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Kallie blinked. “Glass.”

“Glass is fragile, easily breakable.” She tapped on the glass once more, her lips pursed to the side. “What do you think people would do to acquire knowledge?”

Kallie didn’t have the chance to answer.

“A smart person would do whatever it took to gain access to knowledge.” Only a few feet away from Kallie now, Tessa raised a brow. “Some might even kill, steal, or lie for it.”

Kallie didn’t flinch. She knew what Tessa was implying, but the former queen would not find whatever answer she sought.

Kallie would not betray her father.

With wide, innocent eyes, she asked, “So, the castle was built as a fortress to protect the knowledge it holds?”

Tessa dipped her chin in response.

Did Domitius know about this? Was this his real reason for aligning himself with Frenzia? Every kingdom had its secrets. Pontia had the abilities the people possessed. Tetria had dozens of rituals—rituals most did not understand. Ardentol hadher.

What knowledge could Frenzia be guarding?

Smoke filled her nose as she recalled the night of the attack. A young soldier’s body mutilated in unspeakable ways. Soot smeared across the cement. The shouts of Frenzian soldiers calling for an unfamiliar weapon.

Whatever knowledge Frenzia held, Kallie didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it.

Kallie scanned the room. With the windows high up, attacks would be limited, but they would not prevent them entirely. The iron doors they had entered through last night were large, nearly impenetrable even. But no castle was completely unbreachable.

Men often thought the only way to achieve something was through brute force. Kallie had thought that Tessa would have been different, but perhaps not if she thought these walls would protect the information Frenzia held so dear. They would not protect the castle or the people within it from Kallie.

“After all this time, the knowledge hasn’t been stolen?” Kallie asked.

“Some have tried.” Tessa clicked her tongue, shrugging a shoulder. “Those people never saw daylight again.”

Kallie’s gaze narrowed in question. “If the knowledge Frenzia holds is so important, wouldn’t it benefit all of Vaneria if that knowledge was shared?”

The queen’s nail scraped against the glass, producing a loud, horrid screech that had Kallie’s ears ringing and her skin crawling. “Have you not been listening, Kalisandre? Knowledge equals power. And knowledge in the wrong hands can be fatal, catastrophic even. A balance must be maintained.”

Kallie supposed Tessa had a point. If people, for instance, were to know what she could do—or what any of the Pontians could do—she would be hunted. She would be used and studied because of her ability. She would never be safe if the world knew what she could do. No wonder the existence of their abilities had been wiped from the memory of the other kingdoms after the Great War.

Tessa, oblivious to Kallie’s thoughts, continued, “Kadia deals in oil and ore, Borgania deals in building materials and food, and Ragolo deals in fish. To the public, we deal in troops and armor. However, in truth, it is our knowledge that our enemies and allies are after.” Tessa’s tone shifted as she gave Kallie a pointed stare. “And as rulers, it is our job to protect that knowledge.”

Kallie took a steady step forward. “Is there something you wish to ask me, Tessa?”

If Kallie’s forwardness was a shock, the former queen hid it well, for Tessa did not flinch. “Dear, I am not foolish. I know what the other kingdoms say about me, what the men of our world say about me.” Tessa folded her hands in her lap. “But do not be deceived by the judgments they have passed. I am no figurehead.”

Kallie tasted the threat hanging in the air between them. Her gift, previously asleep, awoke, now a rolling fire in her stomach. “Ask me what you wish to know, Tessa,” Kallie commanded.

A slim, milky haze swirled in Tessa’s green-brown eyes. “Why are you here? What do you want?”

If the Frenzians held knowledge—information important enough to protect—there was no way Domitius was ignorant of it. But what was so important that he would want access to it? Kallie had not been tasked with uncovering Frenzia’s secrets but solidifying an alliance. An alliance that would grant him access to that information.

Perhaps it was time Kallie chose her own mission.

“I want everything,” Kallie whispered, her knuckles turning white around the railing. “What knowledge are you hiding?”

Tessa’s mouth fell open, the answer on the tip of her tongue.

Pairs of footsteps echoed in the near distance, and Kallie straightened, releasing the command as Lystrata and Phaia entered the room. Tessa’s clouded light hazel eyes shifted, her attention flicking to the people approaching and her mouth snapping shut.

The Frenzians hid something within the castle, and Kalie would find out.