A Poison Dark and Drowning (Kingdom on Fire #2)(82)

When Lambe had come to Whitechurch two days earlier with tales of his “vision,” Whitechurch had at first been hesitant to believe it. But he’d investigated on his own and located the Skinless Man. Every few hours since then, he’d watched and waited to see how R’hlem moved, what he did, if his days held a particular pattern. The rest of the Order was brought in to observe, and soon it became obvious that R’hlem had stationed himself. He was not moving.

Now would be the time to strike.

Blackwood sat beside me, but he might as well have been on the moon for all he acknowledged my presence. Since our arguments in the aviary and then the study, he’d become like a stranger. Fine. I could ignore him just as easily.

“The time has come.” Whitechurch melted the glass, returning it to a ball of water and draining it into the elemental pit.

Sorcerers began asking questions, but I’d a fair idea of what was coming. We’d march to R’hlem, the boys and I armed with our weapons. Several squadrons would protect our little group, forming a block on all sides. If we moved swiftly, without alerting the other Ancients, we could surround R’hlem and take him down. Yes, his psychic powers could be extraordinary—I knew that from firsthand experience—but with sorcerers attacking from every direction, he’d be overwhelmed. That would give us the opportunity needed to strike. And by us, I meant me.

It had been the queen’s particular wish that I strike the final blow.

My heart hammered to think about it. Even after all of this—Rook, Magnus’s mother, the death of so many people—even now I didn’t know if I had such an act inside me.

To kill one’s own father required something monstrous.

“How are we to approach him, sir?” Dee called.

“I believe I can be of service in that particular area,” a delicate, feminine voice said. Queen Mab stepped out of the shadows, arriving from Faerie between one heartbeat and the next. God knows how long she’d been listening. At least she’d worn a more modest gown for this occasion. The sleeves were long, her bosom fully covered, though the fabric still seemed to be woven from spider silk and dusted with moth-wing powder.

Blackwood stiffened. We both knew what was being suggested.

“My Faerie roads are the surest path across your country.” Mab twirled a piece of hair on a pale little finger. “You can be in the north after two hours of marching, and the Skinless Man won’t be able to track you.”

There was much happy murmuring among the sorcerers. I noticed Magnus in the crowd, deliberately facing away from the faerie queen. He’d put on his naval clothes once more, though he kept a black band tied about his upper arm to signify mourning. I knew he did not want anything to do with Mab. But needs must.

“Indeed,” Whitechurch said. “We join with Mab’s forces. We march north. We circle. We divide the Ancients and vanquish R’hlem. We end this war.” His voice boomed upon the obsidian walls. As one, the Order rose to its feet, the applause thunderous. Mab beamed and waved at the crowd, as though she’d won something.

“Do you think we’re ready?” I asked Blackwood. For the first time since the day of Fanny’s funeral, he looked at me straight on.

“We’ll have to be.” That was all I got from him.

—

THAT EVENING, I MADE MY WAY upstairs to the apothecary, half of which had already been scrubbed and packed away. Fenswick didn’t want the Order finding any of his “experiments.” He was squatting on the table, stacking bowls when I entered.

“I’m so sorry,” I said.

The hobgoblin only laid three bronze measuring spoons into a napkin and tied it up.

“I should have informed the Order myself.” He held a dried yellow flower of some kind to a candle flame and watched it burn. The smoke was cloyingly sweet, like incense. Maria came out of the back room, a few small objects gathered in her apron. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

“We’ve destroyed nearly everything dangerous.” She sniffed. I handed her my handkerchief, my initials embroidered upon it in blue thread. She blew her nose, then said, “I should go. If they find me out, you know what they’ll do.”

“Where can you go?” My heart wrenched at the idea.

“Maria shall come with me into Faerie,” Fenswick said, packing two velvet pouches into a little wooden box. “The roads can take her wherever she wishes.”

“Will you be all right?” she asked me.

“Of course.” I forced myself to mean it. I didn’t want to part with either of them, but keeping her and Fenswick safe was more important than anything else. Together, we finished cleaning the shelves, scrubbing out the evidence, and packing their few bags. Soon it was as if no one had been there. “Until we meet again, Miss Templeton,” I said.

Miss at least made her smile. “Until then.”

Maria tried to return my handkerchief, but I closed her fingers around it. “Give it to me next time,” I said.

I needed to pretend there would be another meeting.

“We must move quickly,” Fenswick said as Maria picked him up and shouldered her pack.

“One last thing.” She took her ax from its place by the door, though Fenswick grumbled about the iron. Then she walked to the corner of the room and, under Fenswick’s guidance, stepped gingerly into a line of shadow. They vanished at once.