I would just have to mask a question as an observation. “I saw Rosaline around the palace. How strange to see her away from Fraleigh.”
Daigen chuckled. “Ah, so you realized that there are more cogs in my machination than just you and I.” He lifted himself off the balcony’s edge and faced me fully. “Never mind about Rosaline. Seems like you have enough to…handle as is.”
His gaze flicked into the bedroom.
My nails pinched my arms as his barb lodged under my skin. “I have less than two weeks to get into Derrick’s mind and force him to release Fraleigh. I thought you of all people would understand the need to doanythingto help someone you lost.”
“Oh, I understand.” Daigen flashed a smile that was anything but friendly. “In fact, I am only here to give you some…validation. Following your heart’s desire has worked, hasn’t it?
I blinked in disbelief. The last thing I ever thought Daigen would give me was validation.
Daigen turned to Endre. “Your parents did not praise you often did they?”
Endre shook his head.
Daigen muttered something in Old Tongue and then turned back to me. “You know what you have to do?”
I gripped my arms. “I slay the monster in Derrick’s mind, then I get him to release the collar.”
A satisfied smile crawled up his lips. “Good, keep getting close to him.”
He leaned against the railing and cocked an eyebrow. “Your other bird-brother is fine, by the way. Just focus on the new Alastar.” He waved his hand toward the darkened bedchamber. “The answers are all around you,Litlnadr.”
He casually leaned back over the railing, his dark cloak enveloping him so he disappeared into the night. Endre flew off his perch and followed him.
The faint sound of footsteps pounding toward the doorway hit my ears. I stepped inside and locked the balcony doors just as Derrick burst into the room, the crown of Lycaster on his head and his Hyton Blue cape flying behind him.
I quickly stepped away from the doors. “How was your portrait sitting?”
His mouth hardened into a fine line as he removed his crown. “Never happened.”
He flung the crown on a nearby table before unclasping his cape.
I eyed him with suspicion as he undressed. “But Derrick, you have to sit for your coronation portrait!”
He released his cape and started to unbutton his doublet. “That is what Brietta said. She argued with me fortwo hours.”
Derrick threw off his doublet and crossed over to the northern side of the room.
“I looked too much likehim.” He stopped in front of the wall and ran his fingers through the roots of his hair. “Fuck, I need to cool down.”
Derrick twisted an iron sconce on the wall and a panel opened. He pulled off his linen shirt as he crossed the doorway into the darkness.
No…it was not just darkness. The cerulean glow emitting from the chamber was too familiar.
Splash.
Curiosity overtook me and I stepped into the darkened chamber. My bare feet met tile. My eyes adjusted to the low light and then they widened—the secret chamber held nothing but a rectangular pool. The subtle glow came from rocks that were submerged beneath the water and embedded into the pool’s walls. No…not rocks, Nordingaard crystals.
Derrick emerged from the surface of the water and rested on the side of the pool. “This is the one good part of having to stay in this awful bedchamber. Incredible, right?”
Incredible was not the word I would have chosen for a secret trove of dozens of illegal crystals. I could lose my head just for owning one, but the Hytons bathed in them.
Derrick dragged his wet curls out of his face. “This pool has water from the legendary healing spring on Nordingaard. Not sure if it actually does any healing, but it stops me from wanting to light something on fire.”
I held my breath. Derrick was swimming in thousands of the Man of the Mountain’s tears. If the healing spring had taken me into Riyan’s worst memories before I even had the gift of sorcery, all that magic could certainly break down the doors of a paper castle.
Daigen was right again. The answers wereindeedall around me.
