You should have seen the way he paced those halls, looking for you.
A sudden knock echoed from inside her room, saving her from answering his question.
“Emeline?” a voice called out from the other side of her door.
This is it.She pulled her hands from Pa’s.The king’s guards are here to drag me away.
“It’s Sable.”
Oh.Emeline pictured the golden-eyed girl stepping between her and the king, like a shield. Putting herself at risk by challenging him.
Why?
Walking back through her rooms, Emeline swung the door open.
Sable leaned against the adjacent wall, her head tipped back to the ceiling, her body radiating tension. When the door opened, she snapped to attention. Like a cornered wolf, she seemed suddenly wary.
Until her gaze fell on Emeline’s bruised throat.
The wariness fell away. Frowning, Sable pushed away from the wall. “Hawthorne never should have denied you.”
In one hand was a rolled piece of parchment; in the other, a black fountain pen. “Here.” She held them out to Emeline. “Write your letter.”
Emeline stared as the words sank in. “Is this a trick?”
Sable shook her head. “No trick. Hawthorne will deliver it tonight. I’ve ensured it.”
A featherlight feeling whooshed through Emeline. Maybe she could save her career after all.
Taking the parchment and pen, she ran to the desk near the windows, pulled out the chair, and sat on its green velvet cushion. Drawing in close, she pressed the parchment flat against the dark wood and wrote quickly.
She kept things vague: telling Joel she was safe, that she’d found her grandfather, and that she needed totake care of some things.She told him she’d be back before her tour and to please tell his dad not to do anything other than cancel her gigs before then.
Emeline blew on the ink, then folded the parchment once it was dry. Rising, she returned to Sable and handed it over.
“Rooke has persuaded the king to give you another chance,” said Sable. “But there’s one condition: he wants you to perform all eleven of the Mage’s songs.”
Eleven songs.She only knew four right now. “How much time do I have?”
“Your final demonstration will be at midnight in three days.”
Seven songs in three days.
Her heart plummeted into her stomach.
But if it would make up for her disobedience tonight, if it would set Pa free, Emeline would do it. She had to.
If the Wood King was willing to give her a second chance, Emeline wouldn’t screw it up. She would learn the rest of the Song Mage’s music, prove herself to the king, and save her grandfather.
And then she would escape.
Before turning to leave, Sable paused in the doorway. “My advice? Don’t defy him again.”
THE NEXT MORNING, EMELINE’Sfingers trailed the cool stone walls of the palace, her breath bunched tight in her chest as she walked to the crystal dome. She’d been practicing what to say when she saw Hawthorne. He would have delivered her letter to Joel by now, so it seemed only fair that she apologize for what happened in yesterday’s lesson.
We started off on the wrong foot,she would tell him.Let’s start over.
But when she stepped into the sparkling sunlight of the domed room, it wasn’t Hawthorne who awaited her. It was a small woman with bark-brown hair shorn close to her face.
