We get ourselves into the smithy’s forge and shut the door. Temra leans against the back of it. I’d been working in here. The kiln is still raging, which means the windows are open. We can hear every word of their exchange.

“What have you been doing?” Kymora demands.

“Working on my book,” Petrik says. “You know why I followed you to Lirasu. I had my own agenda with the bladesmith.”

“You came because you knew I would get her to Orena’s Territory. You were permitted to question her once she was in my employ.”

“Well, Ziva didn’t want to go with you, so I had to change my plans.”

I can practically hear the warlord grit her teeth from here. “So instead of telling me of her intention to flee, you decided you would just jaunt around Ghadra with her?”

“You always manage to sound in such a way as to suggest that I owe you something. I was raised in a library. I saw you maybe once a year while I was growing up. I thought this journey would be a nice time for us to finally spend some quality time together. But the whole trip you were consulting with your men. Making plans for world domination, I later learn. So, yes, I didn’t tell you where the smithy was going. It would have upset my plans.”

“Your little book is of no consequence compared to what I’ve been working on for decades.”

“Can you believe him?” Kellyn asks to no one in particular, interrupting my eavesdropping.

“He lied to us,” Temra says, so quietly it hurts my heart.

He may have lied, but he’s doing something to help us now. I’m sure of it. Why else would he drag out the conversation with his mother?

“He’s stalling,” I say as the realization hits me. He saved Temra before. He’s trying to save us now.

“What?” they echo.

“He’s giving us time. He means for us to do something. We need to figure out what it is.”

“He’s arguing with his mother,” Temra says, “or did you not catch that part?” She rubs her upper chest, right above her heart, as though it aches. I don’t think she’s conscious of the action.

Kellyn’s gaze shifts to me. “What should we do?”

“Look around. Maybe there’s … another exit? Something underground or—I don’t know.”

Kellyn humors me, starts scouting the area, moving around workbenches and tables, stepping on slats on the ground. Temra is stricken, unable to do anything but stand there, her thoughts turning inward.

I do a sweep of the forge.

I have to be right. Petrik has to be stalling her. He can’t have betrayed us like this only to send us into a nice little cage for his mother to collect after they’re done speaking.

And why in the twin hells didn’t he tell us who he is?

Would you have let him join you on the journey if you had known who his mother is?