The disgusting feeling of dread pitted in Wil's chest.

Tension blanketed the taproom of the Dancing Dragon. Evelina paced in front of the bar, her temper flaring and waning like the shifting of the tides. Ronan sat with his heads in his hand, though every so often he stood and reached for his axe, only to collapse onto the stool once more, cursing the pounding inside his skull. It took Leah and Evelina the better part of an hour to calm him. He'd woken up only moments before they arrived.

Wil had never seen Osain more agitated; he sat in the far corner near the door, worrying at this thumbnail as Leah listed every viable means of locating Everna. There weren't many. Without knowing where Shroud had taken her, they had nothing to work with. The stronghold beneath the town wasn't in use; Corden checked the entrance and found it firmly sealed that morning. Lisette's and Cedric's investigations proved fruitless.

For all any of them knew, Everna might not be in Pendel anymore. She could be right under their noses, but without a badge to trace her, they had no way to be sure. Wil bit back a sigh. He told Osain she needed one, that he should've taken Vina's and given it to Everna instead.

Osain, believing it too dangerous to potentially give Shroud unrestricted access to her, refused.

Lyra was of no help. She'd only met with the agents at their rendezvous points; she wasn't sure if they had a base in the town or not. Even if she was, Wil suspected it would be pointless to ask. She'd given them what she could and had since fallen into utter despondency. Not even the sound of Osain and Evelina's intermittent screaming matches could pull her out of it. It was best to leave her be, Leah insisted. They'd done all they could to soothe her; she had to come to terms with the rest on her own.

"None of this makes sense," Corden sighed. He leaned back against the bar, his knee bouncing against the stool. "What does Shroud want with her in the first place?"

"We told you," Evelina bit out. "They think she's a threat. We already knew that, but Lyra confirmed it."

"I meant, if she's such a threat, why try to recruit her? She could, theoretically, take them down from the inside. And you know Everna; she would, just out of pure spite. She hates being forced into things."

Wil bit back a snort. Corden wasn't wrong; the last two who tried to take her by force lost their heads, and one by her own hand. The other took quite the blow to their crotch before her mother stepped in. Everna might not look like much, but she was a scrapper at heart. She'd go down swinging if she had to.

Not that it would do her much good; the only thing pulling her through most fights was intelligence. She didn't wait long enough to see what happened. Everna struck first, and most often where it hurt the most. Her parents trained her enough not to panic whenever someone advanced on her with a weapon.

If only her blade work was as good as her aim with a serving tray.

"Shroud's recruitment methods aren't the same as the Guard's," Osain scoffed. He released his finger and took to bouncing his knee as well. While he tried to pretend Everna was just a means to an end, he clearly had a soft spot for her — and this morning revealed why. Osain had known who she was all along.

"The grunts can walk up and take a pin, but in Everna's case it's more about control.” Evelina slammed her fist onto the bar, startling Ronan, and continued, "They can't seem to kill her, so the next best thing is to get her under control as quickly as possible to mitigate whatever threat she poses."

Corden snorted. "Have you met your daughter? You know damn well that when she really doesn't want to do something, there's no force in the realm that can convince her."

"It's not a choice, Corden," Leah interjected. She coiled the ends of her sleeves between her fingers, then flung them out again in silent frustration. "Shroud uses an unpleasant form of magic: sigils carved into their agents' skin and endued with primordial magic. I knew they used that technique to enhance abilities, but I didn’t know they could be used to control people until now.”

“They usually don’t have to resort to that,” Evelina said. “Most people they deal with join willingly or the usual threats are enough to sway them into cooperation. But Everna…”

“Would sooner piss in their eyes than give in,” Osain said. “They’re well aware of that by now. They put her under the blade, and it would take nothing short of divine intervention to break it. The best you can do is kill the priestess who cast the magic and hope another doesn’t take control.”

Wil blew out a heavy sigh. Two months ago, he might have thought they'd made a stink over nothing, but now he understood what it was Shroud truly feared. Everna was a wildcard, a deceptive and unpredictable one at that. Two days — hell, two seconds before she flung herself at the Shroud agent in Windhollow — he wouldn't have thought she was capable of violence of that scale.

