“Because I scaled the west tower of his manor following a cat along a ledge, and when he ordered me down, I landed on his toes and broke two of them.”
“And?”
“I healed them. It was the first time I’d healed anyone.”
“Very good,” she said. “When you see him, embrace him tightly and seem overcome. He was quite fond of you. Apologize for making him suffer your loss, but make clear that it was the Radiant’s wish and you could not refuse her.”
“How will I know him?” he asked.
“I’m sorry to say I haven’t seen him in many years,” she replied. “When we exit, you will go first, then step to the side and offer your hand to Magda, and then to me. You will follow behind us, but never more than two steps. Always to Magda’s right. I will greet the elders first, then Magda. I will do my best to draw your attention to Toryn as soon as possible.”
Kaelan frowned. “I’ll be happier when all of this deception is done.”
“Then you may as well flee the Lands now, my boy,” Flor said. “Here, the deceptions are never done.”
The carriage rocked to a halt.
Magda’s stomach hardened like molten ore plunged into tempering waters.
“And so it begins,” Flor said softly.
The coachman opened the door. Beyond, a line of seven elders waited in a garden courtyard. Kaelan disembarked first.
Flor grabbed Magda’s arm, squeezing. “Now is your time, Magdalena. Seize it.”
She gave Flor a curt nod, not because she agreed, but because it was what Flor seemed to expect. From this moment onward, she would do what was expected.
Once, she had considered herself quite adept at sussing out the motivations of various players in any given room, but it had been so easy to leave it behind when she’d gone into exile. Freeing.
She stepped out of the carriage and surveyed the line of elders, faces she knew, though they had been etched and steeled with age. In that moment, she saw the Spire and the districts within for what they were—dungeons. A jail in which there were no guards, only prisoners.
The gateyard was closed on all sides, by the wall to the east, the stables to the north, the guard barracks to the south, and the ivy-covered garden wall to the west, which was shared with the compound proper.
She stepped aside to allow Flor to approach. The elders watched her with expressions that she read little into.
Flor greeted each of the elders in turn, making a point of grasping the stony-faced man with the pale eyes and hawkish brow with both of her hands. This was Toryn. Magda had vague recollections of him as being a jovial fellow, in spite of the august air he now presented in his slate-gray cloak, his lips thin and ash-hued.
She bowed to each of the elders, down the line. Some she knew better than others. Even their false expressions were subtle, like emotion squeezed from stone.
Then it was Kaelan’s turn. He received a slightly more open inspection. Some of the surprise expressed was surely genuine. When he reached Toryn, he teared up and grasped the man in a hard embrace.
Toryn’s eyes widened and he remained stiff. The other elders murmured to each other.
She stood beside Flor at the end of the line of elders, attempting to keep her face impassive even as she worried for Kaelan. Maybe this had all been a huge mistake. Whatever she needed to do for the Lands, surely it wasn’t worth risking Kaelan’s safety in such a bold way.
But then, Toryn gripped Kaelan hard in return.
“I never thought it possible,” he said, tears breaking into his pale eyes.
Flor wrapped her arm around Magda’s shoulders, sniffling. But Magda knew she wasn’t emotional over the reunion, it was all a ruse.
And so it began.
Through the garden gate was a courtyard as large as one of those football fields in the mortal world. At each end, narrow stone houses glared across the flowering tree tops at each other—four on each side. The main hall, where the round tower sat, was its own compound and stretched the length of the garden, dominating all.
Toryn had taken it upon himself, hand never leaving Kaelan’s shoulder, to guide them to their residence—Southterrace House. Distinguished by the ivy that had been allowed to overtake its exterior, numerous balconies bulged from the leaf-laved façade like buds about to bloom.
Requisition of the houses among the family was always a point of contention and the rules governing which family members could reside where at any given time were so obtuse that Magda recalled her mother complaining vociferously about the matter more than once. Only the Radiant and her retinue were allowed to reside at Stonerise proper. The rest of the family was left to squabble over the remaining residences.
