Chapter 177: Abandoned, Part 3

Blinking rapidly, he quickly climbed the stairs—and stopped as he saw Birgir, speaking in low tones with three Shadowmarch. Telmé listened to them for a moment, mouth dropping open as he realized what they were discussing. Striding up to them, he blurted, "You figured out who's responsible for the poisoning? Truly?"

They fell silent, four sharp gazes snapping to him. Birgir dismissed the Shadowmarch with a nod of his head, then crooked his hand at Telmé before moving away from the edge of the mezzanine, further down to where it met the keep. "Yes, we have. That's where I've been the past few days." He smiled briefly. "Though I doubt you've noticed my absence much with all the training you must be doing."

Telmé stared at him. What? Of course he'd noticed. Birgir had coldly informed him that he was far too busy running a castle and a kingdom to have time to teach Telmé things he should have paid more attention to when Tunç had been trying to teach him.