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She craned up to kiss him. “You asked me last night if I trusted you. Do you still trust me?”
“That’s beside the point, and you know it.”
“It’s the entire point. Do youtrustme, Tyreste?”
Tyr squeezed his hands into fists at his side. “Yes. You know I do.”
Ana swept her eyes over him. The air shimmered, and he saw the feminine boots again appear where his had been, under the hem of an ungainly gown. “I can only hold this from afar for so long, and perhaps not at all once you’re out of range. Descend as fast as you can, go straight to your cabin, and I’ll meet you there.”
“When?”
“As soon as I can—”
“When, Ana? Give me a time, or I’m not going anywhere.”
“Tonight. I’ll be back tonight, after she’s retired for the evening. I don’t think the koldynasleeps, but she does lock herself away until morning.”
“If you aren’t there by midnight, I’m coming to Fanghelm,” he stated. “Imeanit.”
“Midnight it is,” she agreed and backed away. “Please go. If she sees you, and the illusion doesn’t hold...”
“I’ll be right behind you,” he said. He tapped his chest, where a hard lump of fear had reformed.
Ana nodded before turning to face the door. She straightened, breathing deep, and launched into a sprint. As she passed under the arch, she came up off the ground, shifting into a brilliant orange phoenix, and disappeared into the dawn sky.
It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her shift, but it felt like it as he stared after her in stunned silence.
“She’s going to get herself killed,” Varradyn muttered and curled up on the rug. “But so are you if you don’t listen to her. If the witch sees you here, won’t just be Ravenwood hearts in her collection anymore.”
Chapter20
A Perfectly Ordinary Mirror
Fanghelm was unexpectedly quiet. The usual bustle of staff was missing, and the smell of breakfast, which should have been permeating the air at that hour, was absent as well. No one greeted Ana when she entered except the guards, who nodded in acknowledgment but otherwise paid her little mind.
She passed Lenik, her father’s vodzhae, but the spiritualist was whispering to himself in a language she didn’t recognize.
“Lenik?”
He paused his walk but not his murmuring. His dark eyes pierced her with half his attention.
“Has something happened here?”
Lenik’s eyes turned upward, he muttered something, and with an affronted air, he finally addressed her with a direct look. “Nien, Miss Wynter. Nothing has happened that was not wholly expected to happen.”
“I don’t understand what you mean,” she blurted in impatience. The vodzhae were even worse about riddles than the vedhma, claiming the spirit realm could not be understood in plain language. “Why are the halls so quiet?”
“There is more simplicity to this answer than your question seems to require.”
Ana waited for a clearer explanation.
“Your father has requested rest and gave the staff the day off.”
“Has he left his room at all?”
“You’ll have to be more specific with the time frame in which your question references.”
“Lenik.” She sniffed a hard inhale through her nose. “Since... Since the stewardess has been gone, has he left his apartments? At all?”
