I reach into the pocket and find only the seams inside.
Nothing.
It’s empty.
“My lord,” Harek says again. His hand has gone to his axe. “What is it?”
I pat the other pockets, panic rising through me. They’re empty too, which doesn’t make sense, because...
Because...
The vial is gone.
“When did I last wear this coat?”
He doesn’t ask why. That’s Harek for you. “The wedding, my lord. You’ve ridden in your brown coat since.”
The wedding.
It hung on the rack beside the feast tables for six hours in the dark while two hundred people watched the ceremony. While I danced with Lissy and made love to her for the first time.
Not once did I think about my coat, because it was the best night of my life.
One night. I stopped watching it for one night, and someone watched me let down my guard.
I’m going to be sick.
“Harek. Get the guest list from Saskia’s wedding. I want to know whether anyone was seen near the coats?—”
Boots pound on the stairs. Fast. Their owner takes them three at a time.
Saskia takes the last four in one jump, still in her nightgown. She and Mikka are staying at the Hall while their home is prepared.
I was glad for the extra time with her.
Now I wonder if it will be my ruin.
“Torgan,” she demands. “Have you seen Mirelle this morning?”
“No. Why?”
“Because Ysolde found this on the hall table.”
She holds out a folded page. I take it and scan the words.
It isn’t a letter. It’s a draft of one. Mirelle’s neat handwriting is loose and scratched through from top to bottom, like she searched for the right words and didn’t care enough to destroy the attempts she left behind.
“The real one went out by rider last night,” Saskia says. “To Valeforth. To Caden.” She swallows. “She ended it, Torgan.The families don’t suit. I return the ring with my thanks. Her thanks.”
She grabs my arm, searching my face. “That isn’t the work of someone with a broken heart. When I banged on her door this morning, she opened it and looked at me like... like...”
“Like nothing,” I say.
My voice comes out flat.
“Like a stranger being polite about the weather.”
Saskia stares at me. “How do you know that?”
