Inside the incubation room, the heat was like a wall. Syris wasstanding, stock-still, a drawn expression on her features as she stared at the remaining eggs.
“Here,” Tarkosh murmured, gesturing to three of the alcoves carved into the stone walls. Starstone was still at the base of each small nest, where eggs would’ve been nestled. “Three Rythbacks are gone. Three satchels were taken,” she said, gesturing to a black, open cabinet. “And this…”
She went over to one of the alcoves and plucked something from the starstone. She quickly moved it between her hands, likely hot from the stones.
I held out my hand, a sharp spear of rage going right through me.
When Tarkosh dropped the object into my palm, it was still glowing red. A fire gem, she’d called it. A precious gift from her parents.
She’d left it here.
To…gloat? To stamp her mark on her crime?
Or…was it something else?
“I didn’t even know she was here,” Tarkosh said quietly, her voice bubbled up with something I recognized as…grief. Because she’d trusted Amaia too. And this betrayal would cut all of them deeply.
“She came here late in the night. To sleep,” I answered, my voice sounding hollow, trying to make sense of it all.
Syris was crying, and through her sniffles, she said, “I don’t believe she would do this,Karath. I just don’t believe it.”
“People can surprise you with what they’re capable of,” I answered woodenly. “With what they hide.”
I’d experienced it plenty of times. Too many.
It all made sense. It was why she’d made me promise not to use my magic on her. Because she knew she couldn’t hide her true intentions for long. I just wanted to knowwhy. I just wanted to know ifthishad been the plan all along. To steal the eggs.
Because there was a part of me that echoed and felt Syris’s words.
The Amaia I’d thought I’d known…she wouldn’t have been capable of this.
“But why would she take the Rythbacks?” Syris asked, turning to Tarkosh, her expression almost pleading. “It doesn’t make sense. The Redback is ten times more valuable. She would’ve known that.”
I stared down at the pendant.
No.
Something was wrong. I knew how much this pendant meant to her. She’d never taken it off. Not once. I knew that it was her most cherished possession. So why would she leave it here?
“How was she capable of carrying out three satchels, packed with starstoneandeggs?” Myzalla asked. “She’s strong, but she’s not that strong.”
“She had help,” I answered. “Ryak. Nevin.” My head snapped up. “Where’s Brune?”
Myzalla said, “I’ll go see if he’s with Ethrisha.”
“Go,” I murmured. I turned my gaze to Tarkosh. “Was anything else out of the ordinary this morning?”
“The door to the courtyard,” Syris murmured for her hatchery master. “It was unlocked this morning when I woke up. I bolted it myself last night. I know I did.”
“Let me see.”
So Amaia had left through the courtyard, over the wall. Still, each satchel, loaded down…it wouldn’t be easy.
Which meant they couldn’t have gotten far.
Outside in the courtyard, the cool morning felt icy with the storm coming. Sarkin had warned me that the system was moving east from Elysom. They’d gotten caught in it as they’d departed the capital.
Ny’am Mountain greeted us through the canopy of the trees planted back here. I walked down the length of stone pavers,looking for anything that might give me more insight into what happened last night.
