Chapter 21

Chapter

Twenty-One

Z ev and Marieke both surged to their feet as a small figure stepped out from between the trees. Zev took a step forward, placing himself slightly in front of Marieke as the elf approached.

"Who are you?" Zev asked, his hand inching toward the hilt of his sword.

The elf's thin lips curved into a smile, his eyes startlingly green as they looked calmly from one human to the other.

"I have the advantage over you. I believe I know who you are, Marieke of Oleand and Zevadiah of Aeltas."

"You got our note," Marieke gasped. The shock on her face told Zev that she'd never really expected their idea to work.

"And you, it is evident, got our attention." The tip of the elf's pointed ears wobbled slightly as he looked her over. "How did you learn of our presence here?"

Marieke opened her mouth to answer, but Zev flung out an arm in a gesture of caution.

"That information has value," he said shrewdly. "Perhaps we don't feel inclined to give it away for free. "

The elf chuckled, the sound tinkling but not exactly merry. "You know a little something of our ways, it seems," he said. "But surely you agree I am entitled to know your business with the Imperator."

Zev folded his arms. "Do you claim to be the Imperator?"

"I do not." The elf's answer was swift.

"Then our business with him doesn't concern you."

The elf raised one thin eyebrow, his ears wobbling again. Zev thought there was humor in his emerald gaze, but it didn't make him seem any more approachable.

"That is not for you to say," the elf said in a business-like manner. "But my instructions are to take you to the Imperator."

Zev frowned, reluctant to blindly follow the unknown creature. A glance at Marieke showed both excitement and trepidation on her features. She looked up at him, and he nodded in acknowledgment of all the unspoken thoughts.

It was almost unbelievable that they'd found such a straightforward way around the enchantment that kept the elves safe from humans—unbelievable enough to make him wary—but they didn't know of another way forward. And they hadn't come this far to give up or turn back.

"We'll come with you," Marieke said, turning back to the elf with dignity. "But if you intend to play us false, it won't go well for you."

"Is that a promise?" The elf's eyes gleamed unnervingly.

"No," said Marieke quickly, not needing the warning rising to Zev's lips. "Just an opinion."

"Very well." The elf seemed both amused and a little disappointed. "Follow me."

He turned and plunged back into the trees, disappearing so quickly they had to scramble to gather their things and follow so as not to lose him. Zev expected him to lead them straight into the jungle, but he traveled alongside the road for a short distance before coming to a stop.

"Through here," he said, gesturing to the space between two tree trunks. "It might be disorienting, but it won't harm you."

"What won't harm—"

The question died on Marieke's lips as she, like Zev, got a proper look at the place the elf was indicating. The trees in question were the same as those around them, but the space in between them looked all wrong. The surrounding jungle was thick with lush foliage, but between those trees Zev could see a large clearing. It was like looking through a window onto an entirely different scene.

"Go on." The elf seemed disinterested in their confusion.

"After you," Zev said flatly. He wasn't ready to take the elf's word for it that they weren't at risk of harm.

The elf just sighed, apparently bored by the suspicion of his companions. He strolled forward, his little legs not breaking stride as he went between the trees. He paused in the clearing on the other side, one thin eyebrow raised in impatience.

Marieke started to move forward, but Zev beat her to it. He stepped carefully between the tree trunks, his senses on high alert. He was expecting some kind of magical sensation, but in fact he felt nothing. The air felt slightly different on the other side—less close given the sparser foliage—but that was it. He turned to see Marieke following him through, her expressive face showing all the fascination he was keeping to himself.

"What was that?" she asked.

The elf looked like he was debating whether to answer, but thankfully decided not to be ornery.

"We call them doorways." His bright eyes passed between them. "Your kind used to know of them. They helped develop them. "

"Our kind?" Zev repeated. "Humans?"

"Singers," the elf clarified.

"I'm not a singer," Zev said. The answer rose a little too quickly to his lips, the thought occurring belatedly that he probably shouldn't offer information for free.

