Nesrin curled her fingers around the blanket. She remembered all the incomplete rumors that had spread across the capital. They mentioned how Izekiel might be near the eastern ruins, near Alfrada and when she received the letter from Countess Eliza, a small spark of hope started in her heart.
"Do you-" she corrected herself, "-does her majesty know where Izekiel is?"
Azenora leaned back against her chair with a sigh, "I might."
Her voice was low and it was hard to ignore the sudden dryness of her word as if saying them brought unpleasant memories to her.
"Is that why you came here? To know where he is?"
Nesrin gazed at her hands, "At first, yes."
"And now?"
"No one speaks of the war where all this started," Nesrin replied, "There are little mentions in old texts and all who were directly related to the incident have either died or... disappeared."
