“Yes,” Luna said, blinking slowly. “Very south.”
Sylva’s ears flicked. His gaze turned distant for a heartbeat—the way it did when he was listening past words.
Lucy pointed at Luna like her finger was a deadly weapon. “She’s lying.”
Luna gasped, scandalized. “Excuse me?”
“Your left eyebrow twitched,” Lucy said triumphantly. “Everyone has a tell.”
“It did not—”
“It just did,” Sylva added helpfully.
Luna slapped her hand over her eyebrow.
Lucy stood, slamming her palm on the bar. “If you wanted to mislead us, why pick the prettiest, most postcard road? That’s just sloppy.”
“Sable,” Basil said slowly, eyes narrowed, “why is she misleading us?”
Sable leaned against the stair rail, expression bored in a way that felt practiced. “Because if she tells you the truth outright, you’ll walk straight into it. If you think you outsmarted her, you’ll run.”
Lucy blinked. That was… annoyingly clever.
Luna smiled wider, clearly pleased with herself. “I do like a motivated customer.”
“Customer?” the Baroness choked.
Luna waved a hand. “Metaphor. Mostly.”
Lucy narrowed her eyes, stomach twisting. “So Essie didn’t go south.”
“No,” Basil said, frowning. “The opposite of south is—”
“North,” Sylva said. “Caravans. Travelers. Trouble.” The way he said it wasn’t fear. It was familiarity. Lucy wondered how often he followed paths like this—and who he usually followed them for.
He tilted his head, listening again, and Lucy watched as his ears twitched. Whatever the distortion was, he was tuned to it like a predator.
“She went toward Greyhollow,” Sylva said. “I can smell it on Basil’s reaction too. Not a lie. Fear.”
Lucy’s stomach dropped and steadied with equal force.
Greyhollow.
The place Esther had run off to. The place she'd somehow ended up in, even without trying.
The Baroness squeaked, fan snapping open with military aggression. “Greyhollow? That dreadful, sheep-infested—”
“Yes,” Lucy said, already moving. “Greyhollow.”
Basil cursed under his breath, the kind of curse that had experience behind it.
Lucy paused at the door long enough to look back at Luna. “Why didn’t you just tell us?”
Luna leaned against the bar as if the entire kingdom was her stage. “Because you needed to decide to chase her. Not because Basil asked. Not because I told you. Because you chose it.”
Lucy hated that it worked. She hated it so much.
“Tell Cinnabun I miss her already!” Luna called, cheerful as a bell.