"What?" The elf's gaze sharpened, and Zev realized he'd captured the creature's interest. "Neither of you?"

"I am," Marieke said.

The elf's alabaster brow furrowed as his gaze shifted to Marieke's feet, then flicked to Zev's before flicking back to Marieke's face.

She shrugged. "Don't ask me to explain. I can't."

"Hm." The elf eyed them both shrewdly. "I'll take you to the Imperator." He turned on his heel and strode across the clearing, leaving Zev and Marieke to once again hurry behind.

"What was that about?" Zev murmured to Marieke.

"The magic is pooling around you again," she said. "Not as intensely as in the canyon, but…it's definitely notable."

Zev frowned, not sure what to make of that information. "So you can tell someone is a singer, just by the way magic responds under their feet?" The question was as much to deflect attention from him as to actually satisfy curiosity.

Marieke shook her head as they walked. "Not usually. Magic doesn't normally pool unless the singer is gathering it ready to mold it. At which point, yes, I can absolutely sense active songcraft. It's just that here, the magic is so intense. Remember how I said earlier that it's not waiting for me to pull it to me, it's rushing at me all the time, wanting to travel through me for an outlet? That's even more the case now, and it seems that elf could sense it, too." She screwed up her face slightly. "It's overwhelming."

"Yes," Zev agreed. "It is." He rubbed a hand across his chest absently .

Marieke didn't miss the gesture. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he said. No need to distress Marieke with the information that as soon as they went through the "doorway", the pressure on his chest had increased dramatically. They must be much deeper in the jungle than they had been on the other side.

He cast his eyes around the clearing they were crossing. It wasn't a huge open circle, like he'd at first assumed. It was more like a band of grassy space curving around a central structure. And it wasn't naturally occurring, that much was clear. Judging by the section he could see, it was a perfect circle, the outside of it ringed with huge trees, their trunks as smooth and evenly spaced as pillars.

Lanterns bobbed between them at staggered heights, except they didn't seem to be attached to anything. They were a lot like the glowing orb Marieke had created, but brighter and larger. And their light was the clear white of daylight, not the yellow of a normal lantern. Zev realized that the canopy wasn't as clear as he'd at first supposed. Branches still arched over their heads, but the white lantern light had fooled him into thinking the sky was open.

The trunks were too neat and perfect to look natural. Certainly nothing like Zev's orchard. But the structure in the middle of the space made up for it. It wasn't a building so much as a solid wall of tangled foliage. The branches were crisscrossed so tightly, Zev couldn't even see through it. The wildness of these trees was a strange juxtaposition to the unnaturally smooth pillar trees. The chaos of a jungle and the order of cultivated trees, each taken to their extremes, and combined together.

He didn't like it, he decided. Neither felt natural, and the whole thing was unbalanced. Their elf guide led them toward a path that ran straight across the cleared band from the wall of branches to the pillar trees. As they turned onto it, Zev saw that there was an archway, under which the branches broke for enough space to make a doorway through to whatever was inside. It was evidently designed for elves, though, so he and Marieke had to bend over to travel through it.

They ducked underneath, edging through a short tunnel to emerge into the proper center of the clearing. For a moment neither spoke, taking in the incredible sight with wide eyes.

"What is this place?" Marieke breathed.

Their elf guide glanced back at them, seeming to take neither pleasure nor offense at their amazement.

"The place of our exile."

The words were a quip, his voice dry and his face expressionless, but Zev's eyes didn't linger on the elf for long. He was too caught up in examining the scene.

He'd thought the trees outside of the clearing huge, but they were nothing to the ones on the inside. These trees stretched way up out of sight, the canopy so high above that he had to squint to see it. Instead of lanterns, there were tiny lights sprinkled across every branch. The specks of brightness were reminiscent of fireflies except the light was a warm green, like yellow sunlight coming through leaves. The whole place was bathed in greenness, such that the very air felt alive. And the floor wasn't the hazardous underbrush of the rest of the jungle. It was clear ground, much of it covered with grass, although some patches were rocky.

