Eona - Alison Goodman [6]
Dela shot a hard look at the resistance leader. “Surely this discussion can wait until—”
“I am afraid it cannot, lady.” Tozay’s voice was gentle but unyielding. “This must be your good-bye, and it must be swift.”
She bowed her head, struggling against his blunt practicality. “My people will hide us beyond Sethon’s reach,” she finally said, “but the problem will be getting to them.”
Tozay nodded. “Solly and Vida will travel with you.”
Behind Dela, I saw Vida square her shoulders. At least one of us was ready for the challenge.
“They know how to contact the other resistance groups,” Tozay added, “and they can act the part of your servants. You’ll be just another merchant husband and wife on a pilgrimage to the mountains.”
Dela’s focus was back on Ryko. She lifted his inert fingers to her cheek, the swinging lamplight catching the shine of grief in her eyes.
“That may be,” I said looking away from the tender moment, “but our descriptions are on the lips of every news-walker, and tacked to every tree trunk.”
“So far you are still described as Lord Eon,” Tozay said. His eyes flicked over my straight, strong body. “And crippled. The description for Lady Dela cautions everyone to look for a man or a woman, making it just as useless.”
I was still described as Lord Eon? I was sure Ido would have told Sethon I was a girl, either under duress or as a bargaining tool. It did not make sense for him to protect me. Perhaps the Mirror Dragon and I had truly changed Ido’s nature when we healed his stunted heart-point and forced compassion into his spirit. After all, that first union with my dragon had also mended my hip, and I was still healed. I pressed my hand against the waist pouch where I kept the family death plaques of my ancestors Kinra and Charra: a wordless prayer for the change to be permanent. Not only Lord Ido’s change, but my own wondrous healing. I could not bear to lose my freedom again.
“Sethon will not only be looking for you, Lady Dragoneye,” Master Tozay murmured, a touch to my sleeve drawing me a few steps away. “He will be seeking anyone close to you that he can use as a hostage. Give me the names of those who you think are in danger. We will do our best to find them.”
“Rilla, my maid, and her son Chart,” I said quickly. “They fled before the palace was taken.” I thought of Chart; his badly twisted body would always attract attention, if only to drive others away before his ill fortune tainted them. I felt a small leap in my spirit: never again would I be spat on as a cripple or driven away. “Rilla would seek somewhere isolated.”
Tozay nodded. “We will start in the mid-provinces.”
“And Dillon—Ido’s apprentice—but you are already searching for him. Be careful with Dillon; he is not in his right mind, and Sethon will be hunting him for the black folio, too.”
I remembered the madness in Dillon’s eyes when he had wrenched the black folio from me. He’d known the book was vital to Ido’s plans for power and thought he could use it to trade with his Dragoneye master for his life. Instead, he had brought Sethon and the entire army upon himself. Poor Dillon. He did not truly understand what was in the small book he carried. He knew it held the secret to the String of Pearls. But its pages held another secret, one that terrified even Lord Ido: the way for royal blood to bind any Dragoneye’s will and power.
“Is that all who may be at risk, my lady?” Tozay asked.
“Perhaps . . .” I paused, hesitant to add the next names. “I have not seen my family since I was very young. I hardly remember them. Perhaps Sethon would not—”
Tozay shook his head. “Sethon will try everything. So tell me, if they were found and held, could Sethon coerce you with their lives?”
Dread curdled my stomach. I nodded, and tried to dredge up more than the few dim images I had of my family. “I remember my mother’s name was Lillia, and my brother was called Peri, but I think it was a pet name. I can only remember my father as Papa.” I looked up at Tozay. “I know it is not much. But we lived