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‘So,’ Agenor said, sinking against the backrest of his chair without releasing Tared from his gaze, wings flattening uncomfortably against the wood. ‘Whatever occurred between the two of you, if he’d wanted to passively kill you—’

Tared vanished mid-sentence.

Lyn cried out his name a moment too late, jumping from her chair as if that would make him reappear in that empty windowsill. He stayed away. Whirling around, she flung her hands up in the air and bit out a heartfelt, ‘Fuck’.

‘Ah,’ Agenor said, sounding faintly amused. ‘Alf honour, I suppose?’

‘Bloody life debts,’ Lyn snapped, glaring at the window and then at him. ‘Owing Creon isn’t going to soften his feelingsatall. Inika damn us all, as if it wasn’t complex enough yet – why in the world didn’t Creon just tell us any of this?’

I closed my eyes as my thoughts shaped their own answers. For the same reason he didn’t tell anyone about the demon powers soothing his victims’ pain. The same reason he hadn't looked for any way of communicating in a hundred and thirty years – suffering in silence was vastly preferable to trying, needing, and failing.

My heart ached, a stifling, chafing pain.

‘How much does it change?’ Agenor was saying. ‘I’m admittedly not sure how you feel about this entire plan, but as long as the Council agrees …’

‘I’ll try to convince everyone,’ Lyn muttered, and when I looked up, she was staring at me so apologetically I could barely stand it. ‘You shouldn’t expect Tared or any of the others to agree to more than ten days, though. Honestly, I don’t even know if I’d agree to more than that, considering that we—’

‘—have more to do,’ I finished flatly. ‘Yes. Do we at least have any alves who can bring us near the continent quickly, if we only have so little time?’

‘Oh.’ She blinked owlishly at me, then grinned, a mirthless, warmthless grin. ‘Don’t worry about that. The exit is above the central hall.’

‘The … what?’

‘Lots of stairs, though,’ she added, slipping past the table towards the door. ‘I recommend finding someone with wings to fly you up. Anything else? Because if not, I should go have a word with Tared.’

‘We’re …’ I let out a baffled laugh. ‘Good gods. We’re below the continent right now?’

‘Yes. Straight below Lyckfort.’ She turned at the door, reaching up for the handle. ‘I’ll see you in a bit. Are you staying for dinner, Agenor?’

He snapped his eyes down from the ceiling, shaking his head as if he’d momentarily forgotten where we were. ‘Beg your pardon?’

‘Dinner,’ she repeated dryly. ‘Invitation.’

‘Oh. I probably shouldn’t. They need me at the castle.’ Again he sent that wistful glance up at the ceiling, at the world above us that suddenly had a name – Lyckfort.His voice sounded oddly faint as he added, ‘But keep me informed, if you will.’

‘Will do,’ she said. ‘Later, Em.’

She slipped out without waiting for our response.

When I turned around, Agenor had slumped into his chair, rubbing his temple with unusual firmness. His smile was a watery creation, not enough by far to compensate for the brand new lines around his lips.

I wanted to go look for Creon. Wanted to ask questions and hold him and tell him he was an idiot, but alsomyidiot, and coincidentally the bravest one I’d had the honour of knowing in my life. But Creon was probably practicing demon magic with Naxi in gods-knew-what deserted corner of the Underground, and I didn’t see the male supposed to be my father for more than a few hours every two weeks.

And something about Lyn’s last revelation seemed to have shaken him more badly than even my mad plan to go tramping across a cursed continent in search of gods who might be dead.

‘You’ve been there?’ I said slowly, making my guess. ‘In Lyckfort?’

‘Yes.’ He sighed and rose from his chair, either avoiding my eyes or looking for Oleander between the bookcases. ‘It used to be a beautiful city.’

Used to be.There was an unbearable melancholy to those words – all the places he’d visited and never seen again during his lifetime, all the people he’d known and lost.

Something about my father’s sadness left me quite defenceless. Just as all those months ago, when I’d invited him to my birthday without thinking that plan through for a second, I heard myself speak before I had fully considered the words. ‘Would you like to come along?’

He stiffened. ‘To the continent?’

‘Seems everyone and their grandma is joining the trip anyway,’ I said wryly.

He chuckled as he knelt at the nearest book aisle, glancing around for a glimpse of black scales. ‘I’m afraid they can’t do without me for days at the Golden Court.’