes, Melantha is helping Farrendel. And I think he trusts her.”
Weylind rubbed a hand over his face, exhaustion drawing lines around his eyes and mouth that Essie had never seen on him before. Next to him, Jalissa slumped, eyes focused on her hands in her lap.
Averett’s jaw tightened. “Will she betray him again, do you think?”
Weylind released a breath and stared at the ceiling, as if he couldn’t face them. “I do not know. She is our sister. I had no wish to believe her capable of this kind of betrayal the first time. Now...I am no longer sure of what she might be capable.”
Jalissa curled into a tighter ball, her face in her hands.
So much pain and brokenness in that family. Even though she was exhausted and wanted to curl up next to Averett again, Essie forced herself to her feet. She crossed the shelter, sat next to Jalissa, and put an arm around her.
Getting Farrendel back would help, but Essie wasn’t sure what it would take to heal this rift. A rift that had started over a hundred years ago with the elf queen’s death.
FARRENDEL LISTENED to the sound of Prince Rharreth’s retreating boots as he left the dungeon corridor after giving them food, checking Farrendel’s bonds, and taking Melantha back to her cell for a few minutes for privacy.
“Is he gone?” Melantha once again sat beside him, her ankle shackled to the floor.
Farrendel stretched his magical sense, just a hint of it, until he could feel Prince Rharreth leaving the dungeon. He tried to follow the troll prince’s progress through the twists and turns of the dungeon, but he lost him quickly, not daring to tap too much into his magic. “Yes, he is gone. And I think, after the corridor we are on and that room with the spring that you mentioned, it is a left, then a right. But I lost a sense of him after that.”
“That is more than we knew before.” Melantha gave a sharp nod, before grimacing. “I wish I had paid more attention when they were dragging me down here. But it all blurred together.”
“It is understandable. You observed more than I did.” Farrendel retraced the route he had just observed with his mind, adding in the details that Melantha did remember. For the past few days, they had spent their time plotting the details of their escape. When the moment came, they would be ready to take it.
“You were drugged and unconscious. You were not in a position to observe anything.” Melantha’s scowl deepened for a moment before smoothing. She raised her hands and tapped her fingers for a moment, as she did when mentally going through a checklist. After a moment, she sighed, her hands falling to her lap. “There is not much we can plan, is there? It is frustrating.”
He had been planning for this escape for longer than she had, and he had more opportunity to prepare.
With Prince Rharreth leaving them together for most of the day, Farrendel had been able to store a great deal of his magic. Though, he was no longer sure if he was storing the magic or had simply figured out a way to access his magic through the heart bond.
And last night when he was able to use his magic with Essie...that was something rather unexpected. He had been glad Melantha had been asleep at the time. There were some secrets he would keep to himself. He had decided to trust Melantha, but he was still going