Page 98 of Untempered
“Tell Isolde,” Audrey said, glancing toward the stairs to her rooms as Ylva began nosing around the tower. “I’ll wait here with Ylva.”
It was clear I wasn’t fit for guard duty in her opinion, and for some reason that rankled. I’d been dismissed from her company though, so she wouldn’t even see it if I glared at her.
There hadn’t been too many reasons for me to climb those stairs before. The turns weren’t too tight, but I had to put my hand on my scabbard all the same to stop it from knocking against the stone.
Her nightgown had been tossed over the back of the chair before her dresser, and an Audrey-shaped divot was in the middle of her bed. She’d fit in there so neatly. Her skin would be so warm, her smile sleepy.
“Isolde,” I said, with more annoyance than the woman had earned. “We’re disguising Ylva as you and releasing her in the orchard. I need a cloak or something.” There was no way Ylva would pass as Isolde. They were both humans and both sharp-tongued. Their similarities ended there.
“What?” she demanded through the door. “Where’s Audrey?”
“Down below with Ylva.”
My eyes wanted to wander over the room. I forced them to stay locked on the door as I waited for her response.
The time crawled by, and it didn’t matter that I wasn’t looking at the bed because it was right behind me. I tried to remember the smell of her from the orchard, but it was the feel of her atop me that filled my mind, not the woman’s scent. It’d be all over those pillows, though. Not that I was planning on sniffing her pillows, especially knowing how intimate she was with at least one of them.
But the thought teased me, still.
The door in front of me opened, and I stepped back instinctively. Isolde, pale but otherwise fine, strode past me, basket on one arm. “There’s a stack of spare guard uniforms in the spare wing of your barracks,” she said, directing the words down the stairs. “Get into a tabard in the La’Angi colors, Ylva.”
How she expected Ylva to hear that from downstairs I had no idea, but I followed along behind Isolde and, as we emerged into the common room, I saw Ylva’s cloak vanishing around a corner.
Apparently, shehadheard.
Audrey was staring wide-eyed at her mentor. “Don’t complain,” Isolde said, irritated. “I’m fine, and I needed to stretch my legs anyway. Why now?”
Audrey shook her head. “She tried to escape. It made me realize she really ought to. There were guards in the kitchen.”
So, shehadidentified them. The unkind part of me wondered why she hadn’t killed them, like the other guard who’d been clearly abusing his power, much as these men had. It wasn’t an entirely fair comparison, and the righteous indignation I reached for didn’t sit well in my belly. I wandered over to my station before the fire, annoyed that I hadn’t been able to read her. The woman was just so changeable. I missed Kadan. Sunny one day, cheery the next. You always got what you expected from him.
This woman was murdering children one day and tossing men over the seawall just to save my feelings the next.
And then ordering me about.
Heart sufficiently hardened, I turned my attention back to where they stood near the window, speaking quietly. Isolde mostly listened, nodding every now and then, her eyes on the horizon.
Ylva let herself back in quietly. Her hair was tied back at the base of her head and tucked into the collar. The broad uniform made her look smaller than she was, but it hid the few curves she had. “The hair’s a problem,” I said. “They don’t let anyone don the uniform if your hair isn’t done just so.”
She looked at mine with distaste. “Well, I’m wearing their uniform whether they approve of my hair or not.” She plucked at the fabric. “It’s vile.”
“Agreed.” I went to my small bundle of items and drew out a scarf, passing it over. “A lot of people are covered at the moment.”
She wrapped it over her head with quick, impatient movements. Before I could get Audrey and Isolde’s attention, they turned toward us. “Let’s get it done, then,” Isolde said.
“You’re more concerned about Ylva than infecting Audrey?” I asked, because this wasn’t making sense. If Ylva was truly such a great threat, why had she allowed for visitation in the keep?
“We’ll be in the open air,” Isolde said briskly. “And it isn’t Ylva I’m concerned about.”
I glanced out the window at the threatening clouds, ignoring the smug look Ylva directed my way as she fell into step beside me.
From the corner of my eye, I kept track of Ylva’s body language. Everyone else seemed to know something I didn’t, and it all seemed to center around her. She didn’t lean away from Isolde any more than she had from Audrey, and didn’t seem in the least anxious. If anything, I would’ve called her cocky. I didn’t know if the swagger was natural or part of her disguise, along with the uniform she’d donned.
We barely encountered anyone, though. We’d seen no one at all on the way to Audrey’s tower. The chances of us getting away with it grew with every step. I knew I ought to care because it would put Audrey in danger later, but it was hard to get excited about executing an escape for someone else while we remained trapped.
In the stables, Isolde pointed to a deep-chested gray mare confidently. “Take that one,” she told Ylva. “She’ll carry you far, and she’s compliant.”
Ylva’s grin went unseen behind the carefully draped scarf, but her eyes crinkled with mirth. I turned away rather than pick up that joke, heading to where Bliksem was housed near Audrey’s mare. There was no sign of a stableboy, and I tried not to worry about that stroke of luck.Somegood fortune was welcome, but too much felt suspicious.
