Consorting with Enemies

[Jay Carpenter]

Jai

He could name a hundred reasons why going back to Tar Valon was a terrible idea. Most of them wore the faces of Forsaken, Darkfriends, or Black Ajah. But the look on Nythadri’s face and the sharper edge of her presence through the bond told him this wasn’t about people trying to kill them.

It was worse than that.

Zakar was dangerous the way a man is when he makes you want to slit your own throat just to get away from him. But truly dangerous? Not really. Poison in a goblet, maybe, if it came to that, but they wouldn’t be dining together any time soon. No family dinners, no risks there.

So what then?

Nythadri braced herself. Jai felt it before he saw it, her fingers brushing his hand. Not for balance. For him. That was never a good sign.

Then she spoke. Her words furrowed his brow deeper, and deeper still when she mentioned Zakar. And the money. Light, that bloody money. That stained inheritance they never talked about, the one wrapped in his brother’s crimes like cords around a hilt. He hadn’t expected her to go there.

He blinked. “Uhh-What does it tell me?” he repeated, stalling.

"Uh… It tells me that I’m a selfish prick, even under compulsion?”

The wince came too late to hide the shrug. “Where are you going with this?”

He hated this. Hated remembering. Hated thinking about those missing pieces. But she’d asked, and the bond made evasion feel like betrayal.

He dug. Forced himself to sift the dark. Most of it was mud. Thick, blurred, distant. He remembered waking up in Daniel’s blood. Remembered the Tower, the Front Hall. Nythadri’s absence.

He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Alcohol would have helped. Maybe. Did this bloody castle have any kaf?

“I came to the Front Hall. Nodded to the guards. Spoke to some Accepted. They said you couldn’t see me. I asked about Fate Sedai. Same answer. She can’t see me. So I asked who could."

He paused, frowning. The details felt wrong and slippery.

“Lythia Sedai. She said she had a message from you. Or maybe she said she’d tell me where you were. I can’t… it’s hazy.”

He could see himself walking the Tower’s halls. Doors marked by swords. Warders watching him like crows from a rooftop. He remembered feeling dissected, peeled apart, but not why.

“Lythia acted like she was expecting me,” he said slowly. “I thought it was a cover. Something to protect your reputation. But… the way she held my arm. Invited me in.”

A smirk flickered, weak and mean. “I figured maybe Greens have lovers, right? I might’ve played along.”

He caught her expression and lifted a hand, palm up. “Don’t worry. It was like being propositioned by your aunt.”

Still, it wasn’t Lythia’s hand on his arm or her smile that haunted him. No. It was what came next.

“Someone interrupted,” he said. The words came slower now. His skull throbbed. He rubbed his temple, as if he could dig the memory out with his fingers. “I didn’t see who. But Lythia.. she burned their message.”

That struck like an axe behind his eyes.

“She gave me some tea. I left not long after. I went to Moridrosin.”

He spoke the name like an anchor, and it worked. The pressure eased. His vision cleared.

“I visited Andreu’s marker,” he said, voice quieter now. “Met Kekura Sedai there. She told me about Daryen. Asked for help. After that... I went back to Arad Doman.”

And then, suddenly, it clicked.

His eyes snapped to Nythadri.

“Was it Kekura?” he asked. “Was she the one?”