Huge’s eyes darted from me to Trina, then in a low voice he said, “There is no Lonetree Camp. It’s been destroyed.”
My heart stopped. “Dominion?”
When Huge nodded, Trina leaned forward. “What happened to the Coracks who were stationed there?”
Huge gave her a knowing look but said nothing. Too many other listeners were around.
“Was Tenger there?” I asked.
Huge’s eye briefly shifted to Mindall, then he slowly nodded.
Near me, Gabe mumbled something. I leaned in and asked him to repeat himself, but he only said, “Tell him, Huge.”
I looked up to Huge for an explanation, but his gaze shifted across the group. I stood and said to Trina, “Keep an eye on Gabe. Huge, come with me.”
“If he has something important to say, he should say it to all of us,” Mindall said. “I am in command here, after all.”
“But this is Corack business,” Harlyn said, which earned her a harsh glare from her father. He started to scold her, but I wasn’t around for that. Huge and I had already walked away.
A small tent had been set up near King’s Lake, which was a long walk, but it was the one place where I knew we’d be alone, especially as the other fighters were waking up to begin morning preparations. Once inside the tent, I folded my arms and squared my body to Huge. “Tell me everything.”
He took a deep breath. “The Dominion has never known where Lonetree was—that’s what made it such a strong camp. Their soldiers plowed straight through it, emptying it within minutes. Our hope is that most of our people escaped, but we know the Dominion captured quite a few of them.”
I shifted my weight while I let that sink in. “How could the Dominion have found it?”
“Gabe knows Dominion technology better than any other Corack, and he has a theory about the necklace that Kestra wore. He believes it might have been some sort of tracker, registering everything Kestra was seeing in that camp. It must have been something like that, because the Dominion breached every security system we had. They knew about the tunnels and how to navigate them. They knew our escape routes, our hiding places. They had to have inside knowledge about what to expect.”
“Then that necklace was taken from her in the Dominion camp.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “We should’ve gotten to her before they could take it.” No, I should have gotten to her. I should have come.
“We did get to her by then,” Huge said. “I saw them drag Kestra out from her father’s tent, with the necklace. But it was gone by the time Wynnow rescued her.”
My eyes narrowed. “Are you saying that Wynnow took the necklace?” Huge shrugged, but I continued, speaking aloud my thoughts as they came to me. “Wynnow wanted Kestra to go to the Blue Caves. If she removed the necklace, she’d force Kestra to go there, to save her life.”
“But she couldn’t have known that removing the necklace would kill Kestra,” Huge said. “None of us could have sensed its magic.”
I couldn’t answer that, but I was beginning to piece together the clues. She and Trina had worked closely together back at Lonetree Camp. If Wynnow had wanted to send a message to the Halderians, she might have written that note on Trina’s notepad, especially if she wanted to divert suspicion to Trina. Trina also could have told Wynnow where my mother lived, information she might have passed on to the Dominion. The night Kestra poisoned me, Trina and Gabe were searching for us together. Wynnow was missing for that entire night. She easily could have made contact with the Dominion during that time.
And when he was attacked, hadn’t Gabe overheard the Ironhearts saying the Corack traitor was female?
“Where is Kestra now?” The tension in my body came through in the urgency of my voice.
Huge shrugged. “Tenger would’ve sent her somewhere safe to recover—”
“With Wynnow.”
“We’re getting ahead of ourselves,
” Huge said. “This is all speculation. There’s no proof.”
“No, but there’re plenty of reasons to make sure Kestra isn’t alone with Wynnow. Who knows what might happen?”
“Simon—” Trina ducked her head through the tent door.
“I’ve got to find her and pray it’s not too late.”
“Simon!” Trina said, more firmly. “Listen!”
I did and heard the first shouts from the Reddengrad guards at watch. The Dominion had returned, and we were out of tricks. We could not expect any Corack reinforcements, and our one hope for success—Kestra arriving with the Olden Blade in hand—probably wouldn’t happen. Not if Wynnow had betrayed us.