“Is there anything you need?” I keep my tone gentle.
She looks over her shoulder. “No, please don’t worry about me. We have bigger plans. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”
Antonia stands. “Come on.”
I rise. “Breakfast tomorrow? Your rooms?”
“I’d like that,” Charlotte agrees.
“I’ll let you know if anything changes, Your Majesty,” the matron says.
“Thank you.” I give her and Charlotte both a smile, then Antonia and I leave the infirmary. I hope that by morning, Charlotte is still speaking to us, and we won’t return to a woman who’s a shell of herself again.
We’re supposed to be researching, but my stomach is a churning twisting pit of anxiety. In addition to worrying about Charlotte, Brevan, and Caiden, I’m also concerned about the mysterious person Nate is trying to find. Is it someone I’ve met or who is part of the court? Are they locked away in a dungeon or hiding somewhere else?
Then there’s the thirteen dead. I wonder if an assassin killed them. Was it the same person who’s after me? Or maybe after Caiden? I want to know why Juliette had the lace around her wrist—the same lace I keep seeing with every attempt at my life. What if Juliette was the killer?
The ravens return to my memory, the finger…the lace…Whoever is trying to kill me is missing a finger. Juliette had all of hers. Where were those ravens to help that night? The only one around was—my throat tightens—Juliette.
I close the book about the ancient ruins of Nubari I was supposed to be reading.
“Everything alright?” Antonia asks.
“I’m not sure if anything I’m doing is helping,” I admit.
“What do you mean?”
“I came here for a reason but everything’s changed.” There’s so much more I want to say, but I can’t bring myself to speakabout them lest they become real. “What am I doing here? How do we begin to fix all of this?”
“Well, we know the poison that was left for you came from the Shatterlands, and so did those relics that triggered your magic. Instead of trying to find everything, we focus on one question, then move on to the next,” she suggests.
I take a deep breath. I’m trying to solve all my problems at once. “That’s much better than trying to read for anything that stands out. Having a goal will help.”
“What do you want me to search for, and what do you want to look for?” she asks.
The door creaks as someone pushes it open, and we both look up as Genevieve walks into the library.
“I came as soon as I heard. The matron said you two left, and Charlotte was asleep. What happened? The guards said she was injured.” She crosses over to us, then takes a seat on the opposite side of the table from where Antonia and I are sitting.
“I accidentally used magic,” I say.
“I didn’t know you were manifesting already,” she says. “Was that the first time?”
Brevan’s face flashes in my mind and I feel my cheeks heat. “No, but it was never violent. That was new.”
“You might need to consider finding a teacher,” Antonia suggests gently.
“I know.” The only person I know with that kind of magic is the last person I want to ask for help. And for all I know, he could be dead.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Genevieve gives me a sympathetic look. “Was anyone else hurt?”
“No.” I wish it had been me instead.
“The matron says she’ll recover quickly,” Antonia offers.
“That’s good news, at least.” She reaches for one of the books and drags it in front of her, then wipes the dust from the cover.Her brow furrows when she reads the title:Duneport and Topaz Harbor: Merchants, Trade, and Piracy.
“Did I miss something? Are we going on a ship?” She shows the book cover to us.
