Chapter 33: Sailing into the Mist
Nathan eyed Eolinne, well aware they didn’t have time for an extended conversation. They were still in middle of Litcliff, and it was very likely that the Oligarchs were in the process of mobilizing their forces to attack Nathan and the Heirs. Their covert assassination had failed, after all. The Heirs might be able to win that fight, but it wasn’t a fight they needed to have in the first place.
Eolinne still had that faint smile still on her face, as if she knew something he didn’t. She didn’t even seem to be breathing, and Nathan tentatively scanned her with his magical senses, finding nothing but a mess of intricate enchantments that dripped with both mana and wizardry. Everything she wore was magical, from the snow-white dress to the crown of blackened branches and the flute made from bone-white wood.
He’d been warned that she worked for Questors, but he didn’t know whom. She’d likely saved Sarah’s life from the assassin’s strike. But that wasn’t enough to completely earn his trust. He was the target, and it was possible that all of this was a ploy to get him somewhere where she could kill him.
Like the deep ocean. I’ve got a lot of skills, but if she kicks me off a boat a thousand miles from land I might be in trouble.
“Who do you work for?” Nathan asked guardedly.
Eolinne’s red-painted lips quirked, though Nathan couldn’t tell if it was humor or derision. “Can you guess? Would the name truly hold significance to you?” Her voice was polite and polished. It made Nathan feel like a country oaf.
Nathan narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “I was told the name of one I should seek out. Tell it to me, so I can start trusting you.” He nodded to Khachi.
The wolfman's took that as his cue, but then he spoke out a quick prayer. "As comrades in battle, I invoke honesty in our dealings. By the blood we have shed together, we will not lie in this moment." The golden light that bloomed around the entire group was more subtle than what Khachi had been wielding a moment before, but it was no less profound.
“Ah,” Eolinne responded, revaluating. She held hand to her chest and blinking her eyes closed in a gesture that seemed apologetic. “I bear the shame of my assumption.” Then she opened her eyes and met Nathan’s suspicious expression. “I am an agent of the Questor Sarya Pamaris, the Queen of Keihona.”