Lucette leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “And she just... moved in?”
“Weeks later,” Calder confirmed, the lie smooth as honey. “Showed up with a bag and a chess set. Said she’d pay double if we didn’t ask questions.”
“Which you didn’t?” Wickett asked, tilting his head, a lock of long brown hair falling across his brow.
I shrugged. “Around here? Nobody asks questions if there’s enough coin. We needed help with rent.”
Pip picked up a small jade rune, examining it with those oversized eyes. “The Circle probably knows about her.” She brought the jade stone to her mouth, tried to bite it, made a face, and dropped it back on the table. “Mostly, we can’t talk about other people’s business. Sacred trust and all. If I told you what messages I carried, I might be cast out. But sometimes there are loopholes. Someone might know something.”
My pulse quickened. Finding the red-haired sprite that summoned Vitoria was next on my list.
“That’s not helpful if they won’t talk,” Lucette said.
“Well, no, but sometimes sprites gossip about their own observations. Things they’ve seen that weren’t part of official messages.” Pip sorted more stones, creating little rainbow piles. “Like how I noticed Mrs. Deliana’s cat isn’t really a cat, but I’d never tell anyone about the messages I take to her shop.”
“Her cat?” Wickett asked as Silas crept out from a corner shadow.
“You didn’t notice the cat? But you’re so observant,” she said, and, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was mocking him. “He’s definitely something else. He walks weirdly. But that’s just my observation, not business.”
The conversation continued, but I turned toward the window. Vitoria had stood here so many times these last few weeks, staring out at nothing. Or what I’d thought was nothing. Had she been watching for someone? She’d been so paranoid. What did she know?
My fingers found the half-melted candle on the sill, and I lifted it absently, lost in memory. Tor’s parents were candlemakers, so we’d always had plenty. She said they reminded her of home, though she never talked about the night they were all murdered by hunters. A story that most of us had in our past and chose not to talk about.
Behind me, Calder was explaining to Pip that sorting runes by color instead of use was pointless, while Lucette asked pointed questions about each one. Wickett had gone silent, but I could feel his presence, that particular weight of his attention even when he wasn’t looking.
The candle’s wick flickered to life.
Just for a heartbeat, a tiny flame that danced and died before I could even gasp.
Vitoria.
She must have been able to see me. Keeping my heart and breath as steady as I could, I stared out into the rain-soaked night, begging her to step into view.But there was nothing, of course, only that tiny flame. Standing with the other Venatori in our home, there was no doubt she knew Calder and I were bound to hunt her.
“Find anything interesting?” Wickett’s voice came from directly behind me.
I set the candle down carefully. “Just remembering. She used to stand here for hours.”
“Looking for what?”
I turned to face him, letting him see the genuine confusion on my face. “I never knew. Whatever she was watching for, it never seemed to appear. Or maybe it did—and that’s why she did what she did.”
He studied me for a long moment, and I wondered if he could smell the smoke too. But then Pip shrieked with delight, having found a particularly sparkly quartz rune, and the moment broke.
“We should go,” Wickett announced. “Back to Chancellery House. It’s getting late, and I’ll be sending the hunters through for another search, anyway.”
“May I join them? Just to be sure nothing is missed?” Lucette asked.
Silas stepped toward me, hackles raised.
Lucette cocked her head to the side, staring at him. “You might want to rein in your ‘not familiar’. He looks irritated.”
“I think that’s just his face,” Pip said, adjusting one of the buns on her head as she flew toward the door. “He’s grumpy.”
As we gathered to leave, I paused as if I’d just had a brilliant idea. “Wait. Pip, I need to ask you something.”
Everyone turned to look at me.
“The red-haired sprite who used to come here. Could you find him through the Circle?”