A number of the trees had structures built around them, not of wood as Zev might have expected, but of some kind of red clay. They ringed the tree trunks, most of them boasting multiple levels. These dwellings, if they were dwellings, varied in height, some so far up he couldn't make out their details, and others almost at ground level. On the closest ones, he could see small elves climbing between levels or leaning from a window to watch the passers-by. The amount of interest they attracted as they continued through the settlement supported their understanding that humans didn't come to this place.

"Look at the roots!"

Marieke's voice drew Zev's attention to the ground. To his amazement, the grassy soil was illuminated by branching patterns of light, each strand thin and wispy, but visible if you looked closely enough. He had no doubt Marieke was right that the light mirrored the roots in the ground below it—the placement of the patterns around the trees was certainly consistent with that idea.

"They're coated with magic," Marieke commented, the words directed at the elf. "It feels like…I don't know…a seeking enchantment? It's not unlike the one I use to assess the nearby terrain."

The elf gave a grunt that sounded like grudging acknowledgment. "The roots help us identify the right areas for mining."

"Mining?" Zev repeated the word as he glanced around. Nothing about the area suggested it was a quarry in the usual way. The elf must be speaking of the mysterious practice of mining magic.

His eyes traveled over each of the dwellings, looking for one that was larger or more luxurious than the others. Where would they find this Imperator?

"Wow." Marieke's voice brought Zev's gaze to the ground again.

He raised an eyebrow at the bizarre feature they were walking past. At first glance, he'd thought it was a pond, but on closer inspection, he realized that the hollow in the ground wasn't filled with water. It was sealed with a layer of glass. A line of glass even moved out from it like a stationary stream, the surface smooth, but the texture underneath looking fractured and layered as it wound its way around a tree and out of sight. It looked for all the world like a forest spring feeding a stream…except that it was unmoving glass rather than water.

"Surely that's not naturally occurring," he murmured to Marieke.

"I don't think much of this place is naturally occurring," she replied. "The magic in the air is thicker than the air itself." She blew air out of the side of her mouth, unsuccessfully attempting to shift a strand of hair that was plastered to her forehead. "And that's saying something."

The elf leading them, who had ignored their conversation, came to a stop at the base of a large tree.

"Go on." The creature pointed up toward a dwelling, attached to the trunk at about three times Zev's height.

For a moment Zev just stared, then he realized Marieke was moving forward. She'd been quicker than he was to spot the subtle ladder leading upward. It consisted of nothing more than thin strips of wood attached to the tree, easy to miss given they were of the same hue as the trunk. They were set close together, to allow for elvish limbs, so Zev had to skip two out of every three in order to make it work.

He climbed up behind Marieke, his tension not lifting until they emerged safely onto a platform inside the first level of the structure. The pressure in his chest eased slightly as they left the ground behind.

Zev had expected their guide to follow them up, but a glance back down the hole they'd climbed through showed him still on the ground, in conversation with another elf who'd approached.

"This place is quite something, isn't it?" Marieke said, looking around the room in which they found themselves. It was cool within the clay walls, plenty of light coming in from regular windows, and one wall curving away, formed by the trunk of the tree on which the structure was built.

"I never imagined anything like it," Zev admitted. "I'm surprised they settled in this area, to be honest. The trees here are so enormous, even to a human."

"You thought they'd prefer somewhere with more elf-sized flora?" Marieke asked, with the hint of a grin.

"The flora of our ancestral home is as appropriate to elves as anywhere in the forest."

The high voice made them both spin. Neither had heard the approach of the new elf around the curved platform. Zev could see Marieke's flush at being overheard, but he felt no embarrassment as he looked over the newcomer. She looked much older than the other elf had, her face lined and her pointed ears longer than the ones he'd seen before. Her eyes were still brilliantly green, however, and her hair hung down her back in a thick, silver rope.

