Meleri straightened her shoulders, chilled despite the warm evening air, and made her way back to the main crowd scattered throughout the garden. She was mindful of where she placed her cane as she made her way back to where her children stood. Spellwork was carved on the inside, protection against mind magic and other threats in company such as this.
Which was all for the best, considering who glided out of the crowd like a ghost, all sharp-eyed and knifelike smile.
“Were the gardens to your liking, Your Grace?” Terilyn asked.
Meleri had spent years learning to mask her true feelings and emotions. Not even a purported Blade could carve the truth out of her on a night like this. She held faith in the North Star and the prayers Aaralyn answered.
“They’re different from the ones I walked as a child,” Meleri said.
“My lady remembers the ones you speak of. She quite prefers the flowers that bloom today.”
“It’s a blessing to have the princess with us.”
She meant what she said, even if it wasn’t about the woman Terilyn served. Words were a game Meleri had played since she was a child learning to speak them. They were a weapon in their own way, and Meleri wielded them with the skill of a professional.
Terilyn studied her without giving anything away before finally stepping aside, allowing Meleri to pass her. Meleri continued on her way down the garden path, cognizant of the threat she left behind.
Her children must have been keeping an eye out for her, because Dureau suddenly appeared by her side, offering his elbow. “Mother.”
Meleri took the offer of support with an easy smile. “Thank you, my dear.”
“That’s some company you were keeping.”
She thought of Aaralyn in the garden and the Blade in the path and could only agree.
Nine
BLAINE
Blaine was in Meleri’s study in the private wing of the Auclair estate when Lore swept into the room. He straightened up from where he’d been bent over copies of the inventor’s blueprints, hearing his spine crack a bit from the motion. His shoulders felt tight, and he rolled them a few times to loosen the muscles.
Lore cleared her throat. “I need an escort.”
Blaine rubbed at the bridge of his nose, sighing irritably. “You have a brother.”
“He’s busy. You’ll do in his stead.” Lore came around to stand by the writing desk, reaching out to touch the corner of one of the blueprints. “Information has come in from a cog about strange goings-on at an apothecary in the southwest of Amari.”
Blaine shifted on the chair so he could better see her. “Your mother wants my report on this death-defying machine sooner rather than later. Rumors won’t help with that.”
“The apothecary may be important. Word is people go in, but they do not come out.”
“Perhaps it is over a catacomb entrance.”
“We’ve checked the map. It’s not.”
Blaine leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “If it’s as dangerous as you make it sound, you shouldn’t be going. Send a different group of cogs. Make sure one of them is a magician.”
“With the princess present, and her Blade, my cogs are leery about moving. I told Mother I’d handle it. We’ll have veils to limit identification.”
“We?”
Lore grimaced. “The information came from a cog linked to Caris’ chain, some university student still attending the School of Engineering a year behind her.”
Blaine’s mouth tightened into a hard line, not liking where this was going at all. “I don’t care where the information came from. Caris shouldn’t be helping you surveil any place in the city you think might be connected to the death-defying machine.”
“She’s insisting she joins me, or she goes on her own. What would you have me do?”
“Lock her in her bedroom, if need be. Veils won’t save either of you from a bullet. Give her a mission if she wants, just not this one.”
