Chapter 20 · Use Me as Bait

Veran didn't knock. He just opened the door to the storage room where Mark had been sleeping on a pile of grain sacks and said, "They want you at the cathedral. Both of you."

Mark sat up. His knee popped. "Both?"

"You and the apprentice." Veran's hand was on his sword hilt. Not gripping it. Just resting there. "Orders came an hour ago. I'm supposed to walk you through the front gate."

Ella was across the room, folding a blanket she'd brought from somewhere. She froze mid-fold. "Why me?"

"Didn't say." Veran looked at Mark, not her. "Said to bring the otherworlder and the Faran girl. Didn't say why. Didn't say what happens after."

Mark's brain went into overdrive. Toria wasn't back yet. No blueprints. No plan. And now they wanted him and Ella at the same time. That wasn't coincidence. That was cleanup.

"What if we say no?" Mark asked.

Veran's jaw tightened. "Then I go back and tell them I couldn't find you. They send someone else. Probably more than one. Probably someone who doesn't care if you make it there breathing."

"So you care?" Ella's voice was sharp. She dropped the blanket. "You care if we're breathing?"