Talen didn’t care that the boy and the girl were standing right here with them. “The evidence, it appears, is overwhelming,” he said. “The Fir-Noy were not making this rot up.”
Earlier, he hadn’t known what to do. He and Nettle had not been able to sleep. They had discussed the situation from the moment the girl and boy had gone down into the cellar last night until the sun rose. They could give the girl and boy the benefit of the doubt, as it seemed Da, River, and Ke were willing to do, and assume huge risks. They could distract the two until Nettle could call the authorities to come collect them. Or they could kill them. But the questioners would want them alive. The laws of the hunt would demand punishment. Furthermore, if they were Sleth and there was a nest of them, then anyone who killed the boy and girl could expect the same retribution that was visited upon the village of Plum.
But to leave them alive in the house? And then the girl had confessed. All his talk of bold action, and he had been able to do nothing. Then the bailiff had shown up. But he hadn’t known it was the bailiff. He’d thought they were the Fir-Noy armsmen come back. He couldn’t tell them the boy and girl were the hatchlings. Those armsmen would automatically assume Talen’s family had been harboring them.
He should have never let her sit in his lap. Never let her kiss him. Lords, her tongue . . .
He kept expecting something to happen, to feel a shift of some kind. He could detect no change in himself, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t worked some kind of magic upon him with her touch. How could you kiss a Sleth child and not be changed?
It was obvious they had only two options—kill them or bring a hunt. And he preferred someone else face the ire of the nest. “It’s time to give them up,” said Talen.
“No,” said Da in his rough voice. “That will never happen.”
And yet there Da stood with that massive bruise on his face. Perhaps he was trying to tell Talen it was foolish to talk about such things in front of the boy and girl.
“River and Ke will be back soon enough. We’re going to keep them safe, Talen.”
Da wasn’t acting. He was serious. “With that woman’s beast looking for them?”
“We don’t know what that thing was,” said Da.
“Who cares what it was? It rescued her. That’s all we need to know.”
“That’s not all we need to know.”
It was obvious from the events at Whitecliff that there were powerful masters ruling this nest of Sleth. Had they gotten to Da? Had they themselves delivered the boy and girl here?
It was terrible to contemplate, but he wanted to know the situation. “You can tell me,” said Talen.
“No, I can’t. Not right now.”
“Have you been threatened by other members of this nest?”
“Son,” said Da. “Trust me.”
“Trust me,” Talen said. “If the masters of this nest have something hanging over us, I want to know. I want to help.”
“There are no masters,” said Da. “No threats. This is very simple. Sugar and Legs are innocent of any offense.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“No,” said Da.
Talen glanced over at Nettle for some help, but Nettle looked as concerned as he was. He turned back to his father. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But I don’t think you’re in your right mind. If they’re innocent, then let the questioners absolve them.”
“Talen,” Da said more forcefully. “You don’t know of what you speak. So keep your mouth shut.”
Shut? When they had armsmen seeking their lives, a Sleth on the loose, and the children of that Sleth standing right there?
“Why don’t you enlighten me? I can clearly see the troubles these two have cost us. And it doesn’t require a lord’s councilor to multiply such troubles across all the rest of our people. You were a fool not to turn them in.”
The girl stood to the side of Da, cold calculation in her eyes. The boy was looking off into space, his head shaking oddly. It unnerved Talen. That right there was probably the result of some Sleth abomination.
Da’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll put a bung in that mouth of yours.”
“Somebody is going to die because of these two. And that’s not going to be me. I’d also like to avoid any torture that might be involved.”