“Yeah,” Domenic answered. “Ellery was defending the alban in the eye when I got there.”
“And you know for sure she was defending it?”
He frowned. “What are you suggesting?”
“It seems to me if there’s anyone with the motive and means to play traitor, it’s Winter’s Chosen.”
Domenic balked. “Y-you can’t be serious. You all, you think this too?”
Iseul, Hanna, and Peak stared sheepishly at the carpet.
“Dom,” Peak said gingerly. “If we’re about to ask Hanna to go diving into the heads of every member of the Order, then I think it’s fair to consider the one person whose head we can’t get into. And you heard Caldwell in there.Winterwands? Can we really be sure where her loyalty lies?”
Only for Hanna’s sake did Domenic bear considering thatEllery might be the traitor. It felt wrong, not just to his logic, to his heart, but to every fiber of his being. The only reason he still found the strength to fight another day was because he knew—doubtlessly—that Ellery fought beside him.
But if the Dire Three each had counterparts, if this cataclysm was truly a war, what did that make him and Ellery?
Champions,the nation called them.
Domenic had always thought that title noble. Never before had it sounded so sinister.
He wrenched Valmordion from its sheath and cast a silencing enchantment over the office.
“You want to talk about loyalty?” he growled. “Ellery has sacrificedeverythingfor the sake of duty. And the second there’s suspicion, you’d point toher? The prophecy called for peace! That’s what she and I have been fighting for every day, together. And—”
“It’d be the oldest trick in the book,” Sharpe sneered, “to fool someone with a pretty face.”
Smoke leaked from Domenic’s breath. “Careful. I realize you’ve never thought much of me. But for you to rush to accuse who you feel is the most obvious suspect, despite all evidence otherwise? Are you deflecting, or areyoujust that much of a fool?”
Both Sharpes glowered at Domenic simultaneously, while the others only gaped.
Iseul squeezed Domenic’s shoulder. “You’re right, Dom. It doesn’t do any good to jump to conclusions.”
“And we do trust your judgment,” Peak said. “If you say Caldwell’s on our side, then we believe you.”
However apologetic they sounded, Domenic didn’t buy it. And Hanna didn’t even bother to reassure him. Her eyes narrowed as they flickered between Sharpe and Domenic, as if unsure she trusted either of them. Clutched against her chest, Syarthis’s muggy heat intensified the tobacco stench that permanently clung to the room.
Then Sharpe lifted Ballathim to the meeting minutes. A flame licked from the wand’s tip, and the papers erupted in an instant. He dropped them into the waste bin to burn.
“All of you, out,” he said firmly. “Except you, Mayes. You will stay, and you’ll start with me.”
XXVIIIDOMENICWINTER
“Domenic?Dom?”
Domenic resurfaced, his finger poised beside the last line he’d skimmed. “What?”
Ellery frowned from across the towers of yellowed wand registers between them. “I asked if you think we should’ve heard something about the vigil by now. It’s been almost an hour.”
Domenic swore it’d only been minutes since they’d sequestered themselves for their fourth day in a row in the Citadel library. But Ellery was right—as Domenic skimmed back through the endless cascades of fine print to where he’d started, he realized he’d already blown through several chapters.
“Didn’t Glynn say every eligible student registered?” he asked. “That’s a lot of candidates. It might just take time.”
“Or Ravfiri hasn’t found a wielder,” Ellery murmured. “Again.”
Domenic trained his focus back on the register. It did no good to worry. Someonewouldbond with Ravfiri, and as soon as they did, Domenic and Ellery would be summoned to meet them along with the Council.
Domenic almost pitied whoever they were. They had no idea what they’d really signed up for.
