Chapter 32
An Ominous Round of Mimosas and Tiny Finger Sandwiches
Theo slept soundly beside her as her lamp lit up the pages of her father’s journal.
She ran her fingers along the aged paper, tracing the places his pen had been, desperately trying to feel him there, to feel him anywhere.
She had spent six years with him, and there were so many things she needed to ask him, so many questions that would likely never be answered—not fully anyway.
“I’ve missed you more than I knew you,” she mumbled, sighing as she flipped the page.
She had read this journal cover to cover, had seen every word and picture and indentation from his pen.
Her brow furrowed as she carefully peeled two pages apart that seemed to have been stuck together for years, pages she had never noticed before.
There was a list on the left page, a list of names that seemed vaguely familiar. She racked her brain for several minutes, reading them over and over, and then it clicked.
They were shop names from Torsvik, and the people had to be people in the town.
But why were they in his journal? Why was that relevant?
A drawing of a crow was scratched next to them with a circle around it.
It wasn’t detailed, not heavily illustrated with any sort of shading, more like an ancient insignia.
Her eyes traveled to the next page, and she shot up in bed, eyes wide and jaw slack.
It was a drawing of Eldfjall.
But not just a drawing—it was a rough floor plan.
Secret passages and hidden rooms, things only someone very intimate with the inner workings of the palace could know about.
There was a detailed plan of the dungeon she had been in just a few nights prior, the locked door and spiral stairs leading to the cells, the hall where Aesira and the kids were locked up, and then it continued, down several more sets of stairs to a…
But there was nothing. Whoever drew this plan, or gave it to her father, either didn’t want anyone to know what was past those stairs or never got that far. A chill ran down her spine. She had to find out what this meant.
She looked down at Theo, sleeping soundly, and all she could think about was how both he and Maeve deserve the childhood she never had.
They deserved peace and a family that loved them to come find them when they were lost or to learn sign language for them.
She bit her lip as she swallowed the lump steadily building in her throat.
The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.
She felt a fire ignite deep inside her—just a flicker. But she knew if she let it, it would burn this entire city to the ground.
Ember wandered through town with Theo in tow as the little boy desperately searched for an ice cream shop.
She had found him rummaging through the kitchen in the chateau looking for something sweet and then promptly begged Ember to take him into town for ice cream.
Ember was happy to be out of the house, to stop dodging her mother and looking over her shoulder every moment for a new threat.
She stuffed her father’s journal into a bag she found in the closet—her bag from the Kitts conveniently left at the manor in Sigurvik—and was content to read through the entries while Theo finished his treat.
Theo got a chocolate cone with sprinkles and quickly ran off to climb on a rickety looking ledge on the other side of the street.
Ember laughed—the first time she had laughed in days—and breathed in the fresh air that whipped around her.
They walked down the street further, peering into windows and listening to conversations, when Ember noticed they were in front of Monkshood & Wolfsbane, the apothecary she had visited her first time in the city.
She lingered at the door, her eye catching something carved into the wooden frame.
She squinted, studying it, and then her jaw fell open.
She dug through the bag at her side and pulled her father’s journal out, hastily flipping it to the page she had been on the night before.
She read through the list of names, Monkshood & Wolfsbane being one of them, as well as Catriona Fitz, the owner of the shop.
Her heartbeat quickened as she looked at the picture of the crow next to it, then back to the doorframe, the same roughly drawn bird scratched into the wood, something you wouldn’t even notice unless you were looking.
Theo walked over to her, giving her a perplexed look as he tilted his head. She nodded toward the door.
Do you want to go in?
An unspoken question. Theo nodded with a grin, chocolate covering his freckled face.
They walked through the door, a little bell jingling as they entered, and Ember didn’t have to look long for Catriona.
She was on a stool, very carefully placing filled vials in a cabinet behind the counter.
She smiled with a wave as the two walked in, and Ember headed to the counter as Theo went to explore a vaguely dangerous looking plant by the window.
“Welcome back, Ember.” Catriona smiled. “Anything I can help you with today?”
Ember bit her lip. “I’m not sure,” she replied, gripping the journal in her hand a little tighter.
