“Alright,” she says. “I assume Your Highness just wants me to share what I told you before—about Nyron?”
“If you’d be so kind,” Fairon says.
She straightens up. “Two years ago, Nyron, my brother, was a ranger in Oudis.”
I glance at Leon, but I sense through the mooring that this doesn’t mean much to him yet.
“One night, Nyron saw a bright light in the sky, like nothing he’d ever seen before. He said it was like the tales they tell about Agathyre—a light from the celestial realm coming down to bless us. A falling star.”
Recognition rears inside me at the same time as it hits Leon. I look at Fairon, but his face is carefully blank.
“Nyron went out looking for it the next day. He wanted to be sure of what he’d seen before reporting it. He found the star. Although he said in his letters that it was more like a stone—a piece of big, black rock. Of course, once he’d confirmed his find, he contacted the palace directly. He didn’t trust those Oudis lords, given all the trouble Your Highnesses had with them a few years back.”
“Trouble?”I ask Leon through the mooring.
“Some lesser lords got greedy. My grandfather had us send them a message,”he replies.
I don’t ask for more, focusing back on Kora, who now has tears shining in her eyes.
“And what happened after that?” Fairon asks kindly.
“It was in the palace’s hands after that. But Nyron got sick, fast. He sent a message saying he couldn’t do his job anymore. Then he told me he didn’t think he had much time left, that this awful cough he had was getting worse and was bringing up all this black stuff. It had only been a few days.”
Her words come faster, like she’s trying to get them out while she can.
“I’d never heard of an illness like it, and he said the local healer was stumped. I went to Oudis, I brought him a tincture from one of the dryads here in Lavail. I was sure their medicine would be better than whatever he could get out there, but…” Her voice breaks. “But it takes nearly a week to get there, and I was too late. He was already gone.”
She looks down at her hands, tears dripping onto her skirt and darkening the fabric of her dress as her voice hardens. “I barelyeven recognized him when I saw his body. That star wasn’t a gift. It was acurse. I wish he’d never seen it.”
I stare at Fairon. I hadn’t realized anyone else had gotten sick from the star that poisoned him. Unlike him, Kora’s brother didn’t have a purpose-built building with special healing magic. Considering how sick Fairon was evenwiththat on his side, Kora’s brother didn’t stand a chance.
Maybe I could’ve saved him, but two years ago, I didn’t even know I had magic. A deep sadness washes over me; I still don’t understand why Fairon thought it was so important for us to hear this—or why anyone would hire an assassin to keep her from sharing her story.
Fairon clears his throat. “Thank you, Kora. I know this isn’t easy. And I believe that it all happened exactly as you’ve described. But I wonder if my friend Lord Gyrion here might use a little sensic magic, just to confirm your story.”
Kora nods, seeming not to care much either way, and Alastor steps forward. The buzz of his sensic magic fills the air, and Kora’s face relaxes a little.
“Is everything you’ve told us true, Kora?” Alastor asks.
“Yes,” she says. “It is.”
“Ask her what else she did, when Nyron told her how sick he was,” Fairon says to Alastor. There’s a tension in the prince’s voice that wasn’t there before.
Alastor looks puzzled, but obeys.
“Kora, when you learned Nyron was unwell, what did you do about it, aside from taking him the medicine?”
“I told the palace,” Kora says. “I sent a message before I left. I was worried whoever else they sent to find the star wouldn’t know it was dangerous.”
Alastor frowns. “How soon after getting his letter was this?”
“Right away,” Kora says. “Of course, I knew that he’d told them himself—I just wanted to make sure they’d gotten the message.”
A chill runs through me as I realize what this means. Someone at the palace knew the stone was dangerous. So why didn’t they warn Fairon?
“There’s more,” Fairon says to Leon as Alastor lets his magic fade. “But Kora has already done enough for us.” He turns to the woman. “I expect certain matters to be settled in the coming weeks, but until then, I will send a member of my private security to watch over you, to make sure no more danger finds you.”
“I will send someone as well,” says Leon. Kora nods gratefully, but I sense she’s eager for us to all be gone, to leave her alone with her grief. She glances past us, out into the hall.
