House of Salt and Sorrows(80)

“Where does it take you?”

I raised my shoulders. “Anywhere you want. You just have to think very hard of the place as you walk into the passage. It’s how we got to Pelage that night.” I inhaled sharply, piecing everything together. “And that’s how you were able to get there so quickly but be back in Astrea days later! You…flew,” I said, still unsure of what to call it.

“I’ve been in Salann since I arrived to take care of my father. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I blinked. “You were there. At the castle with the wolves and the People of the Hunt.”

He nodded. “I know where Pelage is, but I’m telling you, I’ve never been. It wasn’t me.”

I frowned, recalling that night, that first ball. A smile rose to my lips as I remembered his hands at my waist. “I’m certain it was. You had on a mask but—”

His eyes narrowed. “It wasn’t me.” Cassius turned away, pacing across a mosaic of the night sky. The stars twinkled beneath his feet. He suddenly whirled around. “Your shoes!”

“My shoes?”

“I just realized—you’ve been using this door to go to parties…you’re dancing through the shoes!”

I nodded. “We were all going at first, but I stopped that day in Astrea with Edgar…. I didn’t feel like dancing after that.”

“That’s why yours was the only pair not worn out at First Night.”

“Yes, but…the shoes don’t have anything to do with my sisters’ deaths.”

“Don’t they?” he asked, peering at me. “You truly think the killer is from Salten?”

“It has to be someone at Highmoor,” I murmured unhappily. “There was that awful storm the night Ligeia and Rosalie went missing. No one could have left the island during that.”

“Not by boat, certainly,” Cassius said. “But what if you’re not the only ones using this door?”

I was caught off guard by his reasoning, and my breath hitched, chilling me. It had never occurred to me the very door we’d been using to visit faraway castles and estates could be used by others to get to us. If anyone in Arcannia could gain admittance onto Salten, how would I ever be able to narrow down the suspects?

The train of postulants left the abbey, cutting across the courtyard and stalling our conversation. This time they were all aware of Cassius’s presence, dipping into solemn curtsies as they passed. He lowered his head, giving a short bow in response.

Too keyed up to remain still, I made my way past the archways and out into the tall grasses leading to the cliff. A temperate breeze swished by, rippling the skirt of my robe out behind me.

“I want to see this door,” Cassius said, coming up from behind me. “And one of these balls. Something about them isn’t right. I was never in Pelage. Someone…something might have been using my face to get closer to you.”

That choice of word again: something.

“You think the killer has been at the balls?” My stomach squirmed with a painful twist.

“Perhaps. Perhaps he saw your sisters there and…” He trailed off with a shrug.

“But Eulalie died before the balls started…. He would have to have known her from somewhere else.”

Cassius nodded, considering that. “I still want to go to one myself, look around and see what I can learn. They’re connected somehow, I’m sure of it. See if Camille is going out tomorrow night.” He wrapped his arms around my waist, leaning his chin on my shoulder. “We’ll figure this out, all right? You and I. You’re not on your own, Annaleigh.”

A warm, peaceful stillness fell over me. For a moment, the gray clouds above us parted, but rather than reveal a sunlit sky, the dark swirling cosmos of stars winked at us. A shooting star danced across the opening, but before I could point it out, Cassius’s lips descended on mine, and I forgot all about the sky.





“Would this work?” I asked, pulling out the sea-green ball gown from my armoire and holding it up for Camille’s inspection.

She wrinkled her nose. “No! You’ve worn that twice now, plus at Churning. This is a ball at Lambent! With the People of the Light! Fisher said everyone is meant to wear pale shades to honor Vaipany. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb in green.”

I settled the dress back onto the rack and shut the door. “Then I can’t go. I don’t have anything like that.”

She grabbed my hand. “Come with me.” Camille raced us down to her room and knelt beside her bed. She slid two enormous boxes out from under her duvet and handed me one. “Surprise!”

“What is this?” I gasped as I removed the lid. “Oh, Camille!” Nestled inside, on a bed of pale pink tissue paper, was the most exquisite gown I had ever seen. “Where did you get this?”

“Do you remember the ball at Bloem? With the People of the Petals?”

Of course I did. It was the single most opulent evening of our lives. There wasn’t an item in the whole of the castle not bedecked in pearls, jewels, or silver leaf.

“I had Mrs. Drexel make us dresses just like the ones I saw there. I picked them up in Astrea the night of the Churning pageant.” She swallowed. “Just before Rosalie and Ligeia…” When she met my gaze, her eyes were bright with unshed tears.