Page 31 (1/1)
She scowled at me "I don’t knohat Rand sees in you," she said
Not a friendly way to start a conversation "Excusefor you And ever since you came around, the kitchen routine has been destroyed The staff’s flustered"
"What are you talking about?"
"Before you showed up, Rand’s s were predictable Cheerful and content when Dilana was happy and the ga was profitable, moody and sullen when they weren’t Then…" Liza stressed the word Her plain cornly expression, which she ai at the kitchen staff for no reason Even winning a big payoff, Rand’s still depressed It’s frustrating We’ve co to steal him away from Dilana We want you to stop, leave him alone and stay out of the kitchen"
Liza had picked the worst ti just escaped a brush with death had put matters into perspective I wasn’t in the best frarabbed her arm and spun her around to face me We stood nose to nose
" You have concluded? The coht a candle Our friendship is none of your business So I suggest you rethink your hypothesis If there’s a proble your ti about it to me" I pushed her away I could tell by her shocked expression that she hadn’t expected such a fierce response
Too bad for her, I thought as I hurried to catch up with the others, leaving her to walk alone What did she want ree to stop talking to Rand just to s to let her unload her problems on ician froht to Rand and Dilana and rushed to Valek’s suite As much as I wanted to be inside, I cajoled one of the outer-door guards to check Valek’s rooms for intruders before I went in Murder atteinationon the couch in the , I didn’t feel safe until Valek arrived near dawn
"Haven’t you slept?" he asked A fist-size, dark purple bruise on his jaw contrasted against his pale skin
"No But neither have you," I said peevishly
"I can sleep all day You need to taste the Commander’s breakfast in an hour"
"What I need are answers"
"To what questions?" Valek began to extinguish the lanterns
"Why is a southern ood question The very saged in frustration "Brazell’s guards I could understand Butsouthern ry"
"Ahhh…that’s a sha people" Valek sat at his desk and rested his head in his hands "A southern ician Do you know that there are only four icians in Sitia? Four And since the takeover, they’ve stayed in Sitia On occasion they send a ical abilities into the Territory to see e’re up to So far each spy has been intercepted and dealt with Coicians of the King’s era had been considered the elite Treated like royalty, they had been quite influential with the King According to the history of the takeover, Valek had assassinated every one of them I wondered how, especially since he couldn’t capture that woray rock off his desk Tossing the stone fro Valek’s near miss with the last rock he’d held, I pulledto et
"For the southerners to risk one of their icians, the reason has to be…" Valek shook the stone in his hand, searching for the right word "Mohed and sank down on the couch next to me "Well, let’s try to reason this out You obviously have soe"
"What?" I had never thought about e I had been found on the street, homeless, and been taken in by Brazell Speculation about my parents had only been on whether they were dead or had just abandoned me I had no e Mostly, I had been thankful that Brazell gave me shelter For Valek to make such ais a bit darker than the typical northerner Your features have a southern quality Green eyes are very rare in the Territory, but are more common in Sitia" Valekto be asha was in power, the border to Sitia was open to coions, and uess you were left behind right after the takeover when people panicked and fled south before we closed the border It was co when the Coive everyone a uniform and a job"