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“Somethingiswrong. Tell me.”
“Eh. It’s just…” I shrugged. “Did you notice anything odd last night?”
“Not really and I was up until nearly dawn.”
“Funny—I woke up once and didn’t hear any music.”
“Magical soundproofing,” she explained. “Most of the bedrooms at Castle Brightness have it.”
Curiouser and curiouser.
Alarm tightened Starling’s dreamy expression. “What happened? Do I need to call the guards?”
“No, no. It’s nothing like that. I had a restless night and now I haven’t seen Rogue yet today.”
“Lord Rogue generally turns up in the evening, doesn’t he?”
“Yes—exactly. So there’s no need to worry.”
“I’m surprised you’d even think to be concerned about him. I thought you were just as happy not to have him underfoot. Besides, he can take care of himself.”
Of course she was right.
“Or—” she tucked her toes up under her and leaned forward, brown eyes sparkling with avid interest, “—have you changed your mind about him? The earrings look great on you and you looked very snuggly with him last night.”
“Speaking of which—how is your mom doing today?”
Starling wrinkled her nose at me. “Fine—don’t tell me. Mom is good. She’s kind of over being mad and upset. Getting packed up for the trip is keeping her occupied.”
“Packed? Blackbird is coming?”
“Did you think we could stop her? She’s all determined to find Dad now, to explain and all.” She pulled a lock of hair around and nibbled on the ends. “Kind of crazy about my brother, huh?”
“That’s one word for it.”
“Gwynn—” She paused, chewed. “What do you think happened to him?”
I thought of Nancy’s horrific story and knew I could never tell Starling about it. A similar scene might be there, buried in Blackbird’s locked-away memories. Infant Brody might be dead all these years and poor misguided Fergus on a fool’s quest to find something that had passed out of this world entirely.
Starling, for all her flirty fun, possessed her mother’s perceptive nature. She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re thinking up a lie to tell me. Don’t. If you can’t tell me everything, then fine. But I think you owe me whatever truth you can tell me. This is my family. My quest too.”
“It doesn’t have to be, Starling.” I pointed a finger at her when she took a breath. “It doesn’t. You have your own life to lead. You could stay here, maybe canoodle with that guy you like. Be happy. This drama belongs to your parents. I can understand Blackbird’s need to do this, but frankly I don’t think any of you should come along. You for sure could let it go—do your own thing and not play out this role in someone else’s tragedy.”
“It’s not your drama either.”
I sighed and raked my hair back from my face, aware in midmovement that it was one of Rogue’s gestures. Where the hell had he gone? Hell, he never told me where he regularly went, so why did this feel any different?
It just did. I knew it in my bones.
“I don’t understand the why of it, but I am wrapped up in this. So many threads tie me to this strange game that I don’t see how I could extricate myself.”
“A game? Is that what you think it is?” Starling pounced on my careless words.
“Isn’t every damn thing in Faerie a game? Always about the trick, the sleight of hand, winning a prize of no value.”
“I think,” Starling replied slowly, with uncharacteristic seriousness, “that it only seems like a game to you because you don’t understand the rules—or the value of what’s being sought.”
“Do you?”
