Page 49 of A Fractured Song

“It’s morning,” Zev said, hiding a smile at her bleary expression. “I thought you might prefer to be woken by me rather than by Svetlana or someone coming to get us.”

Marieke sat up, hiding a yawn with her hand as she looked around at the dimly lit cavern. “How do you know it’s morning?”

Zev shrugged, rising to his feet. “I don’t know. I just do.”

“Ugh.” Marieke looked like she wanted to flop back down again. “Farmers.”

Zev let out a chuckle as he picked up the lantern. “I don’t think you’ll be complaining about farmers when you eat the food we grow.”

“I am hungry for breakfast,” Marieke acknowledged, patting her disheveled braid with a self-conscious air as she threw the blanket off and pulled her boots back on. “But I’m still confused about where these people get their food.”

“I think they must send people up to the surface to trade for at least some of it,” Zev said. “They might want to seem totally separate down here, but Svetlana made it clear they know what’s going on up there.”

“Which means there must be a safe way up out of the canyon,” Marieke mused as she rolled up her pallet. “Probably more than one.”

“Exactly.” Zev nodded. “Having slept on it, what do you make of Svetlana?”

“I’m not sure,” Marieke said. “I don’t think she’s going to attack us, like Gorgon did. But I wouldn’t go as far as to say I trust her.”

“Definitely not,” Zev agreed. He frowned. “Good leaders should take responsibility for the people they lead, but she’s very quick to distance herself from Gorgon.”

“And what was all that talk about Gorgon being led astray by outside influences?” Marieke added. “As if he needed any influence other than hers to go after singers—the whole purpose of this community is to deny the authority of the singers he attacked!”

Footsteps in the corridor stilled Zev’s reply. A moment later the curtain was pushed back, the same guide from the previous evening sticking his head in. With no regard whatsoever for privacy, Zev thought with a frown.

“Svetlana wants you,” the man said curtly. He picked up the lantern and disappeared back through the curtain.

“Good morning to you too, sunshine,” Marieke muttered, earning a grin from Zev.

They hurried to catch up to the guard, who was already striding down the corridor with their only source of light.

Zev had tried to memorize their turns the night before, just in case they needed to find their way out unaided, and he was pleased to see that his guesses proved correct at each turn. He was glad their lives didn’t depend on his memory, though. One wrong turn could have them wandering the labyrinth for days.

When they emerged back into the main cavern, he felt Marieke’s tension lighten along with his own. Eager as he was for his turn, he gestured for her to go first through the room with the spring.

“Thanks,” Marieke said, grinning sheepishly as she hurried through the doorway. She took longer to emerge this time, and when she did, she’d re-braided her hair. She was, as always, beautiful. Zev acknowledged the fact to himself without hesitation. He’d long since stopped trying to deny her attraction.

Once he’d had his turn, they were shepherded by their guide, not into the eating hall as Zev had expected, but through another, shorter tunnel into a medium-sized room. It was reinforced with wooden beams, and seemed more like an actual room than any of the caverns they’d seen thus far. Svetlana was seated at a smaller table, a tureen of porridge resting on the surface next to a stack of bowls.

“Thank you,” the leader said, nodding to the guide. Hedisappeared back through the doorway, leaving her alone with the pair of outsiders. “Sit.” She gestured at the chairs across from her.

Zev waited for Marieke to sit first, his eyes scanning the room as she did so. Nothing stood out as a danger, and he lowered himself into the chair next to Marieke’s while Svetlana ladled porridge into three bowls.

“I thought we’d speak in private,” she said in her no-nonsense way. “My people don’t need the distraction, and Rissin’s more curious than is good for him.” She pushed the bowls toward them then leaned back. “I want to know what you came down here to ask me. What answers are you looking for?”

“I want answers about the elves,” Marieke said.

“I’m sure you do, now you’ve seen them.” Svetlana wasn’t to be distracted from her point. “But that can hardly have been your original purpose, given you didn’t know they existed.”

“True.” Marieke seemed to be weighing her words, a caution Zev approved of.

When Marieke didn’t expand, instead tucking into her porridge, Svetlana looked at Zev. “And what about you, Zevadiah? Are you looking for answers as well?”

Zev folded his arms across his chest. “I’m mainly just trying to keep Marieke from getting herself killed in this self-appointed quest of hers.”

Marieke acknowledged his words only by a noise of disgruntlement.

“So you’re just the bodyguard, then.” Svetlana didn’t sound convinced as she eyed him. “Or the paramour, or whatever we’re calling it.”

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