Angelique shook her head as she remembered the way his eyes smoldered. No.
“That was informative.” Elle set down the tray of food they’d gotten from the inn’s kitchens on an end table and scooted it closer to the fire that burned in the tiny fireplace.
“Really? I didn’t think we got much information—if anything, Nefari pumped us for intelligence.” Quinn took up a post by the door—though she stopped long enough to abandon her sword and take up a bow instead.
“First contact with a mark is almost always more about establishing your cover story than trying to wheedle out information,” Elle said. “Most marks of substantial intelligence will automatically be wary—it takes a few meetings before they’ll let their guard down long enough for you to snatch what you need.”
Quinn thoughtfully tilted her head. “That makes sense.”
“Excuse me.” Puss put a paw in the air, flashing his pink paw pads. “I have not been praised and admired enough considering I was the one who did the bulk of the work.”
“You and Elle,” Gabrielle corrected. “But you were wonderful. Thank you, Puss.” Gabrielle leaned forward and stroked his head, earning a deep purr from him.
“Yes, your magic worked better than I could have imagined. Thank you for your valuable assistance, Master Puss.” Elle winked at him before she set about preparing the snack they’d grabbed—fresh bread, a crock of raspberry jam, and a slab of warmed brie cheese.
Elle set the plate of brie cheese on the brick ground just in front of the fireplace, reheating it. “And we did get some useful information. The mage certainly didn’t want to leave us alone with the merchandise—we can use that to our advantage.”
“How so?” Gabrielle asked.
“We split the group,” Elle said. “He’ll stick with the ones in the store section of the cottage.”
“He did seem to act more like a merchant than a mage mastermind,” Gabrielle said. “Do you think we’ll really be able to get any information on Lord Enchanter Evariste from him? I highly doubt the Chosen higher-ups would choose to share such vital information with a middle man.”
“You’re right,” Elle said. “But I’m rather hoping we’ll be able to get information that will allow us to deduce where Lord Enchanter Evariste is. That large project he mentioned might be something. If they’re sending extra necklaces to any one particular spot, that might be an indicator that Evariste is there.”
“I imagine finding out what that project is would be helpful for the resistance in general,” Gabrielle said. “We could prepare for it.”
“Given his cagey wording I imagine that’s something that the rangers might have to look into since we’re dealing with a very short window for our investigation. But at the very least we should be able to find information on more Chosen encampments,” Quinn said. “Nefari openly said the gems were from Mullberg. I would assume that means they have several Chosen bases there. If we can get a list or a map of those encampments, we can hit those locations and see if they have any information on Evariste. If he really is in Mullberg, I’m sure they’d have some kind of notation of the fact.”
“Yes, that would be a help.” Elle bunched her shawl around her hand and grabbed the plate of melted cheese off the hot bricks. Using a knife, she slathered some across a piece of still-warm bread and smeared a dollop of raspberry jam on top. “I’m a little worried that the mage’s office is in the basement—with the workshop.” She offered the cheese-covered bread to Gabrielle.
Gabrielle took the offering and sat up straight. “I don’t think so. He told the little girl to go down to the workshop, but he just told her to fetch the forms when he sent her off for them.”
Gabrielle bit into the bread and hummed in appreciation. When Puss gave her uninterrupted eye contact with his gleaming bronze eyes, she ripped a tiny chunk off and held it out for him.
Puss hopped off his stool. “We’ll have to watch for the little girl. She was impressively silent.” He sat at the feet of Gabrielle’s chair and jumped onto her belly—eliciting a choked noise from her—before he started eating her offering while purring.
Elle slathered another piece of bread with cheese and raspberry jam. “That’s true.” She held the piece of bread out to Quinn.
Quinn took it from her—though she held her bow with her free hand. “Excluding the time she was sent to gather forms, the little girl only went back and forth between the workshop downstairs and the storefront,” Quinn said. “I suspect she is used to relay messages.”
“How do you know she only went downstairs?” Gabrielle asked.
“I heard her footsteps,” Quinn said. “She went to the same room every time she was dismissed. And when she opened the door, the noises coming from it echoed—which implies a staircase.”
Elle whistled. “Impressive—she moved like a ghost to my ears.”
Quinn shrugged. “She was quiet for a human, but she’s got nothing on forest animals.”
“This is why it’s so enjoyable to work in teams.” Elle chortled as she spread some more cheese and jam on another piece of bread. “We throw all our talents together, and it makes us that much harder to defeat!”
“It also gives us a lot more weaknesses,” Gabrielle said. “I almost ruined the whole thing when he asked us who recommended him.”
“You were fine. I certainly didn’t notice anything.” Holding her bread-cheese-and-jam offering, Elle stood up and sauntered over to the corner Angelique had chosen to occupy with all of her confused thoughts.
“She froze up like a rabbit facing a fox,” Puss declared. “I felt her shoulders tighten.”
“That was because you were so heavy, I was having a hard time keeping my shoulders up,” Gabrielle said.
Puss, having finished his chunk of bread, climbed onto Gabrielle’s chest, making her wheeze. “Again, you dare to anger me!”
Elle held out the bread to Angelique. “It ended up being fine—Angelique covered for us all.”
Puss let Gabrielle push him down into her lap, though he twitched his tail so it tickled her nose. “Yes, she did. Who is Acri, anyway?”
Angelique took the bread and stared at it. Her thoughts were too frantic to let her do much more than stare at the snack. Acri is real. I couldn’t have made that name up in a mere dream and a Chosen mage just happens to share it. Which means my dreams were real. What else did Evariste say?
She strained her memory trying to remember anything helpful.
He’d said Liliane is the Chosen’s leader, and Acri—her son—was the mage who attacked me in Zancara. He had no idea where they were hidden since he was in a cave system, but he thought it was somewhere cold because he’d only ever seen people dressed in winter clothes. But what else?
The memory of Evariste leaning closer, so close that their lips nearly brushed, filled Angelique’s mind.
Chapter 12
No. She slightly shook her head as she stared at her rapidly cooling bread and cheese. No, I can’t waste time thinking about that—I talked to Evariste, and I practically ignored everything he said! Focus—what else can I remember?