Annalisa said nothing as she walked to the portrait. Her eyes watered as she gently touched the canvas, her fingertips tracing her grandmother’s young and flawless face, then her mythically-long hair.
She turned to me and the familiar hardness in her eyes had returned. “Do you see any answers?”
I scanned the portrait and my eyes settled on the large diamond around her neck. Just as Brietta had said, a diamond that large and colorful would have been abhorrently expensive, even for such a prized bride.
Maybe because it was not actually a diamond…
I swept the room with my magic and a flash of white caught my eye. White light flowed out of the thin seams of a black box on one of the tables.
The velvety box caressed my palms as I opened it and I finally let myself smile—Ilsa’s necklace was a Nordingaard crystal.
My magic poured into the crystal as I searched for memories trapped inside the facets. A sweet humming echoed in my mind and my palms tingled where they touched the crystal.
I was almost in…
“People are coming!” Merri hissed through the portrait hole.
I quieted the light from the crystal and dropped the heavy necklace beneath my bodice.
Annalisa and I hurried back through the portrait. We quietly snuck through the walls, following Merri’s lead.
I chewed on my thumb until I broke skin, leaving little drops of blood on the stone walls as we walked.
I should have been marking the inner labyrinth more, but at least I had a way to get back to Ilsa’s vault if I needed more clues.
The sky was a light periwinkle as we stepped out into the courtyard. Even the fresh dew on the grass could not mask the smoky smell that hung in the air.
“Where is she?” an angry voice shouted.
If I had not been looking at Annalisa, I would have missed the flinch that preceded the wide smile. “Grigory!”
I furrowed my brows. Why would she flinch?
Golden-haired Grigory shoved through the crowd, but his dark eyes lit up when he saw Annalisa. His grey traveling cloak fluttered as he spread his arms wide. “There you are, precious!”
Annalisa crashed into his embrace harder than Grigory expected and threw off his balance.
“Watch it,” Grigory snapped as he caught himself. “You know that’s my bad leg.”
Annalisa drew up her shoulders sheepishly. “Sorry, sorry. I just missed you.”
He gave her a half smile and then kissed her cheek. “I hear we are clear to go back into the palace.” He tugged her waist tightly against his chest. “After I am done with you, I need to find that brother of yours for a little conversation.”
Annalisa’s cheeks flushed and she did not argue. He turned with her and they joined the crowd of maids and servants who sleepily walked back into the palace.
I quietly kept a few paces behind them as they ascended the palace steps. Grigory missed a step and lost his balance. He caught himself by bracing against Annalisa, but his quiver tipped and a single arrow slid out onto the palace steps.
I was not familiar with too many arrows, but I had never seen one that was black as Death on the sharp tip.
Before I could pick up the arrow, it snapped under the lead foot of a sleepy servant. The black-stained arrowhead skidded down the stairs and was lost in the crowd.
The question of where Grigory had been weighed on my mind, but Ilsa’s crystal weighed heavier on the center of my chest.
The full moon was in two nights—whatever memories were inside Derrick’s crystal would be my last chance at healing Derrick so I could free Fraleigh.
The fate of Derrick’s mind and Riyan’s life weighed on my shoulders. I could not fail.
Murdered in his bed is what I had grown up hearing.