"Unlike humans," she considered placidly, "we're not daunted by being smaller than the world around us. It doesn't fill us with the desire to conquer. We embrace it."

"I don't think I've ever been gripped by the desire to conquer in my life," Zev informed her.

The elf considered him, her expression thoughtful. "No?"

"We did not mean to offend," Marieke said carefully. Zev was pleased that she'd remembered not to apologize outright, for fear it might be taken to indicate an obligation owed.

"I am not offended, child," the elderly elf said. "I can more accurately be described as intrigued. Only once before in my lifetime has a human sought an audience with me."

"With you?" Zev raised an eyebrow. "Are you the Imperator? "

"I am." She looked him over shrewdly. "And you, I take it, are Zevadiah of this kingdom."

"Well, no one has called it a kingdom in a long time, but yes," Zev said.

"Hmm." The elf was still studying him, her penetrating gaze unnerving. "What humans call the land is of less relevance than they imagine. It is what the land recognizes that has greater impact."

Zev shifted his weight from one leg to the other, his expression carefully impassive.

"Come," the elf said abruptly. "We will sit."

She led them around the curve of the building, traveling through two more rooms before stopping in one that jutted further out from the tree trunk than the others. It was set up with cushions on the floor, onto one of which she sank. Marieke and Zev followed suit, their movements awkward as a result of everything being a bit too small for their frames. Another elf, this one much younger, appeared from nowhere and sat beside the Imperator, her emerald eyes bright and curious as they studied the strangers.

For a moment they sat in silence on the floor before the Imperator's thin lips curved into a smile. "I am not what you expected, am I?"

"Not precisely," Zev acknowledged.

Her smile broadened. "What did you anticipate? A crown? A castle?" She shook her head. "I am no monarch, Zevadiah of Aeltas. I hold a hereditary position, it is true, and my title carries with it a certain power and influence. But my role is more to unite and provide a central point of communication than to actually lead."

She looked to the younger elf at her side.

"Speaking of heredity, this is my granddaughter Kiarana, who will take over my position when I return to the ground and my life is absorbed back into the magic of the land."

Marieke inclined her head to the younger elf, her blue eyes full of the curiosity that Zev had sometimes had cause to rue.

"Well met," she said politely. "I'm—"

"Marieke of Oleand," the Imperator finished for her. "Or so said your note."

Marieke nodded a little awkwardly. "It obviously made its way to you. I had no idea if it would work."

"Well." The elf's smile was a little too calculating to be warm. "It didn't get all the way to me without some assistance. But certainly the penetration of an active enchantment into our protected territory is an event that will secure our attention. It was a sensible approach. Without our assistance, you certainly would never have reached us."

"Just how deep in the jungle are we?" Zev asked. He rubbed at his chest again, unable to help the gesture. Even elevated in the tree where the pressure was less than on the ground, it was so intense it was almost painful.

The elf's eyes lingered on his fist. "Very deep, as you seem to be aware. The magic here is thicker even than the foliage outside our sanctuary. It's trying to crush you from the inside out, from which I surmise that you are not a singer."

"Trying to crush him?" Marieke sat up straighter on her cushion, her alarm clear on her features. "Is he in danger?"

"No." The elf's answer was slow and thoughtful, her eyes never leaving Zev. "He doesn't seem to be in danger. Which is interesting in itself." She exchanged a glance with her granddaughter that filled Zev with foreboding.

"Well, we didn't come looking for you to chat about my safety," he said.

"Your motivations are your own," the Imperator said calmly. "They have no bearing on my reasons for allowing this audience."

"What are your reasons?" Marieke asked cautiously.

The elf smiled. "The fact that I have reasons does not mean I intend to disclose them."

"Perhaps we can trade answers," Marieke said boldly.

The Imperator leaned forward, interlacing her fingers, which were slim but for the knobbed knuckles that proclaimed her age.

