Extermination (Daniel Black Book 3) (49 page)

Mara gasped. “Sister?”

“Yes, yes, I know you’re excited. I certainly am. I think I’ve finally figured out where I went wrong the last time. She’s going to be a lovely little bundle of reckless daring and insatiable fertility. Much better than fire and freedom, don’t you think? The boys are going to be so happy to finally have a sister who loves them!”

“Oh,” Mara said faintly.

“Well, I’m off to see Rendall. Have fun with your little errand, Mara. When you get back you’ll have to tell me about this new lover of yours.”

“Right. Bye, mom.”

I waited until the elves to either side of me stirred before I stood. I found Mara staring down the street the way we had come, looking utterly lost.

“Sister?”

Her face fell. Her hands clenched, so tight the knuckles went white. Yeah, I could guess what she was thinking.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“I can’t let this happen,” she said quietly. “But I can’t stop it. I’m going to have to watch, and… and not be able to do anything, and… dad, how could you?”

“Are you sure he did?”

She gave me a startled look. “Oooh, that bitch! You’re right, it would be just like her to try to drive a wedge between us with a lie. Or maybe he knows something. You can never tell, with him. Ah, damn it, I’m going to be worrying about this forever now. But anyway, it’s none of your business, elves. Come on, time to be rid of you.”

Oh, right. Undercover. I was starting to think I wasn’t very good at this spy stuff. That, or I was cursed to have as many things as possible go wrong on every mission. Hadn’t Avilla promised me I’d have good luck from now on?

Maybe this was good luck, actually. I was certainly learning a lot. But I would have been so much happier with a nice, clean mission.

Thankfully nothing else happened on the way back to the gate. The supervisor at the gate actually stopped the troops when Mara approached, and let us all through at her order. On the other side Mara walked with us as we crossed the cave, all the way to the tunnel mouth. Interestingly enough, she already knew which one we were taking.

“This is as far as I go,” she said. “Now, off with you all, and tell your kin not to return to Skogheim until the war is over. We have no time for your tricks and schemes now.”

Othvin bowed. “By your command, Exalted One. We go now.”

Mara nodded, and turned to go. But she brushed against me as she passed, and pressed a note into my hand. Something she didn’t want her mother to overhear? That made sense, but when had she had a chance to write it?

I waited until we were out of view of the guards in the cave before I unfolded the little slip of paper. It said:

Please, find me a way to hide her from mother. I’ll owe you any favor you want, if you’ll help me with this.

I read it twice. The third time the paper turned hazy, and dissolved into nothingness. Some kind of illusion? That explained how she’d made it, although I hadn’t known Mara had that kind of magic. But then again, there was a lot I didn’t know about Mara.

I sighed. When did life get so complicated? All I wanted to do was build a nice home for my girls, and keep them safe. Everything I knew about mythology told me that getting tangled up in the affairs of the gods was a bad idea.

But there was no avoiding it now, was there? I waved off the curious looks of my companions, and took my place in the line of march. It might not be the smart move, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn my back on Mara. One way or another I was going to end up helping her.

Hiding the kid might sound like a good idea, but Mara was kidding herself. That wouldn’t work forever. There were only so many places to look, and the longer this war dragged on the fewer of them would be left. As long as she had a whole world full of andregi worshipping her Gaea wasn’t going to die for real, and eventually she’d figure out any deception scheme we might set up. If I was going to survive getting involved in Mara’s problems I was going to have to make sure she didn’t get the chance.

Time to get back to Kozalin. I had plans to make, and miracles to invent.

I had a goddess to kill.