“And why,” Nox interjected, finally tearing their gaze away from the gilded mirror on the other side of the room they kept staring at, “was he reviewing it all now?”
They picked up a few loose sheets from the desk, ones that Kit had pushed aside in order to get to the journals underneath. “These are dated only a few months ago, from just after he would have returned from the Crucible.”
The notes were messy, thoughts scrawled in all directions, with lines and swirls and loops decorating the spaces between, as though Lord Church had been doodling as he thought.
Kit’s pulse picked up as Tenebris read aloud. “ ‘He has returned a victor yet there is but half a prize. Without the crown, how will power besecured? He must be kept close. Closer than ever.’Mmm, that doesn’t sound ominous or anything.”
Tenny’s voice was shaky when she said, “Keep reading. What else does it say?”
The nocterrian flipped to the next page. “ ‘He draws the eyes of the people. Their favor. Their faith. He could be more than just a sword. But he is raw still. Too headstrong. Too distracted by the memories of the Crucible. By the bond he must have forged within. If I cannot steer him, then I must chain him. Portentia has—’ ” The nocterrian cut themself off with a clearing of their throat.
“Portentia haswhat?” Tenny said, snatching the papers from their hands. “ ‘Portentia has adored him since they were children. She is pliable. He is honorable. Use that.’What in all four hells is he talking about?” She dropped the parchment as if it had suddenly burned her. “Is this what all his insane marriage talk has been about? I tried not to lend it credence, hoping it would blow over. Ric and I never even spoke about it.” She blew out a long breath, a disbelieving laugh. “I know I’m hardly the person who holds his affection lately.”
Kit bit her lip. “Tenny, I?—”
“Which is fine, truly! We have always been better as friends. I even told my father as much. I thought he had simply gotten it in his head that we would make a good match because Ric is the Lord Victor now. I thought it was because he wanted me to elevate our position. Not because he wanted to ‘chain’ Ric to us—tohim.”
Her mind whirring, Kit gave Tenny a sympathetic look, then turned to Nox, whose jaw had tightened as they read over the final page in their hands with a grim expression.
“What now?”
“This last one makes little sense. I think we must be missing something.”
“Let me see,” Kit said, pulling the paper from Tenebris Nox’s indigo grip. Her blood immediately ran cold. “This is dated less than two weeks ago.”
“Yes,” they replied.
“What does it mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“What? What does it say?” Tenny huffed.
“ ‘The distraction must be dealt with. We have run out of time. The search for the other half of the crown has been inconclusive, and without the crown, there is only one way to secure the power we need.’ ”
“What thefuck”—Tenny whispered the word, as if she wasn’t used to saying it aloud—“is he talking about?”
Nox didn’t answer. Their eyes flicked back to that gilded mirror, then to the closed office door, their posture suddenly stiffening.
“What—”
“Shh,” they said, their hands immediately going to the desktop, replacing the journals they’d been flipping through and spreading the loose sheets of paper over them.
Panic seized Kit’s chest as her ears pricked with the sound of bootsteps striding down the corridor. “Shit,” she rasped.
Tenny took in the panicked look on Kit’s face, the flurry of movement from the nocterrian, realization replacing the look of confusion she’d been wearing. “Someone’s coming.”
Nox nodded, ushering the two women over to the wall, misty shadows swirling at their feet. They placed a single blue finger over their lips before their hand went to Kit’s hip, drawing her against them, the other gripping Tenny’s shoulder.
Kit was pulled into the quiet fold of magic with nothing but the feel of Tenebris Nox’s hand and the sound of her own unsteady breath in her ears. The three of them melted into the shadows just as the heavy office door creaked open and Lord Paramount Leviathan Church walked into his office, cane thudding on the floor.
Past the swirling blackness, as though she were looking through a veil, Kit could just make out the lord’s form as he crossed the room, his head turned toward the desk. Kit held her breath. Did he remember the exact state of dishevelment he’d left the room in? Would he know someone had touched it?
With a startle, Kit realized she was still gripping that final page in her hands, the wrinkled piece of parchment suddenly feeling more like a warrant for arrest.
The lord did not linger at his desk, though. Kit had to keep herself from sighing audibly when he took another few steps toward thewindow, closing the heavy curtain and dousing the room further into darkness. Nox’s grip tightened on Kit’s hip, and she thought perhaps they were thinking the same thing she was.We can use all the shadows we can get right about now.
Even with her sharp fae sight, though, between the darkness of the room and the veil of nocterrian shadow magic, it was difficult to discern exactly what the lord did next.