She was a bit like a feral animal, now that he thought of it. A normal person cowered and panicked when backed into a corner, but Everna responded in a far more peculiar manner. She fought, and with startling clarity and tenacity, where most would run. Shroud couldn't intimidate her; if they had, she did a dammed good job of hiding it.

"Are we even sure that's the case?" Corden asked, drawing his attention back to the matter at hand.

"That's what my sources say, and they're rarely wrong about these things," Osain affirmed. A dark look crossed his face. "And I know from personal experience."

"Shroud does not take 'no' for an answer," Evelina said. "If they can't convince her to submit willingly, they will find alternatives. They will use us against her before anything else, and that'll probably be enough."

Corden rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Everna would laugh in their faces and dare them to try. They'd be better off threatening Adela than the rest of us. Even then, the only thing they'd accomplish is pissing her off."

"And that's all the more reason to find her as soon as possible or pray like hell she somehow escapes," Osain cut in. "Shroud's not the concern here; it's Everna. I have a feeling she's going to do something insanely stupid if we don't get her out of Shroud's clutches soon."

Leah pressed her lips into a thin line, her eyes narrowed. "Does she still have my ring?"

Wil shrugged. "If she does, I wouldn't know. You put that damned concealing enchantment on it."

She hummed, biting at her knuckle. "I gave it to her for this very reason. From what I've noticed, Everna understands the situation; she keeps her sword on her even when it isn't necessary. She may well have kept the ring on her finger this whole time. That, I could trace."

"Unless Cedric and Lisette miraculously find their stronghold within the next fifteen minutes, it's the best shot we have," Osain said.

"Then give me a few moments to see if I can locate it."

A tense quiet settled over the taproom. The situation was less than ideal. Half of them were hungover and the other half burdened with other responsibilities. He and Osain were the only two fit for a potential skirmish with Shroud.

If Leah's idea worked, there'd be more time wasted on decisions that shouldn't be difficult to make. Ronan could barely sit up straight, and Wil wasn't sure Evelina was stable enough to go. When it concerned her daughter, rational thought became nothing more than an illusion. It was only through the combined efforts of Leah and Corden that they kept her as calm as she was.

She was hysterical, though perhaps not in the way most mothers would be in her position. Wil couldn't fault her for her concern — Shroud had her only daughter in their clutches — but Evelina would be more of a hindrance than anything. There was no telling what she might do once they were inside.

Osain shouldn't be handling the matter either, but necessity dictated deviation from protocol. They couldn't move Everna to another cohort, as she was the only thing luring Shroud into the open, but they couldn't bring too many people to Pendel without causing a stir.

Wil knew he wasn't a better option. He'd grown attached to her, far more than he should have. He knew better than to believe it was purely a matter of responsibility, but he didn't dare dwell on it anymore than that. It was just a fling — the result of two months in the company of an admittedly intriguing woman.

Everna was just another pretty face that, in a few months' time, he'd forget all about when the next one inevitably came along. As soon as this ended, she'd go back to tending bars, and he'd be on his way to the capital. That's how it should be. He was in no position for anything more.

"Ah, I've found it," Leah said suddenly. "Pray it's on her finger and not elsewhere. Give me a few moments to prepare the circle."

Leah pulled her satchel in front of her and flipped the top, rummaging around until she produced a small stick of chalk. Kneeling on the tavern’s floor, she pressed the stick to the wood and began drawing a complex circle of crossing lines and orderly runes. Leah, if Wil remembered correctly, was a mage before she found herself under the purview of the Golden Lady and her blessings.

"We're not all going," Osain said, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, save Lyra. "This isn't a raid. It's in and out, nothing else."

"Maybe it should be," Corden argued. His fist curled around the sword balanced across his lap. "This has gone on long enough, I think."

