The Shadowglass (The Bone Witch, #3)(45)
“I would like that very much. Is there anything else before we leave, milady?”
“A moment, if you will.” I closed my eyes and explored my mind, coming to rest on the door between myself and Fox. Painstakingly, sorrowfully, before I could make myself change my mind, I reinforced the strength of the barrier, separating any lingering traces of my thoughts from his.
He couldn’t be a part of this. Mykaela had access to the same runes I had, and it would be easier for her to verify that Fox knew nothing about what I choose to do from now on. This was the only gift I could grant him, the only way he could find some semblance of a normal life with Inessa as long as the threat of arrest and execution hung over my head.
For nearly five years, I had been connected to my brother, and the act of separating myself from him was almost physically painful. It felt like I was saying good-bye to a part of myself that I might never get back.
But even as I disentangled the last threads between our consciences, I waited for a sign, some acknowledgment that he was aware of what I was doing. But there was no angry tirade, no desperate plea for me to stop—nothing.
And so, not wanting to erupt into another fresh wave of tears after having already spent myself earlier that day, I fortified the wall between us and opened my eyes.
“Lead the way, Your Excellency.”
Everyone whose feet so much as touched Valerian territory was thoroughly questioned about the missing pages from Lady Tea’s writing. Councilor Ludvig had seen no one suspicious, nor had Lord Fox, Princess Inessa, and Lady Altaecia. Zoya disavowed any knowledge of the missing pages, though she and Lady Shadi were the last people in their vicinity before the theft was discovered. None of the elder asha were sighted near the asha-ka. The lone remaining maid, the young girl the Dark asha fondly called Farhi, took offense when I asked her.
“Are you suggesting that I am disloyal to my mistresses?” she demanded.
“No. I didn’t mean—”
“I am not! Once, in the past, I had been accused, and my innocence was proven. The Lady Tea—I do not always agree with her ideas, but she has always been good to me. She gave me sweets and food when it could have caused her trouble, and she took on chores without telling Mistress Parmina when I was sick. Even now I keep her room neat and tidy, so that when she returns, she cannot say I have been negligent in my duties.” She glared fiercely at me; even this far from her motherland, she polished her Drychta pride until it shone. “I stole nothing, and you will tell the Lady Tea when you see her that I repay my debts always, that my loyalty cannot be bought for a thousand shekels or even more.”
I started to doubt myself. Perhaps the bone witch had never intended to give me her full story. Perhaps the Dark asha herself had suppressed those final lines, denying everyone an ending until she could tell it on her own terms. Maybe—
No. I remembered the precise way she had summoned me, the painstaking measures she adopted, the cunning way she constructed contingencies atop contingencies. Her desire to see her story through to the end. She would not leave it half-finished.
My options depleted, I fell back to blaming myself. I could do little in battle. I was not a vaunted strategist like Lady Altaecia or the Isteran adviser. I had no resources I could offer, had nothing to my name but my prose. I was the protector of her words, and even there, in that simplest of tasks, I had failed.
It was my kinsman, Lord Garindor, who offered the most logical solution. “You know two things,” he pointed out. “The first, you must find Lady Tea to learn what you have lost. It’s not an easy task, but I have faith.”
“And what is the second?”
“There is someone here in Ankyo who seeks to sow discord and spread chaos. Perhaps an enemy of Lady Tea, one responsible for her imprisonment—perhaps even the murderer of her sibling or a catalyst of her murder. Did not her letters say that the young Likh had been poisoned by the Blight, despite the great pains taken to monitor their food and drink? There was a traitor among them there, and there may still be one now.”
Lord Fox and Princess Inessa took his words as seriously as I did. “We’re at a disadvantage,” the former muttered darkly. “We don’t have a Dark asha on hand to compel people or scry into their minds. I’ll talk to Zoya and Shadi and see what they can come up with.”
For now, there was little else to do but welcome the Yadoshans, who had just arrived at Ankyo. A score of regiments surrounded the city, camping out on the plains, their banners of crimson and navy flapping in the wind, while their representatives rode into the city to greet Empress Alyx. Yadoshans had never been formal, and from the roll of their shoulders and raised weapons, it was clear they were eager for a fight.
“First Minister Stefan says we are yours to command, pretty queen,” one of the men spoke, which was about as ceremonious as they managed. “I look forward to fighting the… Well, I’m not entirely sure if we’ll be fighting Drychta or the Faceless or both, but we’ll give either one as good as we got!”
The empress shot him a wan smile. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, Lord Knox. The enemy, for now, shall be the Drychta. King Kance has already left for the Hollow Mountains, and if we hurry, we can catch him before he knocks down the range.”
Lord Knox whistled. “We had a tussle or two with the Drychta a few months back at Mithra’s Wall, and King Kance was in the thick of it there as well. Doesn’t look like he’d be at home in a fight, that king, but the lad does a good enough job in battle despite his green blood. If I may be frank, I’m relieved. We’ve heard stories about what little Tea has been up to these days, and we’re not keen on facing her in battle—not just because she’s a friend, but also because we’ve seen the damage she can do on her lonesome.”