A faint creak echoed from beyond the door.
Lore turned, a blade in his hand, his stance loose but ready. He laid his hand on my arm, ready to flit us back to our suite.
We waited while our heartbeats ticked on, but no one entered the room, and silence returned.
After a long moment, I crossed the room and knelt beside the toys. The knight doll’s fabric was soft and worn at the edges. Someone had played with this often.
I dropped the doll back on the floor and rose.
Every creak of the floorboards made me freeze. Time was slipping away, and we still had no idea where Laphira kept the talisman or when she might return.
Lore eased into the other room without a word, though he left the door open behind him. I felt him in my mind a second later.This suite is hers. Laphira’s.
I nodded, not surprised. If this was the boy’s room, we’dfind more toys and smaller chairs. Maybe colorful pictures on the walls, not stoic ancestors glaring down their noses.
The sitting area had been furnished in muted shades of gold and rose, and everything was padded or draped in velvet. Very formal. Almost too formal. Who could relax here? It was the kind of room that made you sit with your back straight and your lips sealed. Farris stayed at my side, his tail still, his nose twitching as he sniffed the carpet and furniture.
Leaving me, he padded to the fireplace, gave a low huff, and scratched at the grate.
I clicked my tongue. “Farris,” I whispered, walking over to nudge him with my leg. “Don’t dig. If you get soot on the rug, they’ll suspect someone was here.”
But he went back to it. Scratching. Whining. Looking at me over his shoulder.
I’d be a fool to ignore my nyxin when he was trying to tell me something.
“Do I need to look at something, little guy?” I asked softly, crouching beside him.
I reached for the small shovel tucked in the metal rack to the right of the fireplace and used it to sift gently through the ashes. They flaked apart, slithering, as light as a breath. The edge of something caught my eye. I leaned closer, then used the handle to drag it free. I held it up and shook off the gray residue and turned it this way and that.
I focused my magic and lit my fingertip, directing it at the half-burned scrap of paper. Lowering the shovel to the hearth, I unfolded the paper with care.
Smudged ink and scorched holes made it a challenge to make out, but a few words clung to the center.
…she suspects…danger…don’t let her near the boy…
I found something,I told Lore, reading what I could decipher.
He didn’t answer for a long moment.Someone tried to destroy it.
You think Laphira wrote this?
No matter what, it was meant to burn.
Folding it, I slid it into my pocket.I’ll take it to our room.
Yup.
I stood, brushing off my knees, and after placing the shovel back where I found it, I moved on.
I sorted through a desk with drawers full of paper, dried inkpots, wax seals. Lifting sofa cushions, I prodded the seams. Farris paced with me, his nails muted on the carpet. When I stepped back from the low table, my foot caught on a ripple at the rug's edge.
I ignored it at first but turned back to stare down at it. Everything in this room, other than the few toys on the floor, appeared spotless. Perfect, actually, as if no one lived here. Except the ripple on the edge of the rug.
Maybe it was nothing, but I flipped the end over.
A child’s drawing lay underneath.
Farris came over to sit nearby, tilting his head, his attention fixed on the paper.