"I feel I'm owed some answers already, in exchange for allowing you passage into our protected realm," she said.

"Your feelings don't create obligation on us," Zev said sharply. "Your choice to allow us entry was your own. It wasn't the result of any bargain."

The younger elf chuckled, drawing Zev's gaze to her. Her grin was more cheerful than the older elf's as she directed her eyes to the Imperator.

"He's sharp, Grandmama, you must acknowledge it."

"I must acknowledge nothing," said the older elf, although she didn't appear annoyed. Her eyes were fixed on Marieke's face now. "The simple truth is that it is in my power to expel you from this place and leave you at the mercy of the jungle. If you do not wish me to do so, you must tell me why you sought an audience with me."

Zev was inclined to try harder to drive a bargain of some kind, but Marieke took a gentler approach.

"I don't mind telling you why I've come looking for you. I'll hardly get answers if I refuse to ask questions."

"True," the Imperator agreed. "But that's not the first answer I want. I want to know how you discovered our existence."

"That's easy to answer," Marieke said. "We ran afoul of one of your mining parties in Sundering Canyon. "

"You're part of that tribe of monarchists?" Kiarana asked curiously.

Marieke shook her head. "We're not. We were actually looking for them when we stumbled on Rissin's party."

"Rissin." The young elf sighed. "So that's what you meant when you said you ran afoul of them."

Zev raised an eyebrow at her. If Rissin wasn't well liked even among his own people then maybe Marieke had been right to think it worth pursuing answers with the other elves.

"I am aware of your encounter with Rissin." The Imperator's eyes gave little away. "What I'm asking is whether you truly were unaware of our existence prior to that incident."

"We truly were," Marieke said in her earnest way.

"If you know what Rissin tried to do to us, then I would argue that you owe us an explanation," Zev said darkly.

"Your argument would not be sound," the Imperator said. Her posture softened a little. "But as a show of good faith, I will inform you that Rissin's actions were his own." She flashed another of those swift, unnerving grins. "Not that I would have been averse to learning the results had he been able to study you as he intended to do."

"Study us?" Marieke repeated. "That sounds very ominous."

"For you, perhaps." The Imperator's granddaughter once again inserted herself into the conversation. "Grandmama might not, but I want to know why you've sought us out."

"In exchange for what?" Zev asked dryly.

Kiarana laughed in delight. "I said he's sharp, didn't I, Grandmama? He talks like one of us."

"He does no such thing," the Imperator said. "It seems you need more education on humans if meeting one in person has enough novelty to distract you."

"I don't think all humans would," she said fairly. "But he's very handsome, Grandmama. For a human, I mean. "

Zev stifled a laugh as both the Imperator and Marieke made noises of resignation in their throats.

"What is this effect you have on teenage girls?" Marieke muttered.

"Actually," the younger elf grinned, "I'm twenty-seven. We age differently from humans."

"We have gotten decidedly off-track," the Imperator said. "I believe you were going to tell us why your meeting with Rissin led you to seek us out."

"Is that what you believe?" Zev said politely.

"Relax, Zev." Marieke waved a hand at him. "I came here to ask these questions, I don't want to play games." She turned to the elves. "I'll get straight to the point. It's helpful that you're aware of the monarchists in Sundering Canyon. A few months back, there were a number of seeming accidents that befell singers in my country, Oleand. Some lost their lives. Others, including myself, were targeted but escaped. These accidents were ultimately proven to be intentional attacks. They were carried out by a young man named Gorgon, who'd broken off from the monarchist group. And we have reason to believe he carried out the attacks by use of talismans."

Neither of the elves' expressions gave anything away, but at Marieke's last word, Zev saw Kiarana straighten a little. Marieke had their interest.

Marieke cleared her throat, her tone cautious. "I understand that the elves are the only source of talismans."

No answer.

