“I have been trying to get closer to Arun,” Jane went on. “I thought that I could gain his trust so he would tell me what they needed in exchange for those spies. He hinted that Banfgaard still has reasons to fear the Order, but I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t say that their people were being harmed. Why wouldn’t they admit that?”
Reagan studied her as though he could peel everything from her expression. His pulse pounded.
“They’re prideful,” Finn argued.
“Yes, but I had a feeling that there was something else.” She pressed her lips together, retrieving a hairpin from her pocket. “So I used this.”
Reagan froze. He would recognise the relic anywhere. It was the one that had once been used on him. Jane’s truth-telling relic, its metal glinting discreetly.
Finn inspected it, his brows lifting.
“I used it on Arun. He didn’t understand what I did,” Jane said. “So when I asked again, he told me your uncles won’t spyfor us because they are already spying for a Scion named Cahir. Do either of you know him?”
Reagan and Finn shook their heads. Reagan wondered, distantly, whether she had done this while he slept.
“It seems they struck an agreement,” Jane continued. “The Order would keep its distance from Banfgaard in exchange for information.”
“Information? About Mountheim?” Finn asked.
“Exactly,” Jane replied. “Patrol patterns, Reagan’s schedule, where our wards are lifted.”
Finn leaned back in his chair, dragging a hand down his face. “They could have helped them murder the Foley girl.”
“No,” Jane said. “I asked him. He said they only gave information.”
“They might have helped with information on the gate patrols,” Finn clarified. “And when they would be empty to hang the girl.”
Her eyes dropped.
“And now we’ve told them a great deal of our plans to go against the Order,” Reagan muttered, nostrils flaring. “I will fucking kill them.”
“They were planning to double-cross us,” Finn said, lifting his head sharply. “We have to threaten Eldar, or he will share everything with this Cahir.”
The selfish pricks. Reagan could flay them. He could bleed them dry.
Or he could use this.
He felt the anger filling his limbs and forced himself to keep a cool head.
“Maybe we can make them work for us,” Reagan said. Both of them frowned. “There’s still a way to get what we need without Banfgaard alerting the Order.”
“How?” Finn asked. “We can’t admit how we know this. We can’t say we used a truth-telling relic. How would we even justify it?”
“Arun told her,” Reagan said simply. “He probably already admitted it.”
And probably lost his position for it.
“No, he won’t,” Jane said quietly, meeting both their gazes. “That’s why I didn’t come to you sooner. I didn’t want him punished, so I told him I’m a diviner.” Reagan stiffened. “He doesn’t fully understand what I can do. I let him believe certain things. I told him I’d claim I had a…vision. I wouldn’t expose him, because he trusted me.”
“That was generous, considering they were spying on us,” Finn said, watching her. “But thank you, Jane. Arun likely wasn’t the one who chose this.”
She nodded.
Finn stood, shaking his head. “I need to wash before we deal with this.”
“Come back here, and we’ll go together,” Reagan told him, watching as Finn nodded and left the chamber.
Jane leaned back against the wall.
