The elves both looked up, giving her matching disdainful looks. It was as if the past several hours hadn’t happened. The moment they weren’t alone, they separated into their respective factions again.
“I was asking Eliyr if he could heal my arm, since you were either incapable or unwilling,” Neiryn said coldly. “He said he’s already worked too much magic today and he’s still recovering.” That explained Eliyr’s haggard appearance.
“That’s just as well,” Kadaki said. “If you’d asked me, I would have said that any more healing is likely to give you spell fever. The last thing we need is for you to be feverish and vomiting while we’re trying to evade that monster.”
His mouth tightened a little. “Of course. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you with my feverishness, lady.”
There was a tense silence filled only with the very faintwhooshof Eliyr’s fire.
“We found something else,” Roshan offered. “A deeper part of the ruin.”
“We’re trying to go up, not down,” Neiryn said, oozing condescension.
“Yes,” Roshan said, ignoring his tone. “But Eliyr thinks we can use the obelisk down there to find our way back up.”
Kadaki’s eyes widened. “You found the obelisk?”
“Yes. But it’s… inaccessible.”
“It is behind the aforementioned collapsed tunnel,” Eliyr said. “That creature found us before we could get to it. We had to run.”
“But if we can find a way to get back down there, one of you could draw power from the obelisk?” Neiryn asked. “How do we get past the collapsed tunnel?”
“We should head back in that direction and see what we can find,” Kadaki said.
“Back toward the bone-dragon?” Roshan muttered grimly.
“Magic-eater,” Kadaki corrected him. She gestured for Eliyr to lead. “Show us the way.”
Neiryn gave her a lingering look as he passed. She thought he was about to say something else to her, to address what had happened earlier, and she braced herself. But in the end, he looked away and passed by without speaking.
Eliyr looked positively miserable. Roshan touched his shoulder, offering a smile. The way Eliyr looked at him didn’t convey confidence, but he didn’t sneer like she’d expected him to.
She arched an eyebrow at Roshan as he dropped back to walk beside her. “Are you friendly with Sair Asshole now?” she said, keeping her voice low enough for only him to hear.
He shrugged. “There’s something about nearly dying together that brings people closer.”
Kadaki shook her head. “You could befriend a demon if you had a mind to.”
“He’s not so terrible once you get to know him.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” she said, glaring at Neiryn’s back. “In my experience, all Ysurans are fairly terrible.”
He put a hand on her arm to slow her, putting them even farther behind the elves. “Did he hurt you?”
Her face was growing warm again. “No.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.” She gave a thin smile, trying to deflect the concern—or judgement—by making light of the situation. “Are you developing a jealous streak, dearest husband?”
“Should I be, beloved wife?”
“No.”
She was relieved when he changed the subject, though she didn’t like the next topic much better than the first.
“Do you really think we can get out of here?” he asked.
