“How did you do that?” She gaped at him.
He shook his head. “What are you doing here, lover? You must know the Kassian will have a spy embedded in the caravan.”
“They do. His name is Karl. He’s carrying messages from the new, and it seems corrupt, speaker of the Grimwalt court, to the Queen in Fernwell.”
It was Luc’s turn to gape. “And you found this out how?”
She pulled a piece of fabric from her pocket, and then jerked it out of his reach when he tried to take it from her.
“It’s spelled.” She shook her head at him. “Be careful.” She tilted her head. “But I have to ask, why did you reach for it so readily? The trader I made it for did the same. He almost threw something aside to reach for it.”
Luc frowned. “I don’t know. I wanted to see it. Didn’t you work that into it?”
“Not specifically.” She tucked it away again. “I obviously wanted him to take it. I thought he would have to touch it to be affected by my working. So I didn’t bother to make wanting to touch it a part of the spell, because by the time he had it in his hand, that would be unnecessary. And yet . . .” She narrowed her eyes. “Maybe it can somehow reach out to people, even if they haven’t yet touched it. But I don’t know how that would work. And how it did, when I never put it there to begin with.”
“I don’t know how any of it works.” Luc realized he would need to be very careful of what he took from others in the future. Ava was teaching him the world was full of deadly things that looked completely innocent.
“The working I showed you was to create compliance in the trader I gave it to.” She paused, as if thinking about whether to elaborate. “Remember I told you I had a plan for revenge against the Queen’s Herald?”
“Yes. It’s what kept us apart for so long.”
She nodded. “I made him a shirt.”
Now that he knew she had compelled the Herald to stab himself with a jacket she had embroidered for him, he had an idea of what she had in mind with the shirt. “How were you going to get it to him?”
“That’s the thing. The trader my grandmother’s housekeeper arranged with to take the shirt to Fernwell is part of this caravan.” She glanced over at the line of carts, and Luc thought her gaze rested on a particular stall.
“That’s him?”
She nodded. “He had put out the shirts I had made for sale to the Rising Wave.”
Luc sucked in a breath. “That would have been . . .”
“Very dangerous.” She nodded.
He was going to say deadly, but dangerous covered it.
“I made a working, gave it to him, and convinced him the shirts couldn’t be sold at all until he reached Fernwell. I was able to tell him how to get the shirt I made for the Herald into his hands, and I found out how they managed to leave Grimwalt as a trading caravan when the border is closed.”
“And?”
“And, they were let through on the sly so that Karl could deliver the letters to the Queen from the Grimwalt Speaker.” She hesitated. “Apparently, I’m considered on the run, so I might not have any power to help the trade treaty with the Skäddar, as I promised I would.”
“Don’t worry about that now.” Luc ran a hand down her back. “That is truly a future problem we will come to in good time.”
She sighed, nodded. “Karl also offered the other traders money for any gossip or information they heard from the Rising Wave traders today.”
“Which means he’s more than just a mule. He’s an active spy.”
“Yes.” The wind came up, blowing sand and dried leaves at them, and she ducked her head against his shoulder.
His horse shifted uneasily beneath him, and he tightened his grip on her and bent his head, closing his eyes against the debris and burying his nose in her hair.
He had never felt so comforted, although if someone had asked him what he needed comfort from, he would be hard-pressed to say.
The wind died as suddenly as it had sprung up, and he raised his head, saw the traders seemed to be winding up their business.
“Will that working you made still be effective?”
Ava looked up. “You want to use it on Karl?”
He nodded. “What could you get him to do?”
She looked away. Lifted her shoulders. “I think almost anything.”
She was afraid her admission would frighten him. Would drive more of a wedge between them.
But he would not allow it.
“I’ll come along, you shouldn’t go in alone.” Only he could accompany her. Otherwise her secret would be out.
“How about you wait outside, and only intervene if there’s a problem?”
He nodded reluctantly. “Is there some way you can find out who he is before everyone leaves?”
“Yes. I came with a trader, Carys, and I’m sure she will know who everyone is by now.” She turned in his lap, and he lifted her down.
When she looked up at him, her eyes were searching, as if waiting for him to flinch. “You sure you want to do this with me?”
He nodded, and then watched her walk the short distance to where the Rising Wave and Venyatux traders were gathered.
He had made her doubt him. And he would do what he had to do to win back her trust.
“I see you got your cloak.” Carys fingered the fabric and gave an approving nod.
“I did. Thank you for letting me come as your helper.” She took the bundles Carys had set at her feet and tied them to her mount. “Someone mentioned a trader called Karl. Do you know which one he is, and what he sells?”
“Ask Gregor.” Carys sent her an evil grin. “He’s already deep into his wares.”
Ava turned, and saw one of the traders groaning, hand to his stomach. Wine flasks sat around him.
“A wine merchant?” She frowned. “We haven’t been here long enough for someone to get that drunk, have we?”
Carys shrugged. “Probably went straight there and has been sampling the wares since.”
Ava had a bad feeling about that.
She looked over at Luc, but he had been joined by Massi and Rafe, and wasn’t looking her way.
She made her way to the captain who had escorted them over, and gestured to him to dismount from his horse.
He narrowed his eyes at her, but he knew who she was, and he reluctantly slid down.
She leaned in close to him. “The Commander has cause to be suspicious of the wine merchant in this caravan. And given how sick the trader who has bought from him is, I’m worried that he isn’t drunk, but perhaps poisoned, or has been deliberately given something that is off.”
The captain drew in a sharp breath, and then looked over at where Gregor was heaving up the contents of his stomach.
“Take the traders back, and get Gregor to a healer. Make sure no one touches the wine he’s bought.”
“I don’t take orders from you.” The captain glanced over at Luc.
“Then go confirm your orders with the Commander.” She turned and walked toward Luc herself. She hadn’t got two steps before the captain’s hand came down on her shoulder.
“What you say makes sense. I’ll speak to the Commander later.”