Page 22 of A Dark and Drowning Tide

“What are you all talking about?” Heike demanded, looking vaguely nauseated.

“Stabbingis...messy.”Sylvia winced. “The wound was likely inflicted after her heart stopped beating.” She approached the body and lifted her hand. Ziegler’s fingers were a mottled, bruise-like blue. “This pattern of discoloration typically indicates oxygen deprivation. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes,” Johann gritted out. “That’s correct. I hadn’t noticed that.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Lorelei said dryly. Had he beentryingto frame her? “So she drowned.”

“Perhaps,” Johann said begrudgingly. “I can’t determine exactly how she was killed yet. There are no contusions on the body, no signs of struggle. If she drowned, she didn’t fight it. People don’t surrender to death so easily.”

“The ward is missing from her door.” Adelheid ran her fingers along the wooden lintel. “If one of the wildeleute ensorcelled her, that would explain the lack of struggle.”

At the mention of her precious creatures, Sylvia perked up. “To my knowledge, there’s no wildeleute that could have done this. If it were a nixie, there would be no body. And alps suffocate their victims, but with their weight, not water. Besides, none of them would carry a knife.”

There was no doubt, then. Someone in this room had murdered Ingrid Ziegler.

“Then what are we doing standing here?” Heike cried. “One of us could be next! We need to get off this ship and go back home. Now.”

“No,” Lorelei snapped. “What we must do is act rationally,calmly. With Ziegler gone, I am the leader of the Ruhigburg Expedition. I will write to Wilhelm to seek his counsel. In the meantime, Johann, I want a thorough autopsy performed. Ludwig, I want analyses performed on blood samples to look for poisons. Heike and Adelheid, keep us on course. And von Wolff, replace the wards.”

For a moment, they stood gawping at her.

“You have your orders,” she said, surprising herself with the cold conviction in her voice. “Nowgo.”

Six

THE FOLLOWING NIGHT, THEmessenger raven fluttered in through the war room’s open window.

Its feathers were nearly indigo, gleaming with the same oily sheen as the lacquer on the writing desk. Fresh air sighed into the room, along with a nip of cold against Lorelei’s cheeks. Another thick fog had rolled in today, creeping through the woods like candlelight leaking beneath a locked door. From here, she could hear the whirring of the engine and the steady churn of the water. It settled into her like a second pulse.

She tugged loose the knot of twine from its leg and retrieved a letter emblazoned with Wilhelm’s seal, a dragon stamped in dark and vivid blue. Behind it was a loose leaf of paper folded into neat squares. With shaking hands, she unfurled the parchment and began to read.

Lorelei,

I wish I could thank you for your letter, but given its grave contents, I cannot. I do, however, appreciate your candidness and brevity, and I will, as much as I’m capable, extend you the same courtesy. In short: Stay the course. If word got out that this project was unpopular even among my closest friends, my enemies would seize upon me. I cannot afford to show them any weakness.

I know each member of the group well, and while I want to say none of them is capable of such an atrocity, it would be disingenuous.If one of them is determined to sabotage my expedition, then I will not give them the satisfaction. I suspect the guilt or the pressure will reveal whoever it is.

I’ve enclosed another sealed letter addressed to the group, expressing my wishes: for the expedition toproceed—andfor you to continue leading it.Ziegler—Godrest hersoul—alwaysspoke highly of you, and I will honor the decision she made before her death.

What I remember most is her praise of your keen eye for details and analysis. I ask that you put them to use for the Crown. I would like to know who is responsible before you return to Ruhigburg. If you cannot give me that, then I hope you understand that someone must answer for Ziegler’s murder. Unity requires sacrifice. If you succeed, however, I would gladly have you as an adviser.

Burn this letter after reading. Find the Ursprung. As for the body, do with it what you will.

Yours,

Wilhelm

“You son of a bitch,” Lorelei muttered.

She read the letter twice more before she threw it onto her desk in disgust.

Wilhelm might look like a charming fop, but his heart was colder than hers. His was a desolate, far-reaching cold, like a long winter’s night. She could almost admire it, if it weren’t for the terror simmering just beneath the surface.

Unity requires sacrifice.

Wilhelm’s plan was simple and ruthless, one she was intimately familiar with: create a common enemy. The Yevani had been Brunnestaad’s favorite scapegoat for centuries and had taken the blame for most of the kingdom’s misfortune, from plague to insurrection. Even though Ziegler had handed her everything she’d ever wanted on a silver platter, even though they believed Lorelei entirely unable to wieldmagic—ifit really came down to it, hatred would choke out logic like a weed.

Unless, of course, she discovered the true murderer.