“Thank you,” I said, turning away. I was finding it harder tosuppress my nerves. My heart thumped; I could feel his gaze on my back. The notepaper I’d scribbled my findings on, now crumpled and concealed deep within my bodice, felt like a brand being seared into my skin.
As soon as I was around the corner, I paused, closed my eyes, and leaned weakly against a cabinet. Then I sidled back to peer narrowly around the wall.
Llir was at his father’s cracked-open doorway, fingertips resting on one of the handles. I watched him stop there for a moment, seeming to listen.
Then, to my relief, he closed the door and walked away.
14
Myrun-in with Llir left me shaken, and I knew I had to be more careful next time.
Rexim left for Pen Aryn the next morning—one less member of the family to pose a threat—but as one day passed and then another, I suddenly found myself saddled with extra chores. House Cormorant would be arriving at pallwater, and the entire island seemed to be bustling. Miss Haney was even more exacting than usual, her eagle eyes spotting every smear, every watermark. She patrolled incessantly, like a bear guarding a kill, scuppering any chances I might have had to slip away. As I worked, I mentally ticked off the hours, my chest growing tight with a new, weighty pressure. It grew increasingly difficult to focus on my chores. The water in the well seemed slightly more sluggish, the slop for sluicing the pigpens a little slower to react.
Everyone, it seemed, was feeling more fraught, and it appeared to have come to a head one evening when I walked in on the siblings quarrelling in the entrance hall.
“—expresslyforbade any of us from going out for the night—”
“And how exactly will he find out? Are you planning to write tohim?”
“Perhaps I will!” Vercha’s face was pink. She faced off with Emment at the bottom of the great staircase, Llir at her side, his arms tightly folded.
Catua sat at the base of the stairs, chin resting in her hands. “Just leave it, Verch.”
“I won’t!” Vercha said shrilly. “Father left you in charge, Emment. You’re theheir—you’re supposed to be the sensible one. It’s the younger son who should be off cavorting.”
“I can go with him,” said Llir, taking a step toward his brother.
Emment rounded on him. “You’re not coming,” he said with an odd half smile. “Not without—”
But Vercha had spotted me by then. I’d frozen on the top step, tray in hand. “No,” she said determinedly. “You’ll take the Floodmouth.”
Emment went distinctly pale. He wheeled, looking up at me. “I certainly won’t.”
“Yes, you will,” said his sister. “Or I’ll send a crow to Father now.”
“I won’t let you near the culverhouse,” Emment bit out. But Vercha was striding away from him already, snatching up a quill from an end table by the doors.
“It’spallwater,Sister,” he tried, blocking her way. “I couldswimthere and back if I really had to.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Llir said warningly.
“Just take the bloody Floodmouth!” Catua nearly shouted. Then she turned where she sat, looking sheepish. “Sorry. It’s Corith.”
“It’s fine,” I said stiffly, picking my way down the stairs. But unease and irritation were prickling at me. Full pallwater was only two days away, and I knew I needed more information for my contact. So far, I’d managed to search only Rexim’s rooms. With Emment gone, tonight would have been the perfect opportunity to slip into his chambers…
“Gods above,” Emment said, dragging a hand through his dark hair. There was a strained sort of desperation in his expression, almost a queasiness as he watched me approach. I noticed now that he was outfitted in finery: his doublet elegantly cut, a thin sword at his hip. A bulge at his side spoke of a full-to-bursting coin purse. “I’ll take the Floodmouth. Will you put that down now?”
He pried the quill from a slightly calmer Vercha, though she still glared at him, lips twisted in disapproval. Before he could move away, she grabbed his arm, hissed in an undertone, “You need to get a grip on this, Emment.”
Her brother huffed out a dismissive laugh and avoided her eyes as he brushed down his doublet.
“Just take it easy tonight,” Catua said lightly. She flashed me a glance.
Emment turned, looking me up and down quickly. “I’d fetch a cloak if I were you. Meet me at the harbor in fifteen minutes.”
—
It was indeed a frigid evening, and despite my cloak, I shivered as I climbed into the boat. The vessel was lit by a single hanging lantern, which enveloped us in an eerie, pallid glow.
