never make fun of Elly for being paralyzed by heights again.
She forced herself to sit up. Every muscle screamed and she ordered them to be quiet. No muscle had ever sprung loose through the simple act of sitting up. Morning light had never struck anyone blind and her lungs could not inhale enough air to explode. The urge to lie back down and sleep was nearly overwhelming.
Stupid. All stupid.
She opened her eyes, all the way this time.
“All right,” she said to the gap of clear blue sky in front of her. “Here we go.” And she slipped into the Work and began ripping.
* * *
Nate heard Gavin and Elly arguing in the parlor from the end of the corridor. From the pitch and color of their voices, they’d been at it a while. It didn’t matter.
“—no good to her dead,” Eleanor was saying. “And dead is exactly what you’ll be if you try to—”
Gavin cut her off, growling and angry. “I’ve been training for combat since I was ten years old. You think I can’t climb stairs?”
“I think you can’t climb those stairs. Not in the shape you’re in. Five minutes ago you were unconscious, Gavin! If that happens on that staircase—”
They were standing toe-to-toe. The top of Eleanor’s head barely reached Gavin’s chin. His fists were clenched tight at his sides; hers were pressed into her hips. Both of their pale Highfall faces were red and angry.
“And why do you think I’m having those pains? She needs me,” Gavin said through gritted teeth.
“Yes, but—” Then Elly noticed Nate, watching from the doorway. Her back stiffened and her mouth snapped shut. He knew it was nothing to do with him, personally; it was the argument she didn’t want him to see. But the unfriendly look Gavin gave Nate was entirely personal. Even though Nate knew that Elban’s last living son could not sense the vial of his dead brother’s blood in the satchel, he found his hand wanting to go to it anyway.
Although—all those years linked to Judah. Who knew what the stupid ox of a boy could sense?
“What do you want?” Gavin’s tone, belligerent and nasty, reminded Nate of every farm boy who’d ever come after him because Nate lived in a wagon instead of a hut.
Nate ignored that. He ignored Elly, too, focusing all of his attention on Elban’s son. “You need to come with me to the tower. The stairs will hold. I can show you where to step. But we have to go now.”
Elly, who didn’t like being ignored, stepped in between them. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t bother,” Gavin said. “He’ll only lie to you.”
She glared at him. “What?”
“He hasn’t given Judah any of your notes. That’s why she hasn’t written back.”
Elly’s anger became hurt and betrayal. The part of Nate that no longer fully existed made note of how quickly all the food he’d brought her ceased to matter; how quickly she’d turned on him, with nothing more than a word from Elban’s son. “Is that true?” she said to Nate.
“You wouldn’t understand.” Nate turned back to Gavin. “We don’t have time to discuss this. The Seneschal wants both of you because of the bond. When he gets here, he’ll torture you until she comes down.” He let himself hesitate. “Which I’m not sure she can do alone. But if you come with me, we can get her down together.”
“What about Theron and Elly?” Gavin said.
“The Seneschal doesn’t care about them.”
The ruined girl stepped back—unconsciously, Nate suspected—so that she was between Gavin and the door. Her eyes were on Nate. “Can you really get him up the stairs?”
“Yes.”
“Then go,” she said to Gavin. “Theron and I will stall the Seneschal.”
“How?”
“I’ll figure out a way.” Nate could feel her fierceness even from the doorway. “You said she needs help. Go help her.”
One of Gavin’s hands went to her arm. Slowly, as if he wasn’t sure it belonged there. “Elly—if the Seneschal finds you and not me, he’ll hurt you. I might not be able to feel it, but I’ll be able to...hear—”
“You’ll be able to hear me screaming.” The girl was disturbingly calm. “Yes. But the Seneschal might be underestimating what it takes to make me scream.”
Gavin shook his head grimly. “If he hurts you enough, you’ll scream.” Then, like the Lord of Highfall he would never be, “No. If I can’t get up those stairs without help, the Seneschal and his guards can’t, either.”