Page 133 of The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy

“Who told you?” asked Lorelei.

“How many of them?” asked Haven.

The questions were predictable. Aurienne frustrated everyone, including herself, by not having answers. “It was an anonymous tip-off. All I know is that the Dreor are on their way to Swanstone.”

“We must prepare as though their arrival is imminent,” said Verity.

“What do they want?” asked Lorelei.

“The children,” said Saophal.

Abercorn’s puffin, with an alarmed ruffle of his feathers, asked, “Has every infected child been moved out of Cygnet House?”

“We finished the last transfers a few days ago,” said Lorelei. “All of them are in the fortress.”

“Good,” said Verity. “Anyone still there—apprentices, staff—should be brought within Swanstone’s walls. With our wards, the fortress is impenetrable.”

Prendergast’s hartebeest lowered his horns towards Verity in a bow. “Thank Fria we’ve got the Wardens here.”

Cath nodded. “If any of you are injured, you’ll be set to rights immediately.”

“We’re negotiating additional Wardens with Dinadan,” said Saophal. “We’ll send word to the Leyfarers and Ingenauts. And we’ll try the Hedgewitches.”

“My master will advise the King of the Danelaw that another Order is committing an act of aggression on his territory,” said Prendergast’s hartebeest. “He may send aid.”

“Swanstone-on-Sea should be evacuated,” said Verity.

“Agreed,” said Saophal.

“Right,” said Aurienne. “We’ve got a plan. Let’s execute it.”

Things did not go entirelyaccording to plan. About an hour after the meeting, Cath ran into Aurienne in the courtyard and asked, “Has Xanthe returned yet? I haven’t seen Prendergast. Where are our Heads?”

At that moment, a blue-white ibex glimmered into existence between Verity and Haven.

“Whose deofol is that?” asked Cath.

“I think it’s Dinadan’s,” said Aurienne, given that several other Wardens had dropped what they were doing and gathered around it.

She and Cath joined the circle, hoping to hear a curt confirmation from Dinadan that the Heads of the Haelan Order and more Wardens were on the way from Tintagel Castle.

Instead, the ibex flattened his ears and told the Wardens, “The situation has deteriorated. The Dumnonian queen is advancing on Tintagel Castle with her army. The Warden Order has been accused of treason. We are to be eradicated where we stand.”

It was rare for Wardens to show much emotion, but all of them took a step back in shock. “What?”

“What about Xanthe and the other Heads?” asked Aurienne.

“Stuck at Tintagel Castle, along with all of us,” said the ibex. “The waystone has been smashed.”

Saophal, Xanthe’s deofol, materialised at Aurienne’s shoulder with a muffled swear. “Hel. The Dumnonian army is literally at Tintagel’s doorstep. None of the Heads can leave.”

“We just heard,” said Cath.

“How many Dumnonian troops are advancing on Tintagel?” asked the Warden called Ataraxia.

“Several thousand,” said Dinadan’s ibex.

“This timing is strategic,” said Aurienne. “The Dumnonian queen pinned the Wardens down to make sure Swanstone didn’t have a full complement of them against the Dreor.”