551 No Time Left - Part 10

ELRETH

After her mother left, Elreth threw herself into preparations headlong. She didn't even go looking for Aaryn, figuring Elia would be visiting him next. She'd give him a chance to recover, then she'd find him.

She needed Gar, though, who was noticeably absent. And Tarkyn, who kept rushing past at sporadic intervals, always with three or four guards or lieutenants around him, holding three different conversations at once.

Turning out of the Market since neither of them appeared to be present there, she pushed through a huddle of healers and elders on their way to the Security building, then a fist of guards on patrol—and almost ran into her father, standing on the trail. He'd obviously seen her coming and stepped out of the way so others would pass. But she'd been busy finding her way through the people so hadn't noticed him until the bodies parted before her, and there he was, staring at her, his eyes pleading.