Incendiary (Hollow Crown #1)(68)

“That’s ingenious,” I say, and I feel the daggers I’ve stabbed in my own heart. “But how is this training for me?”

“Eager to get back into the fold,” Justice Méndez says, something like admiration in his deep voice. He continues leading me until we reach a plain back room. My heart has not stopped fluttering, and the hair on the back of my neck bristles as he grips my wrist. I gasp, but only for a moment because I see the key he withdraws from his pocket.

“I won’t hurt you, Renata,” he assures me softly.

Méndez unlocks the heavy door. There’s a narrow empty room. The bricks are stacked at odd angles like it was created to serve as a passage. My stomach tightens and I force myself to keep walking forward instead of running out. At the opposite end of the room is another door secured by a ten-cylinder lock. The justice covers the code as he turns the gears into place.

The strangest thing is that I no longer want to run. My proximity to this door fills me with ease. It settles in my bones and turns to heady excitement. The sensation that glides across my skin is so familiar and somehow new at the same time.

Justice Méndez glances at me once as the lock clicks open and out comes a soft white light.

It can’t be.

But I hurry in beside him and take in the sight.

His eyes are bright with the pulsing glow of alman stones. There are dozens of them in different shapes. Some polished into perfect spheres and others jagged pieces ringed with metal wire. Stones as small as pebbles and as large as boulders. There’s the bottom half of a statue that must have once graced a temple for Our Lady of Shadows. Pillars split in half and pulsing veins of rock still covered in dirt.

Pure alman stone. More than I’ve ever seen in my life.

“I always did love your face when you were surprised, Ren. Do you know what these are?”

I let his words slide over me. If he really knew me he’d know it isn’t surprise, but horror at seeing these crystals. Smiling hurts, but I do it.

“Illan told us all the alman stones were gone,” I say. “Pulverized and thrown into the sea.”

Méndez reaches down to pick one up. It’s shaped like a cube, but too large for dice. Perhaps it was a weight or a decoration on an altar. “He’s not wrong. A few years ago we found one temple that was untouched.”

“Where?” I ask, before I realize I shouldn’t. I sound too eager.

But Méndez remains fascinated by the pulsing light in the stone. My fingers itch at the concentration of memories in this room. I’ve been around alman stone before, and it’s never been like this. There is so much about my power that I don’t know, still. Would this have been the feeling if I’d gotten to go to a temple?

“It no longer matters,” Méndez says, but the way he avoids my stare suddenly tells me he’s lying. What are they doing with all of this? He gestures to the stone again. “We did manage to carve King Fernando a new throne. Our last Robári found the memories encapsulated within it were gone. Do you know why that is?”

I can’t be sure if it’s a test or not, so I have to answer with the only truth I know. “The brighter ones have the sharpest memory. The ones that have weak pulses have begun to fade over time. Though it is said to take years, sometimes decades, for a memory to fade. The throne must have been stripped of its memories.”

He seems pleased with my knowledge, and I know I’ve answered correctly. With his free hand, he grips my shoulder. “You were always a clever pupil.”

I would laugh at this choice of words if it wouldn’t turn into a sob. “Thank you, my justice.”

“Now I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

“You understand that the king was not pleased yesterday.” Méndez’s eyes flick to my hand.

“I’m sorry I embarrassed you in front of the king.”

“As long as you are true to your word, I will protect you.” He cups the side of my face, a gesture he once used to calm me as a child. I was always afraid of the dark. He’d say, There is nothing there, my sweet. There are only shadows. But he was wrong. There were things there. The start of the Gray.

“What do you need of me?”

“The Moria have turned some citizens into traitors. It is imperative that we know who they might be and what they are planning next.”

“A spy?” I am pleased with the surprise in my voice. “Why not use the Hand of Moria? Gather all who live in the palace and have their minds skimmed by a Ventári.”

“The spy will know we’re aware of them. I expect the Whispers to retaliate, and I will not see this kingdom destroyed by them once again. We cannot accuse anyone of noble birth without proof. The other lords are quite troubled by the fate of Lord Las Rosas.”

“But, my justice,” I say, carefully, so as to not provoke doubt in my commitment. “My injuries. How will I take memories?”

“You won’t. Not yet.” He sifts through the collection of alman stone. There’s a crystal the size of a cherry strung on a copper chain. It must have been intended for a Persuári. Now Justice Méndez offers it to me. “You are to be my eyes and ears in the palace. Speak to no one. Do you understand? No one can know of what you’re doing.”

I realize I’m frowning because he asks, “Is this out of your abilities?”