Killian took a deep breath. "The Primate gave the woman a choice. She was beautiful, you see. He told her that she had to marry Tessolar, and get the Primate what he needed, or he would kill her children."
The pieces finally connected in Ella’s mind. "Lady Katherine," she whispered. She remembered the day High Lord Tessolar’s wife had died as clearly as yesterday. She must have cast her body into the Sarsen. Katherine had drowned in her slippers.
"Yes, Lady Katherine. She was Serosa’s wife, and then she was Tessolar’s. She did what she had to, to save her children.
"Tessolar didn’t want a reminder of his predecessor in his household, so he forbade her to speak to Serosa’s children, and gave them to the rearing of a soldier, who would ensure Katherine never broke her agreement."
"Brandon," tears ran down Ella’s face.
"Katherine’s children were threatened twice over. I’m sure your mother loved you, Ella, but she wouldn’t have dared speak to you. It must have torn her apart."
Ella remembered the day Lady Katherine had come to her, fearful, saying goodbye. She remembered the connection she had seen in Katherine’s eyes.
Ella cried at her loss, at what could have been.
"Just remember that what she did, she did to protect you. She probably copied the Lexicon for the Primate in bits and pieces, believing that if she gave him everything he needed, he would kill you. In the end it must have been too hard."
"I… I can’t believe it."
"It’s true, Ella. I learned the tale from the Primate; I suppose he thought it might be useful to me. Your father was Serosa Torresante, High Lord of House Altura. Your mother was Lady Katherine. I’m sorry that you had to find out this way."
Killian stood up. He walked to the window, apparently lost in thought. He looked outside for a moment.
"What is it?" Ella said. "What’s there?"
"Nothing. I’m going to go downstairs. I’ll get some food sent up. I might be a while. Ella," he turned. "I’m sorry, Ella. The Primate… Don’t feel bad. I think he’s using us all."
He left without a word.
Ella sat there for some time, thinking about all that had been said. She eventually wiped her eyes and sat up.
Then Ella realised she was alone. Alone with the Lexicon. She was in a foreign city, a strange place where she had great difficulty fitting in, despite the hooded cloak Killian had bought to cover her skin and hair. It lay on the back of a chair.
Ella looked at the cloak, and then looked at the window.
She stood up. Then a thought occurred to her, and stooping, she rummaged through Killian’s bag. Her fingers found something. With a sensation of triumph, she withdrew one of her scrills, a moment later finding the second. Her heart hammering, she dug through the bag until she finally found her bottle of essence.
She almost smiled. She’d had a feeling Killian would never have thrown them away. Ella had now significantly increased her chances of a successful escape. All she needed to do was escape Petrya and find the High Enchantress.
Some of the matrices she’d seen in the Lexicon for invisibility were far more complex and powerful than anything she’d seen before. She picked up the book, feeling its strange slippery texture between her fingers.
The door to the room suddenly burst open. Ella was completely blinded by a white light. A piercing shriek filled the air. She fell to the floor, screaming in pain, her hands over her ears.
Then the noise was gone, the light vanished. She was still blinded. Ella heard a voice, a man’s voice. "It’s just the girl. The other one, he knew we were here. He’s long gone."
"We have what we came for. Well done, bladesingers. Let us not stay a moment longer in this place."
Ella knew that voice — she would know that voice anywhere.
It was the voice of the High Enchantress, Evora Guinestor.
46
People of Merralya, I will be sad to leave you. I fear for the fate of the world when I leave it in hands that do not keep at arms length the gifts that have been offered to me. I hope the Tingaran Empire will long be known as a state of benevolence.
— Memoirs of Emperor Xenovere I, 368-1, 381 Y.E.
"AND then?"
"And then he left the room."
The High Enchantress gripped Ella firmly by the elbow as the bladesingers — their green armoursilk covered with grey travel cloaks — cleared the way. There were just the three bladesingers, no other soldiers. Ella couldn’t believe the courage of the High Enchantress, she’d entered an enemy city lightly guarded, with no idea of what she would find.
Evora looked from side to side as she walked, her strides betraying her haste. "You truly believe he had a change in heart, and that was why he left you with the Lexicon? Could it have been that he was in love with you?"
Ella blushed. How to explain her complex relationship with Killian?
"I don’t know. I don’t understand myself really."
"Ella," the High Enchantress said. She looked Ella in the eye, squeezing her arm. "You did well. You did very well. The promise I saw in you was no lie."