Undeterred, Marieke pressed on. "Gorgon is dead now, and those attacks stopped. But a different kind has begun. Larger scale ones. Terrible fires, unseasonal storms, that kind of thing. And they're definitely fueled by magic." She drew a breath. "And on top of all that, the land itself is deteriorating. Oleand is dwindling away into decay, and no one can figure out why."

There was a long moment of silence before the Imperator responded.

"You said you came to ask questions, but I did not detect a question in your words."

"That's true," Marieke acknowledged. "I suppose my first question is this: are you supplying talismans to whoever is causing these disasters? And the second would probably be—"

"Wait." Zev put a hand on Marieke's shoulder to stop her. The tension in her muscles showed that she was more on edge than she seemed. "One at a time. Even asking a question can reveal information that might have value."

"Very wise," the Imperator complimented him. "What will you give me for an answer to your question? An answer to a question of my own?"

"That depends on your question," Zev said warily.

She nodded. "My question is this: why, according to Rissin's report, did the magic of Sundering Canyon respond to the pair of you in a way he's never seen before?"

Zev studied her shrewdly. It seemed Rissin had made a full report to this Imperator. Zev was starting to suspect that they hadn't been allowed to enter the elves' realm merely because of the letter Marieke sent. If it hadn't identified them as the mysterious pair from Rissin's tale, would they have been left on the road? Most likely.

"I would be willing to make that exchange," Zev said. "If Marieke is also satisfied."

She nodded, and the Imperator smiled. "Good."

"Witnessed," Kiarana said solemnly.

"The answer to your question, Marieke of Oleand, is that I do not know if we've been supplying talismans to whomever is behind the natural disasters you mentioned. It is not possible for me to know given that I am not aware of who is behind the catastrophes. How then could I know if they've received elven-made talismans?"

Zev laughed dryly. "I thought I was being a canny negotiator, but it seems it was a fairer exchange than I realized. Because our answer is also that we don't know. Right, Marieke?"

She nodded. "I know that the magic responded strangely in the canyon. I felt it as surely as Rissin did. But I can't tell you why."

The Imperator raised an eyebrow. "You don't have any guesses or speculation?"

"Our bargain wasn't for guesses or speculation," Zev countered. "It was for an honest answer to the question, and we've given that."

She rewarded him with a smile. "Canny indeed." Her eyes stayed fixed on Zev, even as she spoke to Marieke. "What's your next question, then?"

Marieke didn't answer at once. Zev looked over to see her brow furrowed in thought. "You said you don't know if you're supplying talismans to whoever's behind the attacks because you don't know who it is. But that implies that you have been supplying talismans to someone. If you hadn't, you'd be able to say with certainty that your talismans weren't involved."

It was a good point.

"And it can't be Gorgon like last time," Marieke said. "Because, like I told you, he's dead."

"We never supplied talismans to any Gorgon," the younger elf said. She fell silent at a sharp look from her grandmother, then, after a moment, shrugged. "It's true. And if he was murdering singers, I think we should be forthcoming if the alternative is being connected to his actions."

Like her grandmother, her eyes lingered on Zev, not Marieke. He felt his skin crawl under the scrutiny, and it was evident that Marieke had noticed it as well.

"I'm grateful for the information," she said slowly, her eyes passing between the elves and Zev. "Although I don't quite understand why you care about our good opinion." Her frown deepened. "Or maybe not our . You're more interested in Zev's reaction, aren't you? Why is that?" A curious look passed over her face, although no one answered. She quickly pressed on with a variant of the same question. "I thought you were taking an interest because I'm a singer, but it's Zev's role in all of it that you care about, isn't it?" She gave a surprised laugh. "Whoa. I really can feel it."

"I felt it, too, in my own way." The Imperator's eyes had returned to Marieke. "You've just become more interesting, after all, young singer."

"Felt what?" Zev demanded uneasily. He shifted slightly, not liking how far his cushion placed him from Marieke.

"The magic," Marieke said. "It really liked those last couple of questions. The strength of the response makes me think they were very…pertinent."

