Page 365 of Black Reign

I take the note.

Open it.

Papa's handwriting.

There is no mistaking the slant.

No mistaking the strange way he always crossed his sevens.

For a moment the room blurs so badly I cannot read.

Xavier's hand stays against my back.

Doesn't move.

Doesn't ask.

I blink until the words return.

Pour Sabine. Quand les étoiles cessent d'être sûres.

My breath leaves me.

“What?” Xavier asks softly.

I read it again.

“For Sabine.”

My throat closes.

“When the stars stop being safe.”

Silence.

The field.

The kidnappers.

The question repeated over and over.

Where is the second key?

I look at the black object resting in my palm.

“No.”

Xavier already knows.

I see it in his face.

“No,” I say again.

“The second key.”

“They knew.”

“They knew it existed.”