Chapter 36 Caught
Castien fought to keep his concentration as he detailed the recent goings-on of the academy in his High Inquisitor journal.
It was imperative that he give a thorough recounting of events, but he could not stop thinking about Wren Kalyxi.
He had sent Heathford into the night with a letter for her not long ago.
She was likely preparing for bed. His letter would arrive precisely at the moment she would presume he had foregone a reply.
The idea of catching her off guard was thrilling.
He only wished he could be there to see it happen.
Their exchanges were fodder to the fire of his Gift’s insatiable curiosity.
Instead of quenching it, everything he learned about Wren only made the desire for more grow.
He had yet to experience something like this in all the years since he had been Gifted.
His Gift kept contradicting itself. He felt the craving for knowledge of Wren as acutely as he craved water or food.
Yet, at every turn his Gift reminded him of the dangers that came with growing closer to her.
There had been times when he was a boy that his Gift told him a path was foolish, and he went down it anyway. But he had long put away those childish habits. So he was sure this was something different altogether. It both excited and concerned him.
Castien looked at the scarce amount he had accomplished.
He could not go on like this. Wren Kalyxi was interesting, a puzzle to be solved, but she was not a part of his legacy.
And that must always take precedence over everything else.
He closed his eyes and began going through a lengthy math equation in his mind.
It was a trick he had picked up last semester when searching for ways to grow in his Gift.
It recentered him and helped him direct his attention on whatever task was right in front of him.
Math problem completed, he opened his eyes and set to work once more.
Several pages later, there was a short rap of knuckles that indicated Heathford’s presence.
The butler opened the door to the High Inquisitor’s study and Castien’s attention was stolen by Wren once more.
He scanned Heathford’s customary charcoal and black uniform.
A slip of parchment was in his right hand.
Castien’s heart accelerated until he saw the red seal.
“Did she not accept the letter?” Castien asked with a furrowed brow. Perhaps she sought to retaliate for the late arrival by refusing.
“I am afraid she was not present to accept,” Heathford intoned. “For she is out walking the grounds.”
Castien shook his head, not believing the butler’s words.
“Are you certain? I do not think Lady Kalyxi would break curfew to stroll about the property in the dead of night.”
“I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen her with my own eyes,” Heathford replied.
“Do you know where she was headed?”
The library was open at all hours, but Castien thought with the curfew that had changed. He could not guess where else she would go, though.
Heathford’s expression was always somber, but it seemed even more so as he answered, “It appeared to me that she was headed for the south side of the Wall.”
Castien’s blood ran cold. Why would Wren be headed in that direction at this hour? It was not as if…he shot to his feet.
“The journal,” he murmured. Heron might have written about the Wall in his journal.
If Wren was investigating her brother’s death as her latest entries suggested, she very likely could be going to visit the scene of the crime.
He hoped Heathford was mistaken, but he could not take any chances.
Because if he was right, Wren was going to get herself killed.
Castien threw on his jacket and grabbed his black cloak off a nearby rack. He would need to be as concealed as possible if he was to navigate the underground passageway and make it to the south Wall unseen. Fortunately, he had spent most of his life traveling through the shadows.
“If anyone calls upon me, tell them I have gone to bed. If Finn asks, tell him I am attending to an important investigation matter,” Castien instructed Heathford.
Heathford bowed. “Yes, Your Highness.” He held out Castien’s letter. “Would you like to carry this with you? Or should I deliver it another time?”
“I will take it, thank you, Heathford.” Castien tucked the letter inside his jacket, tied his cloak around his neck, then flipped up the hood and slipped into the hall.
The passage was dark, barely lit by low-burning torches every twenty paces.
Castien’s Gift lit up a path that would get him to Wren the fastest. He rushed down the vein-like halls, splitting off wherever his Gift directed.
After a series of twists and turns he stopped below a trapdoor that would lead him to the surface.
He climbed the iron ladder and lifted one hand to push up the door.
The door led to a room hidden behind a bookshelf in the parlor of House of Arythes.
The room itself was small, with little else but an armchair and an unlit lamp.
Castien finished his ascent, then carefully shut the trapdoor so that it wouldn’t make any noise. There were more convenient exits and entrances to the underground passages, but they weren’t as fast as this one. The only risk was that there could be people in the parlor.
Castien looked through a small slit in the bookcase and held his breath while he waited to determine if anyone was present.
There was no one, so he tugged on the red leather book that would turn the shelf into a door.
He slinked into the parlor and through the House like a wraith.
