“You must.” He pauses, his tone grim. “They’re coming for your magic, Callyn. They’re too close. Your presence here endangers the queen.”
“No,” I say. “She endangers herself.” Maybe this isn’t my secret to tell, but all of this has gotten too big, and I can’t carry it by myselfanymore. My voice hitches, but I square my shoulders. “If they’re coming for anyone with magic, she’s at risk, too.”
Alek goes absolutely still. Nora gasps and slaps a hand over her mouth.
“So,” I say grimly. “If anyone with magic needs to get out of the palace, we need to bring her with us.”
It’s the middle of the night, and I certainly don’t have unfettered access to the queen, so at first, I’m not sure how we’re going to convince her to leave.
Nora says, “What about Nolla Verin?”
I frown. “No.”
She scowls. “She is not the queen’s enemy! You don’t know—”
“No,” Alek says, and his tone is more final. “Youdon’t know, Nora.” He hesitates, his eyes meeting mine. “I don’t know who Karyl is working with, but I am unsure we can trust the queen’s sister. At the very least, she has the strongest motive in the kingdom for usurping her. Perhaps she means well, but too many seeds of doubt have been sown. Of anyone in the palace, she could keep us trapped here most effectively. We’d be lost before we began.”
Nora huffs, then lets out that breath, defeated. But then she screws up her face and says, “Well, what about Sinna?”
I bite my lip and consider that. Wedohave access to the nursery. But Princess Sinna is four years old, and I’m not sure she’s up to sneaking into her mother’s bedroom and convincing her to leave.
Then again, she’s the only option we have. The guards aren’t going to let me in. And Alek may have access to the palace, but they’re not even going to lethimin.
But they’ll let her daughter in.
When I creep into the nursery, I murmur to the guard that Sinna was having difficulty falling asleep earlier, and I want to check on her. Once I’m inside, I ease onto the little girl’s bed and rub her back.
She sits up at once, nearly clocking me in the face.
“Cally- cal!” she says brightly. “Is it time to play?” Without waiting for an answer, she squints at the window. “But it’s still so dark. You always tell me we can’t play until I can see the sun. Is this a game—”
“Yes!” I say desperately. “Yes, it’s a new game.”
She twists up her face. “How do we play in the dark?”
“You need to see if you can find your mama.”
“But that’s aneasygame.”
I try to think quickly. “Oh, but you haven’t heard the best part. You have to convince her to come to my bedroom without the guards knowing. Do you think you can do that?”
Her face lights up. “Oh, yes. I can go through the fireplace.”
“Thefireplace! No, Sinna, you can’ t—”
“But I can! Mama told me she did it once, when she met Da. I’ve done it before! But Mama says only when the hearth is cold. Watch.”
She throws off the bedclothes and scurries to the stone hearth, whichiscold at this time of year. At first, I have no idea what she means, but then she crawls right past the grating and into the embers scattered along the stone.
“Sinna!” I hiss— just before she disappears.
I dart after her, but I can’t see how she evendidthat— or where she went. I put my hands on the stone and lean in, but it’s too dark.
“Sinna,” I call again, but I’m met with absolute silence. “Sinna.”
Nothing.
I ease onto the ledge of the hearth, feeling the grit of ash and soot under my knees.