Wil caught the change in color as the light shifted across Corden’s blade. Dwarven steel, he realized. The same metal that comprised Everna's shortsword. Though hers was as long as her forearm and considerably narrow, Corden's was a beautifully forged falchion — a weapon not commonly found in Inverness. With how carelessly he handled it, it likely didn't have the same enchantments as Everna's.

Corden didn't need them. Wil had only worked with him on two occasions in the past, and he'd proved he deserved his place among the High Knights. It took an exceptional level of skill, and a generous helping of reckless stupidity, to challenge a shade without the aid of a cleric and win.

"And what? Get your sister, who can barely fight her way out of a wet sack, involved in another brawl?" Osain jeered. "Where none of you can keep a good eye on her? We really need another situation where she can throw herself at an Enforcer. That's what's going to fix this mess."

Evelina spun on her heels and flung her dagger at him. Osain leaned out of the way, hardly impressed, as it slammed into the wall behind him. Wil released a sigh. That was the third weapon she'd thrown in his direction in the last hour.

"Don't get mad at me," he said, pinning his sister with an icy glare. "It's your fault your daughter may as well be a helpless lamb."

"She's not good at fighting," Evelina hissed. "No matter what we would've done—"

"You refused to acknowledge what she is good at because you didn't like it," Osain said, his voice flat. "Quit acting like you wanted what's best for her when you just wanted what was best for yourself. You couldn't handle the fact that your daughter may very well be your daughter."

Evelina seized a butter knife from the counter and lunged. Ronan shot out of his chair, intercepting her before she took more than a couple of steps, and hauled her into his arms. Ignoring his wife's curses, and the few well-aimed hits at his face, Ronan dropped her harshly onto the bar.

Corden merely sighed.

Osain isn't wrong, Wil thought. They didn't have to train her as a full-fledged assassin or sellsword, but they could've done more. If they'd taught her the right sword style, and a few more under appreciated skills, she'd be much better off. Instead, it seemed they saw her perceived inability as the perfect excuse to justify their unwillingness to teach her more.

Everna wasn't untalented, especially in magic, as very few people could manifest the barest flicker of light during their first attempt. It'd taken him months before he'd lit even a spark. She'd conjured a full illusion in a matter of hours.

Her skill with the blade left more to be desired, but her instincts were sound. Ronan likely taught her to fight in the only way he knew and it served Corden well. There was no excuse for Evelina. She should've been the one who taught Everna to use a sword. With what he witnessed in the brawl, he suspected Evelina was the more skilled of the two.

As a former assassin, she'd have to be.

"If you're all done arguing and trading barbs," Leah said, ever the voice of reason, "I've completed the circle."

"I'm going," Evelina hissed, shoving against Ronan's arm.

"No," Osain chided. "You're—"

"She's my daughter!"

Osain leveled her with a withering look. "That's why you're not going. You're too emotionally invested in this."

"You—"

"He's right, Mom," Corden said, crossing his arms over his chest. "There's no telling if she's alright or not. The last thing we need is you getting yourself killed because you flew into a fit of rage—"

Evelina’s nostrils flared. "You think I can't handle myself? Who else would go, then? You?"

"Me," Wil sighed.

She threw him a dirty look. "You're the reason we're having this conversation. And you better hope, for your sake, she's unharmed when I get to her. Whatever they do to her, I'm returning the favor tenfold."

"Send the cleric then," Ronan mumbled.

"She'd draw far too much attention," Osain argued. "They'll feel the divine magic the second she arrives. It needs to be whoever can get in and out the quickest and who isn't overly emotional about the whole situation, and that's Wil."

"Last time I trusted him with my daughter—"

Osain ran a hand through his hair. "Fine, go with him, then. When Shroud uses your daughter against you and you end up with the lot of them on your ass, I don't want to hear it."

Though much smaller than the one at the safe house, and drawn with glowing chalk rather than etched into the floor, the circle radiated magic no less powerful. It washed over Wil, cool and refreshing — like the rush of water against his skin — as he stepped over the runes and into the circle. Evelina followed suit, ducking beneath her husband's arm, glowering.

