Elnos took a long drink from his beer mug before replying. “She was trying to find another way into the bunker from the back. Unfortunately, she was picked up by a patrol, and they nearly killed her right then and there. There was blood on the ground, from several people, I think.” Frustration sparked in his eyes. “I told her to stay near me, where I could protect her, but she didn’t listen. And because she was on the other side of the wards, I couldn’t get to her. She’s stubborn, like her sister.”

“Yes, she is.” A bittersweet smile curved my lips, then faded away as I thought of Noria. “Do you think Noria knows Annia is being held in the compound?”

“It’s hard to say,” Elnos admitted, his shoulders slumping. My heart sank at the look on his face—I’d never seen him so discouraged. “I don’t know exactly how large the bunker is, but the perimeter protected by the ward is huge. I’m afraid it’s all too possible that Annia could be locked away in an entirely different section from Noria, and that Noria could be unaware of her presence, sequestered away in her technical work.”

“Her work,” Iannis said softly, anger burning in his gaze. “She is helping the Resistance manufacture weapons that spread disease and epidemics, you know. Some of which are specifically targeted at mages.”

“No!” Elnos recoiled, horror widening his eyes. “I know that Noria is committed to the rebellion, but she would never consent to something so horrible. How did you come to such a conclusion?”

“Such a weapon was used to attempt an assassination on the Minister during the last Convention,” Iannis said. “The Minister’s office tracked the substance to a doctor, who is now in prison. He told us the lab that tests and manufactures these deadly weapons is right here, in Nika.”

“It’s possible that Noria isn’t being given all the information,” I consoled Elnos, who looked stricken. “She may not know exactly what these weapons do, and she’s an engineer, not a chemist. I doubt she’s actually producing these substances. They’ll have her working on some mechanical project, most likely.”

“Perhaps,” Elnos said slowly, his gaze distant. “But Noria is no fool. She would figure it out eventually, and if she is willingly dedicating her time to such a horrific cause—” He broke off, shaking his head. “This is just so hard to think about. It’s like my mind just freezes. I don’t know what to do.”

We fell silent again as the waitress returned with our food. I paid her, then stared down at the tray she’d left on the coffee table. The meat pies looked and smelled amazing, but in the wake of Elnos’s distress, I wasn’t quite so hungry anymore.