I would have loved to demonstrate my skills right then, preferably on him. “Yes, reasonably well.”
A grunt followed that. “Do you have any special access to Endrick’s court?”
Lately? “I highly doubt it.”
A longer grunt, to be sure I heard it. Then, “Is it true, that you lost the Olden Blade?”
I’d had enough. Rolling my eyes as visibly as possible, I said, “It is true that I am the Infidante, and I will do my best to succeed in my quest.”
Loelle stepped forward, addressing Wynnow. “The Infidante is tired. Perhaps you would show her to her quarters?”
“Of course.” Wynnow dismissed the men who descended the stairs while we continued up.
In a voice not nearly as quiet as it ought to have been, Loelle said to me, “Don’t worry about what anyone here thinks, you’re doing fine. Among other flaws, Brillians are not patient. They don’t understand that you need time to figure out your magic.”
“I’m not patient either,” I snapped, then took a breath. If she was a friend to me, then Loelle was one of the few I had. I couldn’t afford to lose her help. In a calmer voice, I added, “Wynnow isn’t the only one who’s wondering if I can complete this task, or how my magic might manifest. I doubt myself more than anyone.”
Loelle put an arm around my shoulders. “Maybe they couldn’t figure it out inside the carriage because your magic won’t fit in such a small place. Tomorrow, we’ll try something on a bigger scale.”
I knew she intended that to comfort me, but it had the very opposite effect. I kept hearing Simon’s words in my head, that the more powerful I became, the more dangerous I would be if I turned bad.
When I turned bad.
Loelle said nothing more while Wynnow finished escorting me to the south wing of the palace. She opened the door for me, revealing a room far more elegant than anyplace I’d ever been, even when I was recognized as Sir Henry’s daughter. The ceiling was tall and painted to resemble the clouds in the daytime and to produce starlight at night, as it did now. The curtains were shear and radiated various pastel colors at different angles. The carpets were soft and thick, but nothing to compare with the bed that beckoned me to enter and disappear within its blankets. How I longed just to sleep.
Wynnow said, “I’m sorry for what happened in the carriage, and for the ill manners of the men who greeted us. That was about me, not you. My mother is disappointed that my joining the Coracks has not produced quicker results, and I’ve passed that burden on to you.”
So Brillians even spurned their own. I said, “The burden was already mine. I’m the one who must complete the quest. All that the rest of you can do is hold our battle lines until I do my part.”
“Agreed.” Wynnow stepped in closer. Her eyes gave the appearance of sympathy, but something deeper in them was calculating the exact words she wanted. “And we will do our part until you can use magic. But you must remain here to learn it, no matter what is happening to our friends in Antora. If you leave before you’re ready, you could become the reason the rebellion fails.”
As she’d intended, her words struck me like a hot iron. They triggered another memory in me, similar words that had come from Lord Endrick.
I’d be his wolf among the Coracks.
Unaware that my heart was nearly pounding out of my chest, Wynnow wished me a goodnight and I stumbled into my bedroom, shutting the door, then sliding to the floor beside it.
I was the reason the rebellion would fail.
My hand flew to my throat, to where Endrick’s necklace had been. My eyes closed, and I tried to collect the memory. It was the necklace. What was the necklace?
With the question came the answer, twisting deeply in my gut. Endrick’s words returned to my mind, almost perfectly. This gift will register everything you see and hear while you are with the Coracks. Once I get it back, I will have the means to find the Olden Blade. Then I will destroy them all.
“My lady?” Loelle’s voice on the other side of the door accompanied her knock.
I flew to my feet and flung the door open, words tumbling from my mouth. “Before I was rescued from the Dominion camp, my necklace was pulled off. Someone would have found it and it will make its way back to Lord Endrick. I know what the necklace was for.”
Loelle’s eyes darted to either end of the corridor, then she pushed past me inside the room and shut the door behind us. “You must be more cautious, my lady.”
I shook my head. “Loelle, that necklace was collecting information about the rebellion. Everything I’ve seen, everything I know. It will destroy them.” I started to open the door again. “I have to warn them!”
Loelle grabbed my hand and held it tight, then took a deep breath. “I wasn’t going to show you this, but I think I must.” With her free hand, she reached into a pocket of her overcoat and withdrew the necklace.
At first, I froze, incredulous at not only seeing it again, but seeing it with her, of all people. “You had it? How?”
“Wynnow had it. She pulled it from your neck that night, knowing it would force you to enter the Blue Caves to survive. When we stopped in Snowbourne, I stole it from her satchel, to protect it. It’s safe from the Dominion now.”
I exhaled an enormous breath of relief. Whatever else I’d done, at least the necklace was in Corack hands.