"One hair is out of place on her head," she said, motioning to his throat with one of her daggers, "and you're dead."

He bit back his reply. While he'd only seen her in action once, he'd seen enough to know she meant every word that left her lips. Evelina may not have explicitly said how far up the ladder she was in Shroud's ranks, but her ability to move through the shadows clearly implied that she wasn't the average grunt. If she wasn't one of their top assassins at one point, he'd eat his boot. She had that aura about her.

"Let's hope this isn't a trap or a mistake," Leah muttered as she placed her hands on a pair of runes.

Teleportation was disorienting, but not in the way many assumed. The woozy feeling that followed came not from traveling along the lines between the realms, but from the suddenness of it all. In the blink of an eye, the tavern gave way to a small bunk room. Beds lined the dusty stone bricked walls, a few rickety chests shoved into the space between them. The sheets were yellowed and stained. A putrid stench clung to the air. Two Shroud agents lay on the floor in the middle of the room, stripped of their garments.

Beside him, Evelina startled. "This is —"

"Mom?!"

Everna appeared before them. Dark robes rested over her shoulders, the ends brushing the ground. A black mask sat bunched beneath her chin. She held a bow in her hands, a half-full quiver of arrows slung over her shoulders.

Evelina shot past him, nearly pushing him into the wall, and pulled her daughter into her arms. "Oh, thank the gods you're okay! How did you get out? I doubt they let you run loose."

A smug smile touched her lips, a fiery brow raised. "I ended Landen's entire family line."

Evelina recoiled. "You... killed him?"

"No, only his capability to conceive," Everna said, a bit too cheerfully. "He is currently unconscious in his cell, er, well, my cell."

Wil immediately stamped down the annoying flutter in his chest at the sight of her smile. She was safe, at least for the moment — thank the gods.

Evelina glanced at the two agents at her feet, then at her daughter, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Then you killed...these two?"

"She killed the one further down the hall, but no, I took these two out."

Everna narrowed her eyes, her arms rising to fold over her chest. She shifted on her feet; her left hip popped out. Wil knew that stance. It preceded almost every argument he'd had with her.

Evelina's reaction was far more peculiar. Her eyes widened, her entire body rigid with surprise. She spun on her heels and her jaw dropped.

"Arden?!"

Wil could hardly contain his own shock. Mayor Ashburn himself stood behind them, Shroud's robes thrown over his imposing frame. He looked older than the last time he saw him — which was dead on the floor of the tavern's guest room. Strands of gray peppered his dark hair. The lines of his face were harsher and more pronounced.

Mayor Ashburn raised a brow. "You didn't really think I dodged Shroud's assassins for decades just to get taken out by Landen, did you? I'd have thought that out of everyone, you and Pala would know better."

"But... they had... you were dead!" Evelina said. "They buried you!"

Wil knew he should pay attention, but his attention returned, unprompted, to Everna. A few seconds later, her gaze settled on him, and her expression softened into smug amusement.

"I see my heroic gremlin with horrible morning hair showed up after all," she said. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting anyone to come."

Without thinking, he reached up to push his hair into place. "Would've been here sooner, but it took forever to find you."

"You look like you just rolled out of bed to me."

"I picked myself up off the street a few hours ago," he sighed. "Maybe I should've gone back to sleep. You seem to have things under control."

She shrugged. "Landen's stupid, and stupid people make things much easier. Though, I'm surprised it's just you and my mother. I figured my father would be tearing the town apart right about now."

"She's not supposed to be here," he grumbled. "But she wouldn't let me and Osain handle it."

"Typical. Probably for the best. The last thing we need is him flying off in a blind fury, not that I think Mom will be much better."

"I suggest we get moving," Evelina said, drawing their attention back to the other conversation. She still seemed stunned, though far calmer than she had been in the tavern. "It won't take Shroud long to realize Everna's not in her cell, or that they're missing agents.”

Everna's expression hardened as she turned back to her mother. "I agree. You and Dad have some explaining to do, and you're not getting out of it this time."

Anxiety

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