Chapter 1
MARIETTA
The brass ring in the lion’s mouth glimmered in the faint light of the gas lamps. Fierce yellow eyes surveyed me from above the enchanted loop, questioning my nerve. My trembling fingers curled around the cold metal and rapped it against the plate.
The brisk night air sliced across my spell-bare skin, sharp enough to cut. I secured my loathed new gossamer shawl more tightly and pressed my ear to the door.
Only the soft, smoky sweetness of nightmoth tallow drifted from the seams of the frame.
I looked into the lion’s eyes, then rapped the knocker once more.
Silence swallowed the night. Only the shifting breeze answered my despair. Would this be the end of my search—an empty hall and no one at home? Another closed door? The last seal on Kennen’s coffin?
No. I couldn’t think that way.
A faint trembling shook me. Nerves and stress and fear. I hadn’t slept in days. Hadn’t eaten a real meal in twice that time. My older brother’s insistence that the gilded not see our steady financial decline had turned precious gold pieces into box seats at the werewolf races for Ferris, gryphon-hide boots for Kennen, and a moonspider-spun shawl for me.
Utter stupidity.
And yet had I just kept my mouth shut for once and not argued, our yelling wouldn’t have caused Kennen to flee the house. Keeping quiet—yet another spell I failed to master.
The trembling grew worse. I had to hold it together. My fingers slipped on the metal.
A broken rhythm—footsteps, a pause, the heavy clack of a man’s boots against a marble floor—made my heart lurch. I straightened and pressed my chest to still the frantic beat.
Sound ceased on the other side of the oak frame.
Please, open the door.
I had nowhere else to go. Every other door had closed.
The oak swung without a sound, nary a creak. I squinted in the sudden brilliance.
A large man leaned against the door frame, bright light from the hall backlighting him into shadow. “Yes?”
I hadn’t expected pleasantries. No respectable woman would be calling at this hour of the night. A reputable person would have sent a note in the morning to set up a meeting. But I couldn’t afford to wait that long—I’d never avoid the mobs during the daylight hours. And the talk of a mage who might be able to help my brother had given me a thread of hope that I couldn’t allow sleep to break.
“I need to speak to Gabriel Noble.”
The man looked past me, scanning the street, his features lost in shadow. “An odd time to be calling in Ember Square for spiritblossom tea.”
I attempted a smile. “It is urgent that I speak with Master Noble—MasterFirstNoble. Please.”
“He isn’t takingvisitorsthis time of night. Return in the morning.” He didn’t move from the frame, but his arms dropped from the cross of his chest.
Defiance had carried me through years of closed doors and cold shoulders. Hope in a future I hadn’t yet reached had been so fierce that I’d thought I could survive on it alone. The constant ache in my belly, the sleepless nights, and Kennen’s fate had shattered that illusion.
“Please.” I fumbled for the card I’d been given. “I can’t return in the morning. Please.” I thrust the card forward.
Shadowed eyes surveyed me for five heart-stopping beats.
Lean fingers reached forward. I released the card with reluctance. He gave it a cursory glance before flipping it over and between his fingers. My stomach dropped as the card traveled across his knuckles to his smallest finger before weaving its way back.
That card represented my brother’slife. His eyes pierced the darkness between us, daring me for a response.
I set my jaw, tilted my chin up. Defiance might not feed me, but it could still hold me upright. I would not retreat.
Something changed in his posture, though I couldn’t pinpoint what it was in the dark. He stepped back. I ducked inside.
