Pulse speeding now, I followed him up the path. Working as a pair, we might actually crack this. In three days, if Kielty had got my note, I’d finally get the answers I craved about Zennia. Rexim Shearwater would get what was coming to him. And Morgen and the siblings…they’d be caught up in the fray.
The thought of it should have buoyed me onward. Despite the setbacks, all was getting back on track.
So why did unease still prickle at me like an itch?
28
Somehow,between my meeting with Avrix and the first sallow slivers of dawn the next morning, I managed to snatch a few hours of restless sleep. Eventually I mustered just enough energy to climb from my bed and tug on some clothes.
I’d heard nothing from Kielty in response to my note, and my unease was snowballing as each hour passed. What if someone at the Veil recognized the crow and sent the note back to Miss Haney, or even Rexim? By now I’d worried at my lower lip so much that the skin was cracked and tasted of iron.
Intending to head to the cove again to practice, I rubbed my tired eyes and glanced out the window. It looked down over the deserted outer ward, which was picked out in grays, the stones swathed in shadow. Satisfied that there was no one about, I made to turn, when my eye caught movement.
A figure. Striding out across the sparse grass below.
I stepped to the window, squinting down through the glass. It was Llir again, clad in a night-robe and mantle. Just like the last time I’dseen him this early, he crossed to the same round, ivy-covered tower, pulled a key from his pocket, and slipped through the door.
Seconds ticked by, and I saw no more of him. That burning curiosity sparked in my core.
Miss Haney kept copies of every key in the castle. I’d seen them hanging just inside her office door. My pulse picked up, my blood thrumming with opportunity.
No,my mind commanded.Absolutely not.
But the thought was there now, insistent, like an insect. A fly careering around in my skull.
You could be silent,a persuasive part of me murmured.In and out quickly. He’d never know you were there.
I dithered. It was risky; he’d already caught me once. But I told myself I had to know what Llir was doing. I had the false laconite I’d stolen from Emment’s room, but I still didn’t know if that was proof of anything. The Charter was gone. I had nothing else. I’d told Avrix about Rexim’s accounts, and we’d both tried to get into the study to obtain proof, but the Brigant kept the room locked tight at night.
What if this was something the Cage could use? Or even something that could threaten their plans? I’d be doing my duty. Kielty wouldwantme to check.
Squashing my misgivings, I stole from my room.
—
Miss Haney’s office was locked at this hour, but she—more fool her—had trusted me with a key. All that time spent buttering her up was paying off in more ways than one. The copies hung from hooks on the wall, helpfully labelled, and I found the one I needed quickly.
Locking up the office, I crept to the ward. A blustery breeze tossed my sleep-rumpled hair, and I tugged the hood of my cloak up over it.The air was bitter, a prelude to winter, and Rhianne’s patched breeches with holes in the pockets, her thin cloak, which dangled around my mid-calves, did little to keep it from chilling my skin.
I stared at the tower, at the slits in its stone, and thought of the nightclothes Llir had been wearing. Was he meeting someone? My neck grew hot. I remembered Morgen Cormorant’s flirting, the murmurs the two had exchanged at the ball. It hadn’t looked very significant at the time, but what if I stumbled on something I shouldn’t?
I sensed the heat in my neck creep downward—and another curl of that strange and shocking envy.
With fingers that trembled not just from the cold, I slid in the key and turned it slowly, wincing as the inevitableclunkrang out. I paused, listening to the huff of my breath. Silence. I eased the door open carefully. Stepping through, I was faced with a spiralling staircase, an arrow slit facing out to the bay. I stilled again, listening, but heard only the wind, which whined ghoulishly up in the eaves of the tower. Trying to keep my footsteps light, I padded upward, hugging the wall.
The tower was high, and before long I was panting. Despite the chill, strands of hair stuck to my neck. There were round chambers visible through open doorways—for archers, I guessed, to aim down at the causeway—but dust lay thick on their bare wooden floorboards.
At the top, I was faced with another heavy door, cracked open, revealing a strip of slate sky. The roof. I heard the thin whine of the wind. And below it, just audible—
A murmur.
A voice.
I knew I should turn around and leave, but my smoldering need to know all the secrets on this island spurred me to take the last step up to the gap.
The door was set into a small, low turret. The roof of the tower, all stark stone and battlements, stretched away to my right, curving out ofsight. Tugging my hood further over my head and sidling through the doorway, my whole body tensed, I peeked around the wall—and saw Llir, facing away from me. I could hear him speaking, and my gaze flashed around the roof, but there was no one there.
He was talking to himself.
