Shadowguard

The four of them turned to the source of the new voice — Lyra. It'd taken Wil a moment to recognize her.

Living dead was an apt description for her. Her eyes were dull and red at the edges. Tear stains trailed down her cheeks. Flaccid curls hung around her shoulders, streaked through with coppery blood. Blood stained her boots, legs, and skirt if she'd knelt in a pool of it. It reminded him of how she looked the night Shroud killed Mayor Ashburn, only rather than panic, her eyes held nothing.

Truly nothing.

If not for the steady rise and fall of her chest, he'd have thought her a walking corpse.

"What did you say?" Evelina asked. She went to stand, her hand reaching for the dagger strapped to her thigh beneath her skirt, but Leah threw an arm out to block her.

"That's... That's what they say. The rumors," Lyra said, her voice hollow but trembling. "They said if they didn't do something about Everna, Shroud was in danger."

Evelina narrowed her eyes. "How do you know that?"

That question alone broke her. With an anguished sob, Lyra fell to her knees, her hands over her face. Wil could hardly understand her, but what little he could make out was enough. She mentioned something about her father, about Shroud, and coercion — a threat against her family if she didn't cooperate.

He shouldn't pity her. Her silence on the matter was treason and her cooperation more so, but the tiny flicker of sympathy refused to abate. Threats against family were one of Shroud's preferred methods; it rarely failed. They'd done it to him several years ago. He hadn't known better. Not a week later, they killed his sister, Emery, and threw him at the mercy of the Courts.

Lyra could be lying to save her skin, but he doubted it. He saw it in her eyes — that blank, thousand-yard stare. Everna had the same look in her eyes during their return from Windhollow. He'd seen it a dozen times over since he'd joined Shadowguard. It wasn't easily faked, even for the best of actresses.

Osain sighed. "That sounds exactly like the sort of shit Shroud would pull."

To his surprise, Evelina, let out a sharp breath and released her dagger. "Sounds like? That's what Shroud did to our father. You think we spent three weeks hiding in a wine cellar for the fun of it? Fat lot of good it did us. They still got us eventually."

“Some more easily than others,” Osain muttered.

Evelina threw him a caustic glare.

Leah stood slowly and moved to Lyra's side. She set a hand, encased in the soft golden glow of her magic, atop her head and said, "I need to know exactly what happened. All of it."

"I stumbled into it," Lyra said, taking a shuddering breath. "Landen... he killed Mayor Ashburn. He made me tell him where Everna’s sword was. I... he knew she couldn't refuse looking in the room, so he made me go get her."

The more she talked, the more sense the situation made. Shroud used Lyra to monitor Everna while Landen kept to the shadows to subvert suspicion. Windmore took care of the legal side of the matter, altering and misplacing reports and records to further insinuate Everna's guilt and interfere with the investigation. They hadn't counted on the Courts releasing her.

"Why were you back there? You're a waitress, not a housekeep. That's Fallon's job," Evelina said, skeptical.

"Fallon skipped her shift again.” Lyra pushed her hair out of her face and drew another shuddering breath before continuing, "Everna had me check the rooms before I went home since I was the last waitress there. I... I heard the commotion and when I opened the door... I tried to save him. I really did."

Wil worried at the inside of his cheek. The details of Shroud's design finally fell into place. Everna wasn't an end to a means but the primary target. Mayor Ashburn's assassination and the political opportunity it created were merely favorable byproducts. Windmore would get his revenge. Shroud would have their first chance in thirty years to reclaim control of Pendel, which would give them a firm hold in the southern portions of the region. It would force Shadowguard to split their forces to face them on two fronts as opposed to one.

"What went wrong, though? That's the last remaining question," Evelina muttered. "Why couldn't they pin the blame on someone else and target Everna discreetly?"

"Someone tipped Shadowguard off. Shroud doesn't know who, but him being there that night," Lyra said, pointing at Wil, "threw everything off. They thought maybe Pala or you had someone watching her to give her an out, but that's clearly not the case."

Leah removed her hand. "She's telling the truth. We have everything now, except for who tipped us off, and I can't shake the feeling that may be the most important part of this."

"Someone knew," Osain agreed. "But who? And why would they incriminate her?"

Evelina scoffed. "As if Shadowguard would do anything otherwise. You'd have wasted your time trying to track down the source while Arden and Everna died. I'm amazed you lazy slags have done this much."

"More than you have," Osain reminded her.

Before the conversation could derail into another argument, Leah sighed and stood. "Until we can find where they've taken her, there isn't much we can do but hope Everna can pull herself out of this mess. In the meantime, perhaps it's best we return to the tavern. Corden will have to handle the documentation, and that will take time, but we’ll need to send someone to inform the Courts of the situation. Someone we can afford to spare. There is also the matter of finding a way of... lessening the potential ramifications of Lyra's involvement."

Lyra shook her head. "Gods, no. Just let me take the blame. I'd... I'd rather Everna think I betrayed her than... She'll blame herself."

"While you're not wrong, and I'd love to wring your neck for your role in this, you know as well as I do she'll find out," Evelina chided.

Wil rolled his eyes. "More than that, she already feels guilty that so many people have died or gotten hurt over this. Don't make it worse with the self-sacrificing bullshit."

Lyra refused to yield. "She'll forgive me. She's too nice not to, and she shouldn't."

"If she chooses to, that is her decision," Leah said. "You have no say in that and I have a feeling Everna would say the same."

"It doesn't matter," Lyra said, almost panicked. "Shroud's going to... if they find out I spilled..."

"We’ve kept Everna out of reach, until now. Shouldn't be too difficult to do the same for you," Osain said. "It'd probably be easier, actually. They might not even care, now that they have her."

Evelina turned to him, scowling. "Everna dies, and you'll be joining her."

"She dies, and we'll all be joining her."