Between Ferra and Suri, we manage to scrub away most of the travel grime, and Suri washes my hair and weaves it into an Immortal Crown with her deft fingers. Ferra spends the time buttoning the hundreds of buttons on the dress’s back.
“No wonder no one got anything done in ancient times,” she mutters. “All they did was push buttons through button holes. There. Finished. Now—look at yourself.”
She spins me toward the mirror with a proud tilt of her head, an artist admiring their work.
But as she stares into the mirror, her eyes narrow slightly. “Gods, Sabine, it looks like you just emerged from a soak in milk and honey, not days on the road. You don’t have so much as a blemish. In all my days of beautysculpting, I’ve never come across a woman who doesn’t need a single little tweak. You were always beautiful, but now…well, what have they been feeding you in Volkany?”
She lifts a teasing corner of her mouth, but her eyes don’t jest, and I quickly look away from her reflection.
She can tell I’m different.
I smooth my hands down the long sleeves; grateful the dress hides most of my fey lines.
Just in case I slip and drop my glamour.
I clear my throat. “What was it you were so anxious to show me?”
“Oh!” Suri says. “Come. Quietly. We have it trapped in the Castlekeep’s office.”
“It…” I repeat. “…trapped?”
Ferra throws open the door, peering down the hallway before signaling to us. We pass a few guards, but they seem too distracted by the dinner bell to pay us much attention.
Suri leads the way through locked servant passages, her official keyring jangling, and we climb a level and then come out on a higher floor. The word MERCY is inlaid in mosaic ceramic tiles in the floor.
“Like all the ancient fae castles,” she explains, motioning to the mosaic, “Hekkelveld Castle is shaped like a star. The towers at each of the five points are named after human values. This is Mercy Tower. The others are Charity, Wisdom, Honor, and Faith. Though you’d be hard-pressed to find much of those values in Old Coros right now. At least, not beyond the castle gates, where the Sentinels are turning the streets to ruin.”
“In Drahallen Hall…” I start, my throat tightening at the memory. “The five towers are named after ancient monoceroses, and they’re built like long, thin wings that stretch out to form the star’s points.”
Suri throws me a concerned look over her shoulder. “It must have been so terrible for you there.”
“Oh, actually—” I stop myself from contradicting her, from telling her about the beautiful gardens, the incredible fae wildlife, the sinfully decadent parties. Instead, I swallow back so much I want to say to them and nod.
We reach a stately wooden door that Suri unlocks with one of the jangling keys. She opens it into a small office, packed with boxes and overflowing stacks of papers. Books line one of the walls. Unruly stacks of papers and scrolls cover the desk.
“The previous Castlekeep kept terrible records.” Suri indicates the piles. “It’s been absolute chaos trying to sort it all out. But anyway, this is what we wanted to show you.”
She stops at a wooden trunk that’s secured with a heavy iron padlock. Suspicious air holes are drilled in the side.
My fey lines shiver beneath my skin, cold and insistent. I clamp a hand over one velvet sleeve, tugging the cuffs further down.
Suri unlocks the trunk, one lip nervously pinned between her lips. She glances at Ferra. “Ready?”
To my surprise, Ferra has produced a butterfly net from somewhere and now brandishes it like a weapon. “Ready.”
Everything is happening so fast that I can only sputter for them to wait, to explain everything to me first, but Suri’s already opening the lid.
I brace myself against whatever’s inside that trunk, thinking of Beneveto’s terrible, hungry corpse staggering out of Tòrr’s cage.
“Wait—” I start, too late, taking a step back as my heart shoots into my throat.
A puffy head pops out of the trunk.
Its fur is a glossy silver blue. Its purple tongue lolls to one side as it happily pants.
“Plume?” I cry in surprise. “Plume!”
Both Suri and Ferra whip around at my voice.
