Imogen stuffed the petals back into her pocket with a sigh. “I should probably spare you the breath, Ade. Iknow.Your father told me.”
Adeline froze, stiffening against the wave of sickly anger that tugged at her belly. She didn’t want to be angry with him—if she let that anger in, she’d have to feel other things too. Things that might cloud her judgment.
Even so, she couldn’t suppress the fleeting thought:Whodidn’the tell?
Something of that struggle must have played over her face, because Imogen’s softened.
“He was trying to keep you out of harm’s way. He just wanted you to be safe.”
Adeline swallowed the lump in her throat. “And what doyouwant, Imogen?”
For a long moment, Imogen seemed stuck for words. Finally, she seemed to decide there were no words to explain why she was here. Instead, she reached into the neckline of her dress; it was a higher collar than she generally wore or even designed, made of delicate lace similar to the styles that Avette seemed to favour. But when Imogen withdrew a long, age-dulled chain, Adeline wondered if the dress served a purpose beyond flattering their new queen.
Because there, gleaming where it hung from Imogen’s hand, was Kai’s Adhlian pendant. Adeline stared wordlessly from the green glow to the clever glint it cast against her friend’s dark eyes.
“What I want,” said Imogen, “is to help.”
Chapter Thirty
Kai
Beginning tomorrow, his note read.Be ready.
We have very little else going on,came the instant reply.
I was going to wash my hair actually,came the next.
And;We will. Be safe.
There was a heavy ink dot between the two sentences of that last note, and the hesitance of it gave Kai pause too. He did not tuck the conch away as he normally would. Even in the thick of a dry and unending headache, he could read the significance, Oswalt caring enough to tack on those two curt but careful words. Wishing for his safety, just as he wished for theirs. Perhaps it was wishful thinking. It was enough, either way, forhim to feed another anonymous scrap into the glossy mouth of the conch.
I’m sorry,he wrote,for all that I said to you. I was wrong.
I know,read the next scrap.
Kai stared at that response for a long moment. Perhaps he’d been wrong, then. He was … unsure. He wasn’t sure of much lately. Couldn’t even say if the roiling in his gut was the usual nauseous hunger, or something less tangible. The burn in his throat could have been bile or bitter regret. He was burying the shell beneath the headboard when a final scrap of paper slid into his hand.
I am sorry, too.
Kai read it once, and again. Read it one final time before his lids grew heavy, and he curled his fist around the words. For reasons his aching head could not untangle, Kai held tight to that note. And though he’d had little more than a cup of broth and a handful of beans in the last two days, he found his stomach was somewhat settled when he finally drifted into his black and empty sleep.
Chapter Thirty-One
Gerard
If Avette were capable of joy, she’d find it in spectacle.
The descent into the Laune was supposed to be a clandestine political manoeuvre. Cloak and dagger, until she got what she wanted and could throw the cloak aside, ready to dazzle them all with her shiny new treasure. The dazzling, it seemed, was already underway. Avette had swanned down to the lakeside at dawn with her personal Gard following like heavily armed ducklings. She was the Saviour today, swathed in the costume and persona so carefully crafted for the public eye. The one she wore when she wanted the world to remember every story they’d ever told about her bleeding heart. Her selfless sacrifice. There was not a soul upon the Laune to see her, yet painted teardrops glittered on her cheeks, and her long, lace train dragged a path in the snow as they rounded the eerily still market with its canvas tents flapping weakly in the ice winds.
And when they arrived at the cordoned off centre of the lake, Avette approached with her arms held high above her head, a ribbon of glittering snowdust swirling around her wrists. Only when every eye was on her, every gard and Wielder in their number watching in expectant silence, did she let her arms drop—and send a blast of Aera’s wind crashing into the laketop.
The ice exploded beneath the force, shards flying, and the ground beneath them shuddering with the impact. Wielders pitched sideways, grappling at one another’s arms and slipping around with the grace of newborn foals as they fought to stay upright. Even Imogen struggled to keep her poise, landing hard on her knees with a rather roughoof.Not that Ger could judge; he’d staggered into his neighbouring gard, and from there every man behind them fell like bowling pins. Only Avette remained upright, standing before the crater with a serene smile and a halo of sparkling ice winds.
A spectacle indeed.
Predictably, the queen grew bored once the shine of her big moment dulled. She left the Wielders with instructions to shift and displace the ice, beginning their tunnel to the heart of the lake. And, having fallen firmly out of favour, Ger was left behind to guard Imogen and her team as they worked.
Benan shot him a snide look as he departed, rubbing his large hands together briskly.
