She looked up at me with the faintest pout in her round, red lower lip. I wanted to give her whatever she wanted, almost as much as I wanted to reach out and pinch that adorable little lip.
“If Branok hears this idea coming from you, he’s going to think it’s absurd.” I didn’t know why the desire to please her made me cave. “He’ll only think it’s moderately stupid coming from me.”
I picked the page up and was rewarded with Honor’s bright smile. “You are my favorite twin.”
“The other twin can’t stand you. I don’t know why you’re saying that as if it’s some high mark of favor.”
“Just learn to take a compliment, Lynx,” she said, her voice teasing.
I still had my hand braced on the table so I could lean over her shoulder. She’d twisted to look up at me and her face was so close to mine that I could lean forward a few inches and brush my lips across her forehead. But I didn’t know how Honor would react if I did that. And worse, I didn’t know how Branok and Jaik and Arren would react. I didn’t even know where that impulse had come from.
Maybe Branok was right and she was using some kind of enchantment to control us. I pulled myself away with effort, straightening, stuffing my hand into my pocket.
I almost crumpled the sheet in my other hand, wondering if I was being played for a fool. But I could play Honor’s game for now and see what came of it. “Let’s go talk to the others.”
They reacted about as I had expected. Everyone thought it was a waste of time when we had more important things to do, but I insisted and eventually we all made our way to the workshop.
Alina leaned into the workshop. “So this is the mysterious place I’ve never been allowed. And what are you all doing in here?”
“Come on,” I told Alina. “Honor and I want to make a potion for you. We think we know how to lift the enchantment.”
Branok gave me a look that said he’d known Honor was involved all the time and he hated this plan all the much more because of it.
We mixed up the potion as Alina looked at us doubtfully. I had to refer back to the recipe; the only way to lift a potion was to use it as the base for the cure and add Spellbane.
After she drank the potion, Branok forced another potion on her, the one that showed how many enchantments were on someone. She drank it, making her usual face, but nothing happened. There was no zing of electrical magic through the air, no arc of light racing around her.
Her face lit up in wonder, then shifted. Sounding worried, she demanded, “What was the spell?”
“It was a harmless one,” Honor reassured her. “It just let Lucien feel what you were feeling when he played a particular song. He couldn’t read your thoughts or anything like that. I guess he just wanted to know how you felt.”
“That foolish man,” she murmured. “That absolute idiot. That wasn’t worth being imprisoned for….”
She cut herself off abruptly. Judging from the self-conscious look she shared with Honor, my sister had almost slipped and revealed something she wasn’t supposed to know. But Honor had already revealed that Lucien was imprisoned, not dead. The reality struck me deeply and my mind raced trying to figure out why she was lying about Lucien’s fate.
I needed to talk to her. I wanted to thank her for saving Alina; Alina should be free now that we could prove she was free of Lucien’s influence. And I wanted to dig out her secrets, too.
“Now, Honor,” Branok demanded. “The rest of you need to see this. I don’t think you really believe it yet.”
Honor rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
She took the potion from Branok, then knocked it back in one smooth motion. Once again, the enchantments surrounding her lit the room with a rosy glow.
Magic was flying around her, and the others were staring at her in horror.
Chapter
Forty-Seven
Honor
Lynx tried to corner me after that, though our dinner was growing cold and Alina was absolutely giddy and wanted to celebrate.
My conversation with Lynx came to an abrupt end with a soft sound on the rooftop, followed by another, then two more in quick succession. Lynx’s body tightened like a bow, and Jaik took a step closer to me, his hand settling on my shoulder. His other hand hovered near the hilt of his sword.
“Olds,” Talisyn muttered.
Branok and Lynx positioned themselves in front of their sister, who rolled her eyes but didn’t protest. A fifth impact on the rooftop; Damyn was here too, unless they’d brought a different dragon knight this time.
“I’ll see myself out,” Caldren muttered.
Talisyn grabbed his shoulder. “Hang on. You can’t exactly jump out the window.”
“Don’t stop him if that’s what he really wants,” Jaik said airily, and I shot him a glare.
Cal’s smile twisted grimly up on one side. “I remember when we used to be a united front.”
“We still are,” Jaik answered.
I pulled my shoulder loose of his grip, and Jaik frowned at me. Then he looked up as his father stepped into the room.
The temperature seemed to drop, as if they’d carried winter inside with them. Pend Deragon was in the lead, but Joachim followed him, then the others, Teris and Gorion.
Jaik’s fingers found my shoulder again, and I glanced at him before I realized, belatedly, everyone else was kneeling. Right. King Pend. I knelt quickly too, bowing my head; only Jaik remained standing, and even he inclined his head to his father.
“Rise,” Pend said impatiently.
Pend stared around at all of us, then stepped to one side.
Joachim took the lead—obviously with his permission—to demand of Branok, “What happened to my castle?”
“It’s our castle now, isn’t it, Father?” Branok asked. “But we’re trying to figure out what happened.”
He didn’t mention Alina’s enchantment had been lifted, and I was sure he had a reason. Joachim seemed unpredictable.
But if Joachim was here, then we’d get the chance to steal the key from him. My gaze flickered toward Caldren, and there was light in his eyes as if he was thinking of the same thing I was.
I wondered if Joachim would go dig through the dungeons to visit Lucien. If he did so once we rescued Luce, he’d realize we’d stolen the key—and Lucien—out of his grip.
That discovery would complicate Lucien’s escape.
And our survival.
“Why are you here?” Joachim asked crisply. “Were my instructions unclear? No one enters Alina’s tower until she’s healed of her enchantment.”
“I’m not enchanted.” Alina elbowed her way out from between her brothers; Lynx winced and Branok sighed faintly before his face regained its usual stoic composure. “You can test me. There’s no enchantments controlling my behavior.”
“So there’s no excuse for this insubordination, then?” Joachim demanded, eying his daughter coolly. Then he said, “Very well. I’d be glad to see it.”
He gestured to Branok, who said, “Honor. Come help me.”
I was surprised by the invitation, but I wouldn’t have argued. Branok didn’t give me the chance anyway, grabbing my arm and pulling me behind him out of the room. We made our way down the hall once more to the brewing studio.