“You could,” Finn said. “But elvenborn spies are more skilled at doing this secretly. If you start investigating, this information will spread in the outposts and might reach the Order.”
Silence stretched for the better part of a minute.
“In Erisea,” Reagan went on, “I asked the Barrows if they knew any advocates who might know more. Alameda had ties to some of those people. A cousin of hers is deceased now, but she used to speak openly about the threats she received. Threats to her life. She said she doesn’t have contact with any advocates anymore. A few of those heads left the country. Others simply vanished. No records, no court listings, no way to contact them.”
“For what reason?” I asked, feeling their eyes boring into me. “If humans and hybrids are disappearing, what is being done to them?”
Reagan met my gaze, his fingers stopping their tapping on the table. “I don’t know yet, but we need to find out.”
Chapter 23
Jane
Joy was sound asleep in our room, her soft snores steady as I left.
All I wanted was to pass out in bed, but if I stayed, I wouldn’t sleep again. Between the nonsensical images and the memory of that night, I would rather stay awake. Lately, nothing kept me awake better than moving my body to music.
My bare feet made no sound as I crossed toward the second level ballroom, only for the smooth corridor beneath me to vanish.
Cobbles. Cold and uneven stone pressed into my soles.
I stopped short, blinking as the Hall’s corridor dissolved into a narrow alley. Buildings loomed close on either side and…people moved past me without faces. I stepped across the slick ground, the murmur of voices reaching me as if cotton filled my ears. I could make out the shape of a market, stalls and bodies pressed too close together, yet my vision felt unfocused.
There was no escaping this one, not when I was already awake.
One dark-haired man stood tall far ahead, half concealed by the sea of bodies milling about. It looked like Reagan. I waded through the crowd in his direction, but there was no real resistance, only noise. I deviated from the people anyway, trying to make my way alongside a brick wall.
No. Not brick. Stone, smooth and cold beneath my palms. I spun just as darkness pricked at the edges of my vision. The afternoon light, the wet cobbled street, the murmurs of the crowd all faded away.
It was the Hall’s corridor around me again, empty and dim.
I blinked, waiting to be somewhere else, but I wasn’t. Not asleep. Not in an alley. But in Mountheim Hall, in the corridor outside my chamber, staring at the sconce.
It took a minute or two before I began walking again, feeling the rug prickle beneath my soles.
It was happening, just as Laerune had warned me. The visions were coming to me outside of sleep, the same fractured scenes returning day after day. It was strange to realise my ring had been preventing all of this.
Ahead, the flames along the walls licked at the gloom, guiding the corridor toward the staircase. I kept my steps slow and cautious, skimming every corner like I was bracing for another sight to crowd my eyes.
That street hadn’t been familiar to me. It could have existed anywhere, judging by the buildings. And yet I had to admit, reluctantly, that I hadn’t really looked at it closely. In fact, on all the past nights, I’d done exactly what Laerune had warned me against.
I’d been running. Avoiding.
The ballroom felt colder tonight, lit by soft candlelight along the walls rather than the chandeliers overhead. I crossed to the piano, my fingers brushing the polished lid, and the instrument answered with a faint hum.
A gelid breeze scented faintly of pine drifted through the open balcony doors.
Open?
My gaze followed it to the figure standing at the railing, charcoal robes billowing around his ankles. Reagan watched the sleeping city in silence.
A warning stirred in my mind. This could be another vision. I wiggled my toes against the marble floor, noting its cool, smooth surface, the wind tugging at my own robe.
Real. It was real.
Gods. I would go mad if I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t.
Shuddering, I looked to the balcony again, wondering why he was here.