She didn’t have any way of knowing what these names meant—why her father had a list scratched in the back of his journal.
They could be people he was watching, people he didn’t trust—people who were dangerous.
She sucked in a breath to steady herself.
Trusting her gut was the only thing she had right now.
“My father had this journal,” she continued, voice low, “and a bunch of names were written in it, along with some shops I’ve noticed around town.”
Catriona furrowed her brow as Ember fidgeted.
“I saw this on your door and wondered if you knew what it meant?” She laid the open journal on the counter, and Catriona’s face paled when her eyes met the worn page, all the color seeming to drain from her flushed skin.
Ember watched as her throat bobbed, quickly looking toward the door and windows and back down to the book.
“Who knows you have this?” she whispered, snapping it closed so fast that Ember thought she might snatch it away.
“No one,” Ember replied, as she shook her head. “My dad left it to me.”
“I don’t know anything about this,” Catriona said, as she shook her head, pushing it across the counter toward Ember.
She furrowed her brow, glancing up at the woman. “Are you sure?” she asked. “It seems like you know—"
“I don’t,” Catriona hissed, making Ember jump. “I think it’s time you leave. I have to close up shop early this afternoon.”
Ember didn’t believe her, even for a moment, but she grabbed Theo and headed for the door, nonetheless. Catriona didn’t say another word as she ushered them through the door and quickly closed it behind them. Ember heard the soft click of the lock engaging and sighed as they walked onto the street.
Ember stuffed the journal back in her bag as she went. She didn’t notice the body in front of her until she ran right into it.
“I-I’m so sorry!” Ember stammered. “I didn’t see you—" She stopped short as she saw the Warden in front of her, staring at her like she had spit directly in his face. She stiffened under his gaze as she cut her eyes at him. “Actually, never mind.”
“Your grandfather sent me to pick you up. You’ve been summoned to brunch,” Collum sneered, like those words were actually painful, and Ember burst out laughing. His mouth didn’t so much as twitch.
“Ah, yes, brunch at the castle,” she laughed. “That’s exactly what I want—an ominous round of mimosas and uncomfortably small finger sandwiches.” She laughed some more, wiping away the tears pooling on her lower lash as she took a breath. “Oh, wait, you're serious?” she asked.
Collum nodded, and Ember rolled her eyes.
“Absolutely not,” she replied, shoving past him as she made to guide Theo back toward the chateau.
Collum grabbed her wrist, so tight she almost winced.
“It wasn’t a request, Princess,” he hissed.
He bared his yellow teeth at her, and Ember stumbled as he moved her out of the way.
He made to grab Theo, knocking the ice cream cone out of his hand and onto the cobblestone at his feet.
Theo’s face paled, his bottom lip trembling as he looked over at her.
Ember was annoyed by Collum’s presence, but Theo was scared. She saw red as she stepped between the two, throwing Collum’s hand off Theo’s shoulder and jamming her finger in his chest.
“Do not touch him,” she hissed, ire boiling in her veins.
She grabbed Theo’s hand, squeezing it tight, and followed Collum to the end of the street, a safe point to Echo that wouldn’t draw much attention.
He grabbed her by the bicep and whisked them away through a cloud of stars.
She barely had time to blink, and then they were in the courtyard in front of the castle.
Ember didn’t let go of Theo’s hand as they walked through the doors.
Brunch was set up in a large dining room, ceilings arched and a long table in the middle.
Floor to ceiling windows and two large doors sat on the far end of the room, leading out to what Ember assumed was the gardens.
The table was filled with a plethora of different kinds of foods—bacon and sausage, hollandaise eggs on top of English muffins, fruit that Ember didn’t even recognize, and of course, tiny finger sandwiches.
Ember sat beside Theo, keeping her eyes anywhere other than the burly man sitting at the end of the table.
The thought of eating in the same room as Helvig made her lose her appetite.
The door opened and closed, and Ember almost stood up and left as her mother walked in the room, taking a seat in the chair opposite her.
Theo grabbed her hand under the table, squeezing it twice, and gave her a small smile—an unspoken promise.
I’m here.