Chapter 49
Chapter Forty-Nine
Roremar
“You’re certain it was the star?” Roremar repeated what Darcy had just said. The mystlights in the Lyra Isle Guard office were dim, the space quiet with most of the on-duty officers out patrolling the streets.
“Positive. It didn’t have the serpent or angel wings marking it as a Lyra sigil. Just the star, one point longer than the rest, aiming southeast.” He slid a piece of parchment across the desk, a recreation of the marking staring up at Roremar.
“Southeast,” he muttered as he held the wrinkled paper beneath the light. Sure as stars, it looked exactly like the tattoos on the victims.
“And it wasn’t far from the Cursed Markets,” Darcy said.
The hub of stalls selling tainted wears was looking more and more suspicious. He’d have to revisit it tonight after his stop at the Mezz and this new location Darcy found.
Maybe he could at least find something plausible to present to his uncle tomorrow so he didn’t lose the funding for his siblings’ schooling.
And Emmeline…she needed to get to Valyn.
The pressure sat heavily on his chest.
“It sounds like some kind of lair,” Roremar said. “What in the realms were you doing out there?”
Darcy laced his fingers together, leaning back in his chair.
“Got word of a bunch of kids from the settlements near the Western Port sneaking out past curfew. They’ve been doing it every night apparently.
We went out tonight to try to catch them before something happened.
Two of them—only about sixteen—are tied to Anphrosia. ”
Roremar’s eyes dashed to his, and Darcy held up a hand. “I didn’t tell anyone that was the reason I was so concerned.”
“Thanks.” Roremar and Emmeline had decided not to let that information spread publicly. They’d told Darcy and Aldryn, but no one else outside of Desmond, Nico, and Myrella. “So the star was a cave drawing?”
“It was on the ground of one of the tunnel systems in the jungle. We searched the surroundings, but those tunnels are extensive. We’re still combing through them. There were also mundane reading supplies and something else that might interest you.”
When he didn’t continue, Roremar lifted his gaze to the soldier’s. “Are you pausing for dramatic effect, or…”
Darcy chuckled as he dug around his desk drawer and removed a small white linen bag stamped with the VV logo.
Roremar took it. When he dumped the contents into his palm, he froze. “Seeds.”
“Seeds. We have the Lyra Guard Apothecary studying them, but they don’t know the type yet.”
They looked like any other fucking seeds Roremar had seen. Would they have to wait for them to sprout to find out? He didn’t have that kind of time.
But if they were found in a cave marked with a lopsided twelve-pointed star, Roremar was willing to bet they were the ones he was looking for. He was so close to a breakthrough he could taste it.
And maybe he’d find it in time for the Revels and to stop whatever grand finale the murderer was building toward. His pulse thrummed at the chase.
Roremar tipped the seeds back into their bag. “Can I take these?” When Darcy nodded, he tucked them into his pocket. The bell at the Temple Academy rang out clear across the isle, marking the hour he’d been waiting for. “Let me know what you find. I have to get to the Mezzanine.”