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“It’s true that Gia was eager to see Nik,” Renley said gravely, meeting Hayes’s gaze. “But that wasn’t our main reason for coming to find you. I know Gia has earned herself a certain reputation for recklessness, but I’m equally concerned about the situation in Tarona. We wanted to talk to you first—to prepare you for the situation and hear your perspective.”
“It’s that bad?” Hayes stared at him, clearly appalled. “Don’t tell me Grey has wormed his way into court!”
Everyone around the table exchanged panicked glances as we imagined Grey mesmerizing the royal family and Triumvirate.
“No, no, it’s not that bad,” Renley said quickly.
A relieved sigh rippled around the table, and his face tightened in response.
Hayes frowned at his reaction. “What is going on, then?”
“The king and Triumvirate are extremely concerned about the possibility of exactly what you were just picturing,” he said.
“Paranoid, you mean.” Gia scowled.
“It’s a real danger,” Renley said, and I could tell from his tone that they’d had this conversation many times. “They’re right to take the possibility seriously.”
“They’re right to be cautious, yes,” Gia said. “But there’s a difference between that and living in fear. While they’re busy protecting themselves, where is Grey? The danger will never end unless we find him.”
“The idea of having someone playing with the thoughts in your head is terrifying,” Luna said quietly. “Surely we can understand their fear. Are you really saying they’ve done nothing?”
Gia snorted. “No, they’ve recalled Anka from Caltor so that the one senior official in the kingdom who knows what Grey looks like is sheltering at the capital with them, keepingthemsafe.”
“Anka’s at the capital?” Amara asked from the doorway of one of the bedrooms.
Hayes stood up, offering her his seat. “You should still be resting,” he murmured as he helped her sit down, but he didn’t try to convince her to return to bed.
She accepted the offered seat, her pale face betraying her underlying exhaustion.
“Master Amara,” Gia said politely. “I don’t think you’ve met my husband, Renley, yet.”
Amara smiled and inclined her head toward both of them. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Renley, and to see you again, Princess Morgiana. I’m sorry I missed your wedding. I was traveling through the eastern hill country at the time, and I didn’t receive the general invitation issued to all masters until it was too late to travel back.”
“I’m glad you didn’t inconvenience yourself,” Gia said with an easy smile. “If it had been up to me, I would have gotten rid of all those formalities. There was no reason for you to uproot your plans to attend the wedding of someone you barely know.”
Amara’s lips twitched, and I could see Gia had a similar effect on her as she did on me. It was hard not to smile around Nik’s vibrant twin.
“That is gracious, Your Highness,” she said, and Gia immediately shook her head.
“Gia. Please.”
Amara shot a glance at Hayes, and he nodded slightly. She looked back at the princess.
“Very well, Gia. I want to be sure I understand the situation correctly. The king and Triumvirate are aware of the danger from Grey and have taken measures to protect themselves. In particular, they have brought in Anka who can ensure he doesn’t sneak into court under a false pretense. Is that the sum of it? Are you telling me they’ve done nothing to actively find Grey?”
“Of course it’s not that bad,” Renley said quickly. “Anka is working from court to head a kingdom-wide search for him. But he must be lying low because we’ve had no word of his location. He’s certainly not stirring up public trouble like he was before.”
Amara’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “Some of Anka’s people from Caltor know what he looks like, so even if she’s not free to travel, she’ll have sent them out, I’m sure.”
“That depends,” Gia said. “Were they mages? The Triumvirate have all but shut down the Guild. They’re afraid of what will happen if Grey manages to enthrall enough mages of strength, so the mages are confined to the Guild and palace grounds or the capital at most.”
“So Anka is leading a search, but she isn’t allowed to make use of mages?” Hayes asked, sounding half bemused and half annoyed. “That’s like searching with one hand behind her back.”
“Exactly. I see you grasp the problem.” Gia sighed. “I love my parents dearly, but they were raised to protect the throne and Triumvirate first and foremost. It’s not that they don’t care about the people—they just think the kingdom will crumble if the systems of government break.”
“They’re not entirely wrong,” Amara said with a sigh. “There are many things I don’t like about how we manage mages and the distribution of power in this kingdom, but I’ve also seen firsthand the ways they hold everything together. I don’t think we even realize all the things that would collapse if the system itself broke down.”
I nodded slowly, thinking of the literal collapse of the unsanctioned dam Amara and I had encountered early in our travels, and of the capital healers who kept Tartora’s hospitals running. I had seen far less of the kingdom than Amara, but I knew what she meant.
