Page 98 of Down Comes the Night

Wren fought to keep the hurt out of her voice. “You don’t believe me.”

“Look around you. Lowry is nothing but a fop with an unhealthy obsession with the color black. He’s brokering an alliance with Danu, aftercenturiesof inaction. Why would he target us? Why risk retaliation?”

“You know it’s not just us. It’s Vesria, too.” Wren ignored the glares of the couple who knocked into her as they danced by. “I took a made-up job for the promise of a made-up alliance. It was all just a ruse designed to lure me here.”

“But why?” Una said impatiently. “I don’t see a motive.”

“Can’t you just trust me?”

“Idid,” she snapped.

“I know I’ve wronged you. I wish I could tell you how sorry I am.” She tried not to be deterred by Una’s unimpressed silence. “I don’t know his motive yet, but if you come with me now, I believe we can find the answers. There’s a secret passage in the east wing,and— Quit looking at me like I’m insane! What harm will it do to just humor me andcheck?”

“I’ve indulged you for far too long already,” she said slowly. “You expect me to believe someone like you solved this case? Do you have evidence?”

Someone like you.

Emotional. Reckless. Weak.

Anger sparked within her. “There’s goddessblood being shipped here. I can prove that.”

“And do you have any concrete proof people were being poisoned here?”

She had Hal. But if she told Una about him, he wouldn’t make it out of this estate unscathed. “Not yet. But I saw that boy we captured at an inn where they’re growing it. He can confirm everything I’ve told you.”

“And can you prove that he’s there? Right now? Can you guarantee he’ll still be there?”

Wren clenched her teeth. “No. I can’t.”

“Then why would you expect me to insult our host and jeopardize this alliance by sneaking around the house like a common thief?”

“Because we’re friends!” Her voice seemed to shatter the air around them. Dozens of curious stares skewered her as she stood humiliated and paralyzed in a whirl of black fabric.

“Are we really?” Una asked lowly. “Time and time again, I covered for you. I tolerated your emotional outbursts. I risked my job for you. You repaid me by lying to me and leaving me alone in the cold.”

“Why would I lie about this?” Her voice thickened with tears. Her vision swam until she saw nothing but watery light and Una’s wavering form. “Lord Lowry is the one who convinced the queen to reinstate me. Why would I sabotage that if I didn’t have a good reason?”

“I don’t think you’re lying. You truly believe this theory of yours.”

“It’s not atheory!”

“Look at you, crying like a child even now.” She sneered. “You’re still weak because I was too soft on you.”

Wren heard her own sharp intake of breath. Heard the exact moment her heart cracked down the middle.

Una closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were as flat and cold as a sheet of ice. “My orders are to keep you in this ballroom. I’ll not choose you over my duty again.”

So this was it. If she couldn’t convince Una to join her, she had no other options. She would have to push her away.

Wren reached deep into the well of hurt that had opened with her, and what she found was acid. “You think you can punish me so you don’t have to punish yourself. But I can see through it, Una. You lost Byers. You lost the boy. And then you lost me. You’re not as perfect as you think you are, are you?”

A flush spread across Una’s cheeks. Shock turned to anger turned toshame. Exhilaration still hummed in Wren’s veins at loosing some of the bitterness she kept locked inside, but there was nothing satisfying about this. As the last, wavering violin ceased to play, Una wrenched her hand free and packed away every emotion until her face revealed nothing at all. “You’re pathetic, Wren.”

Hurt begat hurt, over and over again. Wren didn’t know how to stop it. More than anything, she wished things could go back to how they once were. But everything they had, everything she had hoped for, lay in ashes at her feet. Gathering her skirts into a mocking curtsy, Wren said, “Thank you for the dance.”

“Don’t move. You’re not leaving my sight until your business with the queen is finished.”

Just then, Wren caught a glimpse of Hal, her medical bag slung over his shoulder, skirting the edge of the room. At his side was the Duke of Matthonwy. As the two men approached, Barrett gazed at Una in a way that could only be described as reverential. He removed his mask and clasped it in front of his heart.