Astra went still.
Not was.
Is.
Then Quill said, “Walk.”
We followed her down the white corridor, four named Marks under Tower notice, toward the room Delphine Moreau had walked through the day she disappeared.
Being named meant I was close enough to see what they tried to hide next.
48
The west antechamber had none of the grandeur I had expected from a room people disappeared through.
I’d expected a room built for ceremony. High ceiling. Polished chairs. A basin waiting in the center like a threat pretending to be furniture.
Instead, there were four wooden benches bolted to the walls, one narrow table, one covered lamp, and a door on the far side with no handle.
The door we entered through had a handle.
The other did not.
That seemed important.
The stewards put us inside and stayed in thecorridor. Quill remained outside with them. So did Linden. I heard their voices lower as the door shut, and then the lock turned.
For three breaths, none of us moved.
Caspian stood nearest the door we had entered through. Kieran stayed by the left wall, his right shoulder still bleeding green magic through his coat. Once, when he shifted his weight, the color left his mouth before he found a smile and put it back. Hale stood near the far door without touching it.
I stood in the middle of the room and looked at the benches.
“Delphine was here,” I said.
Every gaze went, in its own way, to the far door.
Caspian’s jaw set. Kieran’s forced smile vanished. Hale had already been looking there, which told me he had been thinking about it before I said her name.
Caspian came to my side. The bond between us had gone quieter since we left the hall, but quieter was not gone. It sat under my skin with the steady pressure of his attention.
Kieran glanced at the far door.
“If this is an antechamber,” he said, “I dislike what it is before.”
“The Tower,” Hale said.
The word made the room colder.
Kieran glanced at him. “You could have lied for morale.”
“Not helpful in this situation.”
“Briefly. As a gift.”
Hale looked at the door without a handle. “No.”
Kieran sighed. “The instructors at this school are terrible at consolation.”
