Naelin heard him gasp, and she felt a surge of glee from the earth spirit. She caught a glimpse through its eyes: red, smeared on the castle walls, and knew instantly:
The guards are dead.
“Where are my children?” she asked again. She felt her body begin to shake. “What has Merecot done with my children?” Sending her mind out again, she grabbed the nearest Semoian spirit—it wasn’t one of hers. She felt it resist her, but she forced it to come anyway.
Tell me what happened here.
It didn’t know.
She sorted through its memories, but found nothing of Erian and Llor. Naelin reached for another spirit—it too knew nothing. “This is too slow. I need Hanna.”
“I’ll bring her,” Ven promised.
“Hurry,” she growled.
Ven ran through the castle—he knew exactly where to find Ambassador Hanna, in her room with her four guards. He spoke as few words as possible: “Attack on the children. Naelin needs you.” And then he and the guards were carrying Hanna and her chair back through the castle, up the spire, as quickly as possible.
A few Semoians tried to stop them and question them.
He barreled through them, not caring who they alerted, and then up the stairs, past the murdered guards.
Ven would not be stopped.
Don’t let me be too late. Don’t let Naelin have done anything stupid.If she were to confront Merecotbeforethey located the children... They didn’t know what Merecot wanted, or what she planned to do with them this time.
He heard Hanna gasp as she saw the dead guards and then swear colorfully when they barged through the door. Lowering Hanna’s chair to the ground, he surged forward, ready to defend his new wife, and then stopped—
Naelin was seated cross-legged in the center of the room.
She’s fine,he thought with relief.But the spirits aren’t.
Dozens of tiny Semoian spirits lay strewn around her, moaning in pain.
“Teach me how to do it,” Naelin commanded Hanna. “How do I winnow through all their minds to find the spirits who know what happened? Some of them must have seen. This castle and these mountains are full of spirits. At least one must know what happened to my children!”
Another fire spirit fell onto the hearth. It struggled as if against an invisible hand. Naelin held the spirit with her eyes as the spirit writhed.
Hanna did not reply. Instead, she ordered her four guards to check the bodies, to see if anyone had survived, though from the quantity of blood Ven knew that was useless. She also ordered them to watch for any rogue spirits.
“Shout if you need us, Ambassador,” Evenna said. Then she and the other guards jogged back into the corridor. “Champion, we’re trusting you to protect her.”
Ven circled back to push Hanna’s chair closer, but she held up a hand to stop him. She beckoned to him, and he leaned down. Her voice was pitched low so Naelin couldn’t hear. “There’s little chance the children survived an attack this violent,” Hanna said heavily to Ven. “And there is a very strong chance that those Semoian spirits witnessed her children’s deaths firsthand, and a strong chance those deaths were not painless. If Naelin were to see that in their memories, through their eyes, and watch her children die... Think about what could happen if Naelin loses herself again to rage and despair. The spirits she’s linked to are barely under control. She’ll fuel them, and they’ll rip this land apart.”
“So? Let her rip it apart!” He caught himself. “No—I don’t mean that. We’ll keep her from destroying the world,” he tried to reassure Hanna.
“How?” Hanna asked.
“Somehow.”
“‘Somehow’ isn’t good enough.”
“It has to be good enough!” He held Hanna’s gaze for a long moment until she wilted. He felt an instant of guilt for that, bullying an old woman, but this was Naelin!
“If this fails, it’s on you.” With that, Hanna wheeled herself across the room, to where Naelin sat cross-legged, deep in concentration already.
Ven approached her as well, beside Hanna. He took Naelin’s hand in his.
Naelin didn’t open her eyes. “Iwillhave answers.”
