I opened my mouth, only to close it again. Since I was the primary target of their attacks, it might help the tour if I was to leave in search of Airlie. But I was never going to convince Evermund of that, let alone the king—not without revealing my true affinity. And if I did that, they were more likely to lock me up than let me go chasing after the General.
I sighed. I might have confirmation that the raiders had taken Airlie, but all the old impediments still applied. I would be unlikely to find her—let alone rescue her—on my own.
“Gia said you asked everyone to look for signs of Airlie during the tour,” I said after a long heavy pause. “Maybe now they actually will.”
Evermund ran a weary hand down his face. “Yes, perhaps they will. At least I’ve regained some credibility from this.”
I gave him a sideways look. How much had his position been damaged by his support of Airlie? It was just like with Zeke. Both of them had accepted undeserved blows to their reputation in support of Airlie and me.
Pushing aside my own crushing disappointment, I stood up and managed to paste on a small smile.
“Surely we’ll find some hint as to the raiders’ location during the tour. And we’re leaving tomorrow, so perhaps the delay of our rescue mission isn’t any great blow after all.”
Evermund’s return smile looked equally feigned, but at least we were both trying.
“We’re supposed to gather early in the morning,” he said, “but don’t worry if you sleep in. Whatever their stated intentions, half the court, three foreign delegations, and half the Mages’ Guild will not be leaving at the crack of dawn.”
My smile grew a little more real. “That’s a certainty. Even with just Airlie and me, we never left for our supply-gathering trips at our intended time. Of course, it was always me that was the hold up, and it used to drive Airlie crazy.”
“Sleep as late as you want, and you won’t need to worry about being the delay this time, I promise you,” Evermund said with a smile that was half-amused, half-frustrated.
Taking the hint, I said goodnight and hurried outside to my room. For all the joking, I was far more worried about getting to sleep at all than sleeping late.
Chapter 9
Cadence
As it turned out, both predictions ended up coming true. After spending much of the night tossing and turning, my thoughts a helpless muddle of the upcoming tour, Airlie’s predicament, and confused sorrow over Dara’s death, I finally fell asleep and slept long past my normal waking hour.
Despite the permission given me by the Royal Mage himself, I responded to my lateness with mild panic. Throwing myself out of bed, I stuffed my final travel items into the small bag I intended to carry with me. I lingered over my books, running my fingers over my mother’s old favorite. But a moment later I shook my head and sprinted out the door without it.
I wasn’t a senior official, and I couldn’t justify taking heavy and unnecessary baggage on the tour. As it was, I was fortunate no one had paid enough attention to me to ask why I was going at all. Evermund’s responsibility to keep me housed and fed as a dependent of his apprentice could easily have been met by leaving me behind at the Guild.
As I stepped into the courtyard garden, my heart nearly stopped. It was empty. All the wagons had already gone.
A moment later, my breathing resumed, as I remembered the tour guests were starting on barges on the river. We would float downstream during the day but moor the barges each night. Since the boats didn’t have enough space to house so many important guests overnight, the wagons would travel the river road alongside us, setting up a camp ahead of us each evening. No doubt they had actually left at the nominated time.
I was racking my brain, trying to remember if I was supposed to head straight for the river or muster somewhere in the Guild first, when Evermund strode out the door to his sitting room.
“Ah, there you are, Cadence.” He grinned at me. “You’ll be shocked to hear that, despite the late hour, no one has yet left for the river. I saved you some breakfast.”
I smiled back, relieved, and accepted the two rolls he held out, wrapped in a napkin.
“Thanks!” I pulled one free and tore it in half. “Where should I be now?”
He grimaced. “I’m obligated to travel with the royal party and the delegates. But I’m sure you’ll enjoy the journey more with your friends.” At a curious look from me, he added, “I believe my troublesome young cousins have insisted on spending as much time away from their parents as possible.”
My smile grew as I hurried through my impromptu meal. The journey might actually be fun if I could spend it with Gia.
“In fact, here come the apprentices now.” Evermund glanced toward the apprentice door where a stream of people was emerging into the courtyard, heading for the open gates. “I’ll leave you to join them. Please do make it onto one of the barges. I would hate to have to leave the tour on the first day to come back and find you.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there,” I assured him, before catching sight of Gia and dashing off with a belated wave.
I heard the soft sound of a chuckle before plunging into the noise of the apprentice group. From the faces around me, it looked like those proficients fortunate enough to have been chosen for the tour were part of the group, probably having been given the task of keeping an eye on the apprentices.
“Cadence!” Gia shouted my name, running over to latch on to my arm. “I thought I was going to have to tip you out of bed myself.”
“Lacking your sense, we’ve been gathered in the dining hall since just after dawn, as instructed,” Nikolas said in a sour voice.
I tried to hide my amusement for his sake. “Evermund predicted we would be late to start and told me not to rush.”
“It’s nice for some.” Nikolas sent a poisonous glare in Gia’s direction, but she ignored him completely.
“I’ve always wanted to go on a river trip,” she said. “I used to plead with my parents to take us when we were younger.”
“Shockingly, they refused.” Nikolas looked in my direction. “I imagine they weighed the risk of Gia ending up in the river at about fifty-fifty and decided to forbid the whole thing. If you think she’s bad now…”
I snorted. “Promise me you won’t end up in the river this time, Gia. I don’t fancy performing a heroic rescue.”
Gia laughed. “With this many elements mages around? You wouldn’t have to lift a finger. Exactly like I explained to our parents all those times. If I had tumbled in, a little wetting wouldn’t have hurt me.”
“Perhaps they thought it would be a bad look for the monarchy,” Nikolas said. “Back then they hadn’t accepted that their oldest child is an uncontainable hoyden.”
“Goodness!” I slipped my arm through Gia’s. “Lack of sleep makes you cranky, Nikolas.”
Gia chuckled. “Haven’t you noticed? He’s always cranky. It’s part of his charm.”
She blew a kiss at her brother, who rolled his eyes. But I noticed his expression lightened somewhat. Even sleep deprived, it was hard not to absorb the air of excitement all around us.