“A few times?” Althy quipped. “At least a hundred times is my best guess, and that is a conservative estimation.”
“I recall many nights in my youth misspent because of all the trouble you talked Althy and me into,” Mykaela chimed in.
Polaire rolled her eyes. “Fine, I am the scoundrel of this bunch. But I stumbled upon the rune quite by accident when I was your age, Tea.”
“Did you find it in a book?” Kalen asked.
Polaire shook her head. “I came upon it at Mistress Clayve’s study actually. She was the former head of House Imperial before Hestia took over, more than ten years ago. We had our dance exams, and I thought I had made a bad mess of it. So when an opportunity arose and I found her study unguarded, I snuck in to see my results, possibly to change any unsatisfactory scores and criticisms. I found several papers on the rune on her desk. It gave comprehensive details of its usage and effects. I had never been a good student, even at my best, yet it burned itself into my brain—I could not forget it if I had wanted to. I suspected that it was forbidden, and perhaps that was its appeal. I never thought to use it until recently, when Mykaela grew worse and I was desperate.”
I felt cold. “But why would the elder asha have a Faceless’s rune?”
“I was foolish enough to ask Mistress Clayve then,” Polaire snorted. “She nearly went into hysterics at the question. She refused to answer and dumped chores on me in retaliation. I snuck into her study again afterward, but the papers were gone. They were nowhere to be found, no matter how hard I searched.” She gazed steadily at me. “Do you think there is a connection?”
“There has to be. This cannot be a coincidence.” Hidden runes wielded by Dark spellbinders, lost over time—deliberately—by the asha, to prevent Dark witches like us from rising too high. I felt sick to my stomach, remembering Aenah’s words.
Althy shook her head. “But why would they hide such runes from us? I have made my own inquiries into the matter like you asked, Tea. I could find nothing incriminating.”
Mykaela frowned. “Althy says that they have been very vocal about us since you left Daanoris. The empress refused to allow them to see us, but they were very persistent.”
The plump asha sighed. “It is still not a sign of guilt, but it is obvious there are details they are hiding from us. Not surprising, really.”
Zoya frowned. “The association has been a thorn in our side since Likh. There must be a reason for their meddling. Did Aenah give you any reasons, Tea?”
“No, unfortunately. Just that they wanted to control what Dark asha can do to some extent.”
“Perhaps it is prudence?” Althy suggested. “The book is proof enough that some runes shouldn’t be drawn.”
“I think it’s more than that though. Aenah hinted that there was some big secret they didn’t want us to know.”
Empress Alyx paced back and forth. “There is still the matter of Prince Kance’s illness and the Duke of Holsrath on the throne in Telemaine’s stead. We cannot afford to divide Kion when there is still Odalia to deal with. We can deal with the elders afterward.”
“Kance takes priority,” Kalen said tersely. “Khalad, how quickly can you re-create an urvan for the prince?”
“I should have everything done by tonight.”
“Which brings us to another problem,” Zoya said. “How exactly do you propose to sneak back into Odalia when practically every armed person there is after us, knowing full well that someone has woven compulsion over many of the soldiers and possibly over the king himself?”
“Wasn’t that Usij’s doing?” Likh asked.
Zoya replied, “I’m not sure yet. If someone else is controlling the men there, whether or not it’s Holsrath’s doing or if the duke was under Usij’s thrall, it pays to come prepared for any eventualities.”
“I’m impressed, Zoya,” Polaire said. “You actually thought this through.”
“We flew thousands of miles on the back of a dragon to reach a kingdom where an emperor had forcibly kept us hostage in a warded palace. I want the odds to be better for us next time.”
While Zoya, Polaire, and the empress worked out the details, I drifted toward the small veranda, and Fox followed, his expression somber. “Do you still feel the azi?” he asked me.
“In a fashion. I’m sorry. I know I messed up, Fox. I wasn’t thinking straight, and I worried you more than I should have.” I took a deep breath. “But you kept secrets from me too, you know.”
“Ours were not the same, Tea. Yours had greater repercussions—”
“Really? You still think that after being involved with a princess who has had two royal engagements to powerful kingdoms? A princess who is breaking both because of you?”
He winced. “You have a point.”
We stared at the night sky for a few minutes before he spoke again. “Where do we go from here?”
I closed my eyes. “I don’t know. Do we still make it up as we go along?”
“Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?” He paused again. “Inessa wants to make our relationship public. The empress seems to like me at least, but the elder asha won’t feel the same way.”
“They’re going to look at this as a political move on my part—a way to exert more influence over the empress and her daughter,” I said.
“I know. And that’s why I’m breaking from our longstanding tradition of keeping secrets from each other and telling you first. If you think this makes life difficult for you at the Willows, then I’ll—”
“You’ll what? Turn her down? The last two years have shown me how easy it was for you to reject her.” I grinned at him. “I understand, and thanks. But you aren’t dead, Fox, so stop treating yourself like you are or like my life has more importance than yours. I don’t care what anyone else says. You have a heartsglass. You’re in love. You’re much more alive than other people I know. You know what it is to die, and that’s why every second of life has a sweetness that only you understand. You deserve a chance at living, and Inessa does too.”
He smiled wryly. “When did you get to be so wise?”
“I’ve had time to think about a lot of things. And it offsets some of my dumber moments.” I gave him a playful push. “Talk to her. Stop keeping your heart from her. She loves you enough to accept your flaws, and you do the same to her. Go on and prove the empress wrong and give me lots of cute nieces and nephews.”
He really colored this time. “I don’t even know if familiars are…ah, capable of—”
“Talk to the forger or to Khalad. They’re working miracles, so I don’t think one more challenge is going to stump them. Look at what they were able to do with Mykaela’s—”
I stopped, staring up at the sky in shock.
Mykaela’s heartsglass. Mykaela’s heartsglass. It all came back to where Vanor had hidden it, lost all these years. To save her, Polaire had given part of her heartsglass to Mykaela, the way Dancing Wind had given hers to Blade that Soars in the legend. Khalad and Shaoyun’s corpse, the forger’s intuition, his breakthrough, Khalad telling me once that Vanor loved Mykaela, though Vanor had refused to reveal her heartsglass’s location.
“Tea?”
“I need to talk to Khalad and the forger. I might know where Mykkie’s heartsglass is.” My hands tightened against the hem of my dress, knowing that my proposal would not be popular. “But to do that, we’ll have to return to Odalia as soon as possible.”
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