Gregory let out a cry as the dagger burned his right hand, and as soon as he had released it, Lynet reached for the weapon. Ignoring the pain of the burning metal, she held on to the dagger and drove it into Gregory’s left hand, pinning him to the table.
He screamed in pain, and before he could recover enough to pull the blade out, Lynet was running out the door.
How much time did she have before he recovered and started to follow her? She needed a crowd, somewhere to lose herself so that even if Gregory came after her, he would never find her. Lynet raced away from the church, heading toward the university gates. If she cut through there, she could get back to the main road, and then he’d never find her.
Students dodged out of her way as Lynet ran down the main walkway between the university buildings. She crashed into a few of them, but she didn’t let herself stop or slow down. She could see the pink of the roses in the courtyard in the distance—she was so focused on reaching the courtyard that she only barely noticed the blurry form of someone in her way, someone who wasn’t moving aside even as Lynet came crashing through—
The breath slammed out of her as she collided with someone, both of them falling to the ground. Lynet hissed in pain as the burn on her right palm met sand, but she had mostly fallen on top of the other person.
She immediately started to scramble away, but then she paused, her arms holding her up as she looked down at the girl she’d run into, the girl who hadn’t moved aside even when Lynet had come hurtling toward her—
After all those uncertain sightings, she’d found Nadia at last.
26
LYNET
At first they just stared at each other, both of them wide-eyed with disbelief. And then Nadia reached up and gently brushed her fingers against Lynet’s cheek, testing to see if she was real. Her eyes lit up when her fingertips met solid flesh.
“Lynet?” Nadia whispered.
The sound of her name broke Lynet out of her trance, and she remembered that she was supposed to be escaping—and that she was still awkwardly positioned over Nadia. She quickly rose from the ground, as did Nadia, who was still staring at her in awe. No wonder Nadia hadn’t moved aside when Lynet was running toward her—she probably thought she was seeing a ghost.
Lynet’s frantic run had caught up with her; her chest hurt, her legs wobbled, and her head spun from getting up so suddenly. She glanced over her shoulder, looking for any sign of Gregory. “I can explain everything later,” she said to Nadia, “but right now I need somewhere to hide.”
Nadia didn’t answer. She was looking at Lynet in a daze, perhaps still not entirely convinced she was real.
Lynet took Nadia’s hand and pressed it firmly. “Nadia, please. Gregory—Mina’s father—is looking for me, and I’m too weak to run.”
Nadia had been looking down at their joined hands, but at the sound of the magician’s name, her head snapped up, her eyes focused and clear. “I won’t let him find you,” she said. Keeping hold of Lynet’s unburned hand, Nadia led her farther down the walkway, taking her through the side door of the main building that Lynet had visited on her first night here.
They were approaching the foot of the giant staircase when Nadia suddenly froze and pushed Lynet back into a small alcove in the wall, shielding her from view with her own body.
“What are you—”
Nadia shushed her, and Lynet heard Gregory’s voice echoing in the large hall. He must have gone around and come in through the front gate—if she had reached the courtyard, she might have collided with him instead of Nadia. She quickly huddled behind Nadia’s tall frame as she heard Gregory describing her to someone, asking if she had been seen. And then she heard his faltering footsteps coming toward them. Nadia leaned back against the opening of the alcove, and Lynet tried to make herself as small as she could. Surely Gregory would walk past them without a second glance—
But his footsteps stopped right by their alcove, and Lynet’s heartbeat was so loud, she could barely hear him when he spoke. “Oh, it’s you,” he said. Lynet couldn’t see the damage she had done to his hand, but his voice was hoarse and ragged. “What are you doing here?”
Did he recognize Nadia from Whitespring? Lynet had thought he had already been away before Nadia arrived, but maybe she was mistaken.
“The queen sent me,” Nadia answered, her voice stiff.
Gregory scoffed. “She found out, didn’t she? Ah, well, it hardly matters now.” His voice lowered. “Listen, I don’t have time for questions, but come to the old church behind the university tonight. I have a new task for you.”
Nadia hesitated for only the space of a breath, and then she nodded.
Gregory continued on his way, and when he was out the door, Nadia let out a long exhale. She turned to Lynet, her face tense with dread, but she didn’t move aside. “I can explain,” she said.
Lynet hadn’t understood the full meaning behind Gregory’s words, but her skin prickled with suspicion as she took in Nadia’s guilty expression, and she felt the same as when she’d overheard Mina and her huntsman in the chapel. She recognized the bitter taste in her mouth as betrayal. “Let me out,” Lynet said, her voice low.
“He described you to people. If you run out of here now, someone will recognize you.”
Lynet was having trouble breathing in the close confines of the alcove. Her muscles were itching for movement. “Move,” she said, with a note of rising panic this time.
Nadia reached for her arm. “At least let me—”
Something about Nadia’s hand coming toward her made Lynet lash out. She tried to knock Nadia’s arm aside, but her right palm screamed with pain as soon as she made contact. For a moment, she only saw red, and she sank to her knees, the last of her strength leaving her, and cradled her hand against her chest.
She didn’t notice at first that Nadia had stepped away from the alcove, no longer blocking the way. Run, part of her urged, but she was so tired, so dizzy, and the truth of Nadia’s words was now apparent: if she tried to run, she wouldn’t get very far.
“Please listen,” Nadia whispered, crouching down at Lynet’s side. “You’re hurt, and you’re exhausted, and I can take you somewhere safe to help you with that burn. I’ll explain everything, and then … if you never want to see me again, I’ll understand. But I won’t hand you over to anyone. If I had wanted to do that, I could have done it a moment ago.”
The red haze of pain started to fade, as did the mounting panic from earlier. And now Lynet just tried to think. Gregory had said this disoriented feeling would pass in time, and time was what she really needed—time to heal, to rest, to wait until darkness could hide her features from anyone who might recognize her by Gregory’s description. But what was this understanding between Gregory and Nadia? Could she trust Nadia now? Then again, Nadia was right—if she had wanted to hand Lynet over to Gregory, she had already had the perfect opportunity to do so.