She sank down until she collided with the floor, her back against the bar. “She was here. Damari was here, and she stole the magic from the coins.”
“But how? I haven’t seen either of the symbols”—his hand rose to touch the one on the back of his neck—“anywhere. Have you?”
She hadn’t, but she already had a sneaking suspicion of why that was. Nes crawled on her hands and knees to the closest felt-covered table. She slid between the stools until she sat directly under the table, then dragged Toran down with her.
She pointed to the underside of the table where the same symbol as the one on the Prime trees had been painted. “She knew our plan. She took the magic and now she’s gone. We missed her.”
“We couldn’t have missed her,” Toran said. His eyes were on the symbol, but his hand gestured to the front door. “The only peopleto walk into the den have been members of the King’s Guard. And they’re all men. The only women in here are the waitresses. Unless she disguised herself as a man…” He frowned. “How did she learn our plan? The only people who knew were you, myself, Quint, Genna, and Suri.”
Nes picked up the fallen feather off the ground, rolling it between her fingers. It twirled for her, a blur of vibrant violet. It was the color of Suri’s uniform.
Suri, who wasn’t working tonight. Suri, who’d insisted on keeping Genna company while Nes and Toran staked out the main floor. Suri, who, several days ago, had made Nes wonder if she’d misplaced her trust yet again.
A year, Suri had said, since leaving her fiancé at the altar. But Suri had only been in Gadore for nine months. It didn’t take three months to travel from Brevna to Gadore. On foot, the trip took one at most. But it could take up to three months to travel from the Wistar Mountains to Orlonea’s capital.
“Shit.”
Clutching the feather, Nes stood. Though the distance between her and the staircase hadn’t changed, it was suddenly too great. Too far away, and she couldn’t reach it fast enough. She raced for the stairs, shoving aside guard after guard. She climbed the stairs two at a time and threw open the door to Suri’s room, expecting to find the space empty.
It wasn’t.
Suri and Genna sat cross-legged on Suri’s bed, knee to knee. Everything she’d been afraid of as she’d come barreling up the stairs vanished, trickling back down the steps to spread among the commotion. Shame spread in its place. She was a terrible friend for thinking—even for a second—that Suri, who’d risked her life and defied Phineas just to prove her loyalty, could be working with Damari.
She glanced between Suri and Genna, her tongue caught behind her teeth.
Suri’s mouth turned, caught between ease and concern. “Everything okay, Nes?”
“The magic is gone.”
Genna frowned. “What do you mean?”
“The gadots you made are disappearing. Those that are left have no detectable magic in them. And we can’t find her. The Witch,” she forced herself to add. Her breath felt as caught as her tongue had been. It snagged in her chest, rattling with her every exhale.
“We’ll help.” Suri stood from the bed. She pointed to Nes’s side. “What’s that in your hand?”
The violet feather was still poised between her fingertips. She’d forgotten about it. A new fear crept in, rejuvenated and holding fast to her heart.
“Suri,” she said, holding up the feather, “where’s your waitress uniform?”
Suri threw open the trunk at the end of her bed. “It’s right he—”
She didn’t have to look to know the feathered monstrosity wasn’t there. Her memory had already caught up with her present. And in her mind, she saw the waitress wearing Suri’s violet uniform behind the bar. Saw the girl mumbling words Nes couldn’t make out before slipping away beyond the kitchen door.
She’d thought they were prepared, but Damari had been prepared, too. No, Damari had been warned.
Nes gritted her teeth. The five of them weren’t the only ones who’d known of the plan. Phineas had given Nes the magic needed to lure Damari to them, but he must have also warned the girl of what awaited her at the Siren’s Hair. The trap they’d set up had been flipped on its head. And now she was the one falling for Damari’s trap.
Nes turned. The hall behind her was empty.
Toran still had that symbol on the back of his neck. A symbol that somehow connected him to Damari, that marked him for death.
Fear stole her heart right out of her chest. Plucked it from behindher ribs and wrapped it in its web so she couldn’t touch it without getting caught herself. She didn’t care. If she were being honest, she’d been caught a long time ago. That was the problem with allowing herself to be the prey. Prey were caught. And one way or another, prey were killed.
Damari wouldn’t need a blade to do it. All she’d need was Toran.
37
Toran