"Another questioner?" Kiarana seemed to also be interested now, all of them grasping something Zev didn't understand. "I thought you said they were rare, Grandmama."

"They are," the Imperator replied.

"What do you mean another questioner?" Marieke demanded. "Who else have you met with the aptitude for questioning? And what do you mean you never gave talismans to Gorgon? You must have!"

"I will give you a full answer if you will share with me your suspicions about why the magic responds to the pair of you as it does," the Imperator offered.

"I'd rather not," Zev said firmly.

Marieke looked at him, and he could see in her face that it cost her to turn away from the answers she was so desperately seeking.

"No, we won't make that trade," she said, no hesitation in her voice.

Zev's heart warmed even as he felt guilty that his secrets were impeding her mission. It cost her, but she didn't consider betraying his trust. Not even for a moment.

"Then I don't believe I can help you further." The Imperator leaned back on her cushion, her eyes passing between them with a fixation that made Zev think she wasn't done with them yet, whatever her words might say.

"Please," said Marieke desperately. "We've come so far seeking answers. Please, if you know what's causing the disasters—better yet, what's causing the land to deteriorate— please tell us. There must be some other bargain you can propose."

"Not with you," the Imperator said simply. "As intriguing as it is to learn that you have the questioning craft, I don't believe you have anything of value to offer me." Her eyes strayed to Zev. "It's your songless friend I'm interested in. The question is what is he prepared to trade?"

"Please don't pull him into this," Marieke said quickly. "This isn't his fight, it's mine. He's not even from Oleand. Whatever's happening to my country is not his problem to solve."

"And yet," the elf said pointedly, "here he is."

"He's only here for my sake," Marieke said.

"Indeed," the Imperator mused. "So perhaps threatening you would be a more effective way to get answers from him than trying to strike bargains."

A growl escaped Zev before he could get himself under control. He pushed himself forward, realizing as he did so that his hand had balled into a fist.

The Imperator chuckled. "Relax, young man. Age mellows us all, and I'm older even than you realize. Far too old to resort to impulsive thuggery." There was a glint in her eye as she smiled at him. "I'm not sure there's a great deal you could tell me that I don't already know. Or at least suspect."

The words should have alarmed Zev, but he found himself curiously disinterested in the threat to his secrets. His pulse was still hammering at how quickly the elf leader had grasped that Marieke could be used to manipulate him. It was an aspect of his hidden identity that he hadn't considered. The idea of her being threatened, even harmed before his eyes, as a way to get to him was absolutely terrifying.

"Others of my kind are not as smoothed by the passage of time," the Imperator continued. "And you would be mistaken to assume I impose full control over their actions. I know that Rissin, for example, is within the settlement currently, meeting with an associate of his. If you do not wish to remain here under circumstances not of your choosing, I suggest you leave now. I can have you escorted back to the human road."

"Please," Marieke tried again. "Don't send me away with nothing. The answers have been just out of reach at every step. I was sure I would find them here."

The Imperator considered her. "I am under no obligation to do so, but I will tell you my opinion to this extent. I do not believe that the disasters you've described were caused by talismans. And as for the wider problem besetting Oleand…" Her eyes drifted to Zev. "I suspect that answer has been within your reach throughout your whole journey."

Zev's pulse was once again thundering. It couldn't be true. He'd justified his continued deception of Marieke by telling himself that his identity could have no bearing on her mission. The heartsong connecting Oleand's monarchs to their land wasn't the cause of the country's deterioration. How could it be, when the monarchs had been dead for centuries, and the land had only started suffering in the last year or two?

In spite of these assurances, he couldn't bring himself to meet Marieke's eyes, even though he could feel them on him.

"We'll go," she said suddenly, surprising him. "Thank you for your offer of safe passage out of your realm."

The Imperator nodded, her eyes lingering on Zev's face as if she could read his inner conflict. It was an unpleasant sensation. He barely knew what he said as they took their leave, following Marieke back down the ladder without a word.