CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE ISI
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
ISI
The bed sagged under the weight of five people, all of us arranged around the tray Trew had brought, a meal for my own council meeting.
Except council meetings didn’t typically feature roasted fowl and flower-decorated pastries or the kind of casual intimacy that came from shared danger and exhaustion.
Although, my friends had appointed themselves as my advisors, so perhaps this was my first official council meeting.
Lexie leaned into Derren’s side, her shoulder tucked against his chest, her hand resting on his thigh.
Kerralyn sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, already reaching for a second slice of bread that she topped with some roasted meat and cheese.
I remained on Trew’s lap, his arms wrapped around me, one hand splayed across my belly.
Pherin and Gavelle had flown in through my cracked-open window right after Trew arrived. My minxpip now perched on the headboard above us, her eyes tracking every movement. Gavelle had claimed the windowsill, occasionally making soft sounds that Pherin answered with peeps.
Keek, Kerralyn’s sleek-furred mole kept sniffing the air, his gaze fixed on the food.
“I can’t believe he’s still eating,” Lexie said, amusement coloring her voice. “Maybe tell him he’s had enough? That’s a lot of food for a tiny mole.”
“Look at it as his avian form eating instead.” Kerralyn turned to face Keek, smiling. “No shifting in the room. You’re much too big.”
Keek nodded.
Dare, Derren’s moth-hawk lay curled by his feet, snoozing.
Lexie’s badger, Levar, waddled from the bathing chamber, where he’d gone to get a drink. He plopped down onto his belly in front of the hearth and sighed.
Trew traced absent circles on my belly in a rhythm that steadied something anxious in my chest. But beneath the casual touch, I felt tension humming through him. His breathing had changed since we’d settled here. It now came shorter, more controlled.
Like he was bracing himself for something.
“So,” Lexie said around a mouthful of bread and meat. “Are you going to tell us what happened in your council meeting, King Trewyn, or do we have to guess based on the tension radiating off you?”
“Trew for you. Always.” Trew’s chest rumbled with a low laugh against my back. “And am I that obvious?”
“You’re shouting worry like a beacon.” Derren shifted, and Dare stirred at his feet before settling again. “Any new plans?”
I felt Trew’s hesitation in the way his fingers tightened on my waist. He was still learning to trust, still fighting the instinct to keep everything close.
I covered his hand with mine, a silent reminder that he wasn’t alone in this.
He took a breath and released it. “We’re moving forward with freeing the prisoners in Caldrith’s dungeons. I told them I had to leave for a few days, though I didn’t tell them where I was going, but that when I return, I’ll tell them my plan, and we’ll act before the Day of Mercy.”
“All that at once?” I said, anticipation and worry racing through me.
A few days wasn’t much time to prepare for something so dangerous, but enough that we wouldn’t be rushing in without a solid plan.
It wasn’t like we had a choice. We had to seal the veil or…
Well, I didn’t want to think of a world where we didn’t.
“That’s tight timing,” Derren said, lifting a piece of cheese and popping it into his mouth. He grabbed another and held it in front of Dare’s nose. Dare’s whiskers twitched, and he snatched the cheese from Derren’s fingers without even opening his eyes.
“It has to be,” Trew said. “They’re scheduled to die. I won’t let that happen.”
Warmth bloomed in my chest. This man, who’d been raised as a king, who understood strategy and politics and the careful dance of power, was willing to risk everything for people he’d never met, solely because it was right.
“How?” Kerralyn asked. “Caldrith’s dungeons are heavily guarded. You two barely escaped the last time you went there. You won’t be able to bring them all out through the tunnel you used to escape. And don’t forget the lovely army that will soon march this way.”
“We have a possible way in.” Trew’s voice remained carefully neutral. “Details are still being worked out, but there’s hope.”
“Such as?” Derren asked.
I explained about Naveah and the tunnels.
Derren nodded. “Perfect.”
“We’ll go in, break them out, then flee on dragons,” Trew said. “The fine details will be worked out over the next few days while we prepare for the advancing force.”
I nodded.
“What did your advisors have to say about you stealing prisoners from Caldrith’s dungeon?” Lexie’s eyebrows rose. “That must’ve been an interesting conversation.”
“They have valid concerns.” Trew lifted his cup, and I shifted enough that he could drink. “There are significant strategic risks.”
We both reached for bread at the same time, then laughed. He loaded a slice with meat and handed it to me. I did the same for him, our fingers brushing in the exchange.
