“Lady Lyran is on the city council. She may be a target, like I was,” Elora offered. “It would be kind of us to inform her that there may be a threat.”
That was an explanation, but not the only one. But I wasn’t convinced that Elora was one of Mizuchi’s targets in the first place.
Elora had left almost immediately after hitting Mizuchi with that powerful attack. Maybe that was because of how exhausted she was — she still hadn’t fully recovered from fighting Saffron — but maybe she just wanted to make a show of contributing before she left.
Mizuchi hadn’t had a chance to attack Elora, so there was no way for me to know if she would have if she’d had the chance.
I couldn’t trust Elora on this. Not when she’d presumably been one of the people who had started this in the first place.
Going to my mother was a potential route for getting answers, although it was somewhat less likely now that I’d seen that Elora had some kind of brand. If my mother worked for the same organization, maybe she would have one as well.
In retrospect, I didn’t have any good information on the brand at all. I just had the word of Elora and her sibling.
I trusted Sheridan a little more. They’d helped both me and Sera, after all. But their loyalty was probably to their sister.
“Lady Lyran?” Keras frowned, turning to me. “I think your mother tried to have me arrested last time we met.”
“Yes, that was her with me,” Elora confirmed, making things more awkward for me. I’d been trying not to let Keras in on that little fact.
That added another complication I’d have to deal with. “Sorry about that. I’m sure I can clear that up.” I turned to Elora, deliberately changing the subject. “You were just in Dalenos. Were you with my mother?”
Elora shook her head. “No, but we were on related business. I have a feeling I could locate her, as long as she isn’t in the spire at the moment.”
Keras raised a hand in a gesture for me to pause. “I didn’t realize it was Dalenos you were talking about heading to in order to meet your mother. I’m not one to hold a grudge, but I didn’t exactly have a good experience last time I was in Dalenos. I can’t go with you if you’re heading there.”
“Katashi didn’t clear your name?” I asked.
“Oh, that was taken care of. But I may have made some personal enemies, and I’d rather avoid any conflicts with them. Believe me, that wouldn’t be good for anyone involved.” Keras reached up and adjusted his mask, which just made it look more lopsided.
I couldn’t laugh at how silly that looked, though. He’d just added a whole other complication.
I put my head in my hands, thinking. People chatted around me for a moment, but I focused on my own thoughts.
What did I want to do?
Visiting my mother might get me a few answers, but I didn’t know if I could even find her.
And if Keras wouldn’t come with me, I’d be losing one of my strongest allies.
While I had Keras with me, I had a real chance to climb high in the spire. I also currently had access to Elora, who could get us inside, and a full team worth of people that I trusted.
I didn’t know if I’d ever get that kind of opportunity again.
Moreover, Tristan’s last letter had made it sound like something had gone wrong. If he was in danger, that made it an even higher priority for me to meet him as quickly as possible.
I would never forgive myself if I had a chance to see Tristan and I missed it because I’d chosen the safer path.
“Okay,” I said, addressing the room, “Elora is right that we should send Mother a message. But if we want any real answers, any real solutions, we’re not going to find them outside the spire.”
“Well,” Elora said, “I’m not going back in there. Not while I’m very likely to be toward the top of Mizuchi’s list of delicious morsels.”
I took a breath. “Can you teleport me inside without you?”
Elora frowned. “Theoretically possible, but I don’t like it.”
“Because you wouldn’t get anything out of it?” Keras asked.
Elora rolled her eyes. “Well, there’s that, obviously. But also because it has a high chance to get Corin killed, and Tristan would hold me responsible for that.”
“I’ll take responsibility,” I said. “I can send him a message explaining that.”
Elora laughed. “You don’t know your brother very well.”
That…hurt.
Sera intervened on my behalf. “Of course not. He hasn’t seen his brother in five years, and now he believes Tristan may be involved in a mass killing. One that you played a role in initiating.”
Elora didn’t get angry, as I’d expected. She just waved a hand. “True, true. Fine. I can send you into the spire. But not without a full team that has a method of locating Tristan. We’re doing this right or we’re not doing it at all.”
I nodded at that. “I can work with that.”
“This…that’s a mistake, Corin.” Cecily shuffled her chair closer to mine. “You really should go see your mother. I’m sure she could explain all this. And with a vastly lower risk?”
“I’m very tired of running away from danger, Cecily.”
“That doesn’t mean you should run toward it.”
She had a point.
I didn’t like risks, either. Normally, I avoided them as much as possible. I planned for every contingency I could think of, even ones that weren’t likely.
But in this case, I had resources at my disposal that I was likely to lose, and Keras’ mention about Dalenos had made it clear that it was possible for me to lose those resources at any time.
Everything had started with Tristan — with his attack on Tenjin in the spire.
And now, all evidence was pointing toward that situation coming to a resolution. One that I suspected wouldn’t end well for my brother, unless I took the steps to help him.
The spire had been sealed shut again.
Someone didn’t want anyone finding something that was inside.
Maybe Katashi had sealed it again himself, to prevent any interference in the investigation. But even if that was the case, the fact that the spire hadn’t been unsealed after another couple months meant something had to have gone wrong.
I needed to learn what was happening inside the spire. Tristan was my highest priority, but I also needed to learn what was going on with Tenjin still being missing and Mizuchi being on the loose.
I wasn’t going to get that much information anywhere else.
“For what it’s worth,” Sheridan lifted their glass and swished it around, looking thoughtful, “I agree with Corin.”
“Of course you do,” Elora sighed. “You always have to disagree with me.”
“While you’re quite right, sister, I have other reasons.” Sheridan took a sip from their glass, then set it down. “For one, I don’t believe finding Corin’s mother in Dalenos is likely to work. She’s most likely climbing the spire — and if she is, she’d be just as hard to find as Tristan, if not harder.”
“And if she’s outside?” Elora asked.
“If Lady Lyran is outside of the spire, we can simply contact her via a Wayfarer. I’ll send a message immediately telling her what happened, and to be careful. She’ll know what to do.”
“Thanks.” I nodded to Sheridan. “I’d appreciate that.”
“You’re welcome. Now, beyond that, I believe we’ve been overlooking the real issue. Whoever is organizing all this madness is almost certainly within the spire. Even if that isn’t Tristan, we should be looking for them if we wish to stop this.”
Elora waved a hand in a conciliatory gesture. “You do have a point.”