Disorientation cloudedmy mind as I woke. It took a few heartbeats to remember where I was. The Carlyle. Ember’s room. I turned over in bed, expecting to find her next to me, where I’d left her last night, but she was gone.
I glanced at the clock. It was only six, but if she was up, I should be up. My muscles felt heavy and overused as I pushed out of bed, dragging my hand over my face. I didn’t bother with clothes. Ember had two robes that hung on hooks in her bathroom; I’d seen them last night. One was missing.
I took the one that was left, a silk, floor length number in aubergine, with a beautiful print of chrysanthemums. I wondered if she knew they stood for comfort in times of grief. If that was why she’d chosen this robe, to wrap comfort around her lonely heart.
If the previous night had taught me anything, it was that Ember Verona was as lonely as I was—probably lonelier. She thought everyone would leave her. Trusted no one to want her, or to stay. As I wrapped her robe tightly around my waist, the resolve within me strengthened. I wouldn’t be the one to walk away.
It was all right if she decided she didn’t want this or couldn’tdo it. But I wasn’t going anywhere; I’d meant what I’d said to her. I’d wanted this for longer than I’d previously been able to admit. Now that I had even the smallest taste of what it might be like to have her for real, to truly partner with her, I wasn’t going to give up my place by her side easily.
I padded down the hallway, making my way towards the office, where I could hear voices. From the snippets of conversation that I could make out, it was obvious that everyone already knew about the Rosewood, what we’d found at Cromvale’s apartment, and how we planned to disable the spirit traps.
I made a detour and headed for the kitchen. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have without coffee. Briony found me a few minutes later, as I finished pulling espresso shots.
“Hey,” she said, so casual it was difficult to conjure up images of the way I’d found her.
The teenager wore an oversized sweatsuit with a label I recognized as an expensive clothing brand, which meant that she’d been allowed to shop. Or that someone had shopped for her. Rhiannon, if I had to guess. Her dark hair was pulled up into a messy knot atop her head, and she wore big fluffy slippers and a pair of glasses.
I watched as she poured herself a cup of coffee, dumped a shitload of milk and creamer into it, and then topped it with whipped cream from a bowl she pulled out of the fridge. Stanley trailed behind her, once again in tomcat form. He hissed once at me as he passed, but Briony hushed him, almost absentminded as she went about her business.
“Do you like it here?” I asked when she’d finished dumping chocolate sprinkles onto her whipped cream topping. There was enough sugar in the concoction to make my teeth ache, just looking at it.
She glanced up at me. “Yeah. I like the Maere. I’m excited to ascend… eventually.”
I nodded. “And has anyone talked to you about what happens next?”
Briony sighed, like I was the most annoying person in the world to her. “Ares, get to the point, please.”
I suppressed a laugh. This childdidfit in with the Maere. But better than that, she seemed to be doing all right, despite all she’d been through. I needed to make sure she was okay, but I sensed asking outright might not be the move. “Do you want to stay with them? Do they want you to stay?”
She gave me an odd look, like my questions were ridiculous. “Yes. Ember asked me to stay the first night. They’ve all said I can live with them… wherever they go next.”
Briony walked out of the kitchen. I grabbed my mug and followed her. “Wherever they gonext?”
The teenager shrugged as she wandered back into the office. “Ask them yourself.”
“Are you planning to move?” I asked as Briony took a seat on a couch next to a giant pinboard and Ember.
Clearly, plans were being made for a few different things. Lara sat on a matching leather chesterfield, directly opposite them. No one else was in the office.
Ember smiled at me, her cheeks flushing a little as she took in what I was wearing. “It’s a possibility. Given what we’ve learned about the cult of Chiore, combined with some other factors… it feels like leaving official Consulate ground might be wise.”
I nodded, glancing at the pinboard. There was an entire column devoted to the island, a group of missing Maere, and the mysterious “Mother.” I knew what part she’d played in all this, so far, but…“Who is Mother?”
Lara took a big deep breath, but Briony was the one who answered. “We don’t know. She’s portrayed herself as a Consulate plant inside the Authority. Ember thinks she might be one of the missing Maere. They elected to leave the island, rather than remaining trapped there for eternity or reincarnating as guardians.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, unsure why Briony was answering me.But Ember simply smiled and nodded. She was obviously proud of Briony for having absorbed so much of what was happening. Seeing her with the girl softened something inside me, much as it seemed to have softened her. Ember liked being a mentor. That much was clear.
Lara sat back, watching Briony carefully, as though assessing something about what she had said. Her posture was relaxed, but her expression was avid. Something bothered her.
Finally, she spoke, leaning forward to place her elbows on her knees, her chin resting in her hands as she stared at the board. “I don’t think Mother is the one who stole the swords—I mean, I know that we suspect the Chiorics were the ones who orchestrated that, but I don’t think Mother is affiliated with them.”
I sipped my coffee, nodding to show that I understood. But from the way Ember and Briony had perked up, this wasn’t information they’d already discussed. Lara was simply continuing the discussion.
It was comfortable the way they’d accepted that I was a part of this now. I didn’t even mind that we’d gotten off topic, and no one had explained to me if they were planning to move out of this place.
Lara got up and took a big piece of paper from the printer by the windows. She pinned it to an empty spot on the pinboard. It was the same web of dates as what Ember and I had found the night before. But now, the dates had labels. I set my mug down on the coffee table and went to look at what she’d produced.
A few dates were crossed out, like the ones Ember had recognized as thwarted plans. Those had been labeled with both the perpetrator that Lara had eliminated, along with their intended victim, and whether they were alive or dead at this juncture. Everything else was a dizzying array of parapsych murders, but quite a few dates were empty.