“They also understand the value of offering a home to Caldrith’s condemned,” Trew said around a bite.
“You’re not doing this for strategic value,” I said, turning my head enough to meet his gaze. “You’re doing it because you can’t stand the thought of anyone else dying for the crime of possessing magic.”
His eyes softened, and he kissed my temple. The gesture was brief but tender, and it made my heart squeeze. “You see through me clearly, Minx.”
“Someone has to.”
Pherin made an approving sound from the headboard. On the windowsill, Gavelle added his own chitter of agreement.
Even with the wards Trew had placed around my room, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were missing something. I trusted my friends. But someone in the corridors and chambers of the palace was paying attention to our movements. They’d already proven they were willing to betray us. Kill us.
Derren cleared his throat, drawing my attention. “Speaking of strategy and information, we found some interesting things in the library tonight.”
Right. We’d been so focused on Trew’s council meeting that I’d nearly forgotten the stack of discoveries waiting to be discussed.
Lexie shifted, scooping Levar off the floor and placing him on the bed. She offered him a bite of meat, and he wiggled as he ate it. “We didn’t find everything we were hoping for, but we found enough to raise more questions.”
“Because we definitely needed more mysteries,” Trew said dryly.
Lexie pulled out a folded piece of parchment, handling it with the kind of care reserved for ancient artifacts. The edges looked water-damaged, the ink bleeding in places where moisture had seeped through the fibers.
“Where did you get that?” Kerralyn asked.
“I borrowed it from the library.”
Kerralyn’s eyes widened. “You stole something from the library?”
“And you wouldn’t?”
Pink filled Kerralyn’s cheeks.
Lexie’s grin told me she knew exactly what she’d done. “I’ll return it. Eventually.” She unfolded the paper, taking care with the damaged edges. “This is a property deed. Half of the writing is illegible, but look at the name.”
She held it up, angling it toward the torchlight. I leaned forward, squinting at the faded script. Trew shifted beneath me, his attention sharpening.
The signature at the bottom could have read “M. Blyte” or possibly “M. Blight.” The water damage made it impossible to tell which.
The air left my lungs.
Trew’s hand pressed flat against my belly, steadying me.
“When is it dated?” I asked.
“Forty-one years ago.”
My mother would’ve been a child.
“There’s too much damage to the document so I sadly can’t read exactly where the property is.” Lexie traced her finger along a faded line of text. “‘Where springs run warm and green persists against the gray.’ And the only other directional information says ‘three days south of Syllavar proper’.”
“Three days south puts you deep in the wasteland,” Derren said. “That area is completely overrun now.”
“Forty-one years ago, that area would’ve been different,” Trew pointed out. “No wasteland. No Skathes.”
I studied the faded signature again, my mind racing.
“Blyte could’ve been my mother’s last name before she married my father,” I said. “But would she have used it?”
Kerralyn leaned close to Lexie, reading from the paper over her shoulder. “She may have used a different name to hide the property from Caldrith.”
“Hide from someone in Caldrith, you mean,” Trew said.
My father had loved her. I didn’t doubt that. I’d seen it in the way he’d looked at her and in the way his voice had gentled when he spoke her name. But people had murdered spouses they loved for smaller reasons than discovering forbidden magic.
Lexie pulled another slip of parchment from her pocket, this one smaller and in better condition. “This was tucked in with the other paper. It’s a receipt for ‘preservation materials.’ No details about what kind.”
“What needed preserving?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. Then it occurred to me. “My mother. Velacross sent her away to protect her.”
“It could also refer to you and your sister,” Trew said quietly.
My mother knew what my father would do to children who showed magical abilities. She’d warned me never to show anyone what I could do. She might have tried to prepare a safe place for us, somewhere we could hide if we needed to flee.
She’d been building us an escape.
And someone had killed her before she could use it.
I set down the pastry I’d been holding. I didn’t remember picking it up.
No one spoke for a moment. The fire crackled. Keek made a small sound in Kerralyn’s pocket.
She was killed before she could tell me about any of this, before she could explain the plans she’d made or the secrets she’d kept.
I looked at each of my friends in turn. “If there’s any chance Addie’s there, or that there’s information about the Skathes, or even better, how to close the veil, we need to pursue it.”
“We’ll have to move fast,” Derren said, leaning forward.
“I bet we could reach it quickly on dragonback,” Trew said.