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“Wait.” Luc’s strong voice cut through the noise. “First, before the queen talks to the nobles, Lord Cynera must appear to answer publicly for what he’s been up to. Otherwise, I don’t see why they should be included.”

“You mean, you will still speak with us?” Jitco May asked, gesturing to the councillors. “And exclude the nobles?”

“I will.” Ava looked over at the shocked faces of the nobles to her left, saw the satisfied smiles of the councillors.

“That’s unfair, I haven’t seen Cynera in weeks,” Lady Elna said.

“You haven’tseenhim,” General Ru said. “That’s doublespeak. You must know where he is. And if you don’t, you know where to find him. Start pulling your weight.”

She held out her arm to Ava, and Ava curled her fingers around her elbow and let the general lead her back into the antechamber.

As soon as they were through, the general dropped her arm and ran a hand down her face.

She was suddenly enveloped in a hug from Talika.

“That was close.”

General Ru lifted her head and smiled, brighter than Ava had ever seen her smile before. She pulled Talika closer, curling an arm around her shoulder, and kissed her brow. Then she turned to look over at Ava and Luc.

“I don’t know how your timing was so good, or how you arrived together, but I am very, very grateful.”

Chapter 35

Dinner was a small affair.

Just General Ru, Talika, Raun-Tu, Dak and Revek joined Ava and Luc in the living space in their palace apartment.

Luc sprawled back in his chair, his fingers touching Ava’s hand where it rested next to her empty plate.

“So Massi is in Grimwalt.” General Ru sounded pleased. “What’s the plan?”

“Massi will send a message as soon as she has a sense of what’s going on behind the Grimwalt border.”

“What of the Grimwaldian diplomats?” Ava asked General Ru. “Are they still here?”

The general nodded. “They’re still recovering. It took them a while before they could remember why they were even here most days. It was as if their minds had been muddled.”

“They were given a special tea every day by Sirna. There was some kind of mind control magic infused in the leaves.” Ava turned her hand palