“It would be easier to show you. Personally. Being as he’s at the manor.”
Behind them, Mistress Lefroy tied her boot with irritated yanks.
“You won’t need to investigate the poisoner?”
“That’s more Silas’s expertise.” His hand left Lux. “For what it’s worth, it’s rare for a brilliance to be broken.”
Lux wedged the knife back against her waist, her pots and vials clinking. “I didn’t realize your manor was open to visitors.”
Corvin caught the sachet of bat wings before it plummeted. He placed it within her mortar. “Once a year on Hallowed Day’s Eve and by invitation only. I’d gift you one officially, but it seems your hands are already full. The Hallowed Banquet brings in the most influential and powerful minds; you’re welcome to attend it as well. Consider it an appreciation for all you’ve done here tonight.”
There it was. The honey atop the teacake.
Her despair dwindled in wake of what he offered. A chance to fix what she’d broken… Powerful people who, in her seventeen years of experience, were often corrupt…
And the sea.
But she would have to be strategic. She might even have to be…charming. Lux glanced at Silas and found his hands folded as Mistress Lefroy’s had been—and were now again. They murmured together, words she couldn’t quite understand. There was something about him. The way he bent over the woman beside him. He’d been about to entomb her, he’d said. But where?
If it weren’t for the fact that her body felt as if it held lightning inside it, Lux might have sat longer with these questions, but she could feel the opportunity Corvin presented like a freshly laid road. She could do this. She’d managed the Light in Ghadra on enough occasions and had even attended a masquerade with only minor mishaps. She could pretend to fit amongst this great manor, with its prayers and bookwork and renowned banquet of important people. Just for a short while.
But Corvin must have grown unsettled by her silence, as he said, “If this doesn’t work into whatever plans you have for yourself, I understand. My invitation remains open indefinitely.” He leaned in. “But my carriage leaves in the morning.”
Lux stilled her tapping foot at once. “What time?”
Chapter eleven
Luxhadsleptfitfully.While tiredness eventually came upon her, it was thoughts of Ghadra that kept her awake. Specifically, those whom she’d left behind inside of it. In the end, she’d dreamt of Riselda. Or rather, the tree into which the woman had been swallowed. She dreamt of the last time she stood before it. The day she’d left.
“You were right. I can revive more than the dead.” Her eyes tracked up the massive trunk until she reached the silver-veined leaves. “How did you know? I wish you would have told me everything.”
Outside the inn, Lux yawned and Corvin dipped his head toward her.
“Did you not sleep well?”
“No,” said Lux, prodding at the purple splotches beneath her eyes. “Too many thoughts, and most of them contradictory.”
The collector hummed his understanding. “I remember that feeling.”
“How did you fix it?”
“By finally realizing my place in this world.” He grinned at her. “It took a while.”
Lux pulled her gaze away. She breathed deeply the scents of wet, growing things as she stared at the forest town. Realize her place in the world? Where did someone even begin? In Ghadra, every day felt like wading through a slog of marsh mud. Each one had been the same as the terrible day before; she’d been stuck fast. Now, here in the expansive world, she felt unmoored. How could anyone make the correct choice when there were so many choices to be had?
As if summoned by her thoughts, a black carriage rolled to a stop before them. Identical twin lanterns hung lit from either side, and the driver in front was dressed all in rich black, a wide-brimmed hat low over his brow.Being in the business of preserving old things must be lucrative,she decided, crossing her stained, yellow sleeves.
The one problem with colored silk, she supposed. It did not travel well.
When the second carriage ambled up behind it, Lux tucked her face away from its driver. She couldn’t have her plans ruined now if he were to recognize her from Loxlen. Silas seemed a suspicious sort; he’d likely make sure she was entombed next.
This is the correct decision. It must be.And if it wasn’t, well…she would be no worse off than now. Maybe she would still be better, because traveling to Mothlock meant traveling to the sea.
Corvin stepped forward and lifted the latch. He pulled the door open and gestured. “After you.”
This time, she acquiesced and climbed in.
Only, the collector hadn’t but placed one boot on the stair when a shouted, “Wait!” stilled his next step.