The guard that was posted in front of the house never ventured to the back, so Castien walked outside with no issue.
The fog was present as always, but not so thick that he could not see by the light of the moon. His footsteps were silent as he ran through the darkness. Cold wind bit at his skin and threatened to tear off his cloak, but he held it tight around him.
As he neared the Wall, Castien saw a figure in a familiar soft pink cloak. Wren. He slowed to a walk. With each step toward her, he went over a portion of a mathematical equation. He would remain calm and not alert her Gift.
She reached up, her delicate hand glowing beneath the shining moon. Her fingertips dug in as she pressed one of the bricks. The final one in the combination, Castien saw as he got closer.
Wren went to push against the door, and instinct took over Castien. He reached out and snagged her wrist, pulling her to face him. Her mouth opened to scream, and he covered it with his palm, slamming her into the wall. She thrashed beneath his grip, but it did little in the way of moving him.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed, Kalyxi?” he growled.
She stilled. Recognition lit in her pale blue eyes. She reached up and ripped off his hood. He let her pry off his hand. She pushed it away from her then shoved his chest. Yet again, he didn’t budge.
“Who do you think you are, grabbing me like that?” she demanded.
“The man who saved your life,” he countered.
“You could have simply spoken.” She wrapped her cloak tighter around her and Castien noticed she was trembling. He hadn’t intended to scare her, and he now realized his folly. After reading her journal, he should have known better than to touch her so freely. He took a step back.
“I apologize,” he said in a low voice. “I didn’t want to alert the guards. Then we’d both be suspects.”
She looked past him. Trepidation entered her gaze, as if she hadn’t thought that getting caught was an option.
“Why are you trying to leave the grounds?” Castien asked. “Do you have a death wish?”
Wren glared at him. “How did you know I was leaving?”
“Everyone knows how to use this door,” Castien lied. “You learn about it as a first-year, usually because a third or fourth-year dares you to see how long you’ll last before you come running back inside.”
Wren’s expression said she didn’t believe him. But Castien didn’t need her to. All he had to do was place a seed of doubt in her mind so she second-guessed whether this was something only the Order knew about. It was not as though she could ask anyone either, without giving away her own plans.
“That doesn’t explain why you’re out here now, though,” she said in an accusatory tone. She was attempting to transfer the focus onto Castien.
Castien slid the letter out of his jacket. Moonlight reflected off the red seal.
“I came to deliver this. Imagine my surprise when I saw you traipsing off to your death.”
Wren crossed her arms. “I was not going to leave. I just wanted–” she cut herself off. “Never mind that. Why were you delivering the letter and not your butler?”
“I felt like a stroll,” Castien delivered in a smooth tone.
“Past curfew? When there’s a murderer on the loose?”
“You have yet to answer my questions; why should I answer yours?” Castien challenged.
Wren looked away from him. He sighed.
“If you want to become a cryptura’s next meal, be my guest. I only thought I should give you the opportunity to think before you did it.”
Wren said nothing. Castien held out the letter to her. She stared at it for a moment, then snatched it from him. He almost smiled, and had to go back to calculating to stop himself.
“I’ll take my leave, I suppose. Try not to get caught by someone worse than me,” Castien smirked.
“Is there someone worse?” Wren shot back.
Castien shrugged off the insult and turned away from her, though it pained him.
He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and carry her to her chambers where he’d place a guard outside.
Or better yet, himself. He shook his head.
He was going mad. Finn always said that he would one day. Perhaps he had finally snapped.
“Why did you stop me?” Wren called out when he was a few paces away. “You could have let me get killed. Why go to the trouble?”
Castien slowly turned around. Wren’s hood had fallen off during their encounter. Her pale hair looked white beneath the moon. With her pink cloak wrapped around her, she looked like a rare flower that only bloomed at night. He wondered how someone who had been through all she had remained soft.
“Regardless of what you proclaim, Lady Kalyxi, you are an enigma. And I’d rather like to figure you out. Your death would make that more difficult.”
She rolled her eyes. “What a ridiculous notion. I’ve told you before, people are not logic problems to be solved.”
“So I’m beginning to discover,” Castien murmured too low to be heard, then louder, “Goodnight, Kalyxi.”
No reply came, but Castien glanced over his shoulder once he was farther away and saw her making her way back to House of Adira.
He breathed easier knowing she was returning, but it didn’t stop his mind from racing.
Wren had discovered something only the Order was supposed to know about.
And if she had found one thing, she was liable to uncover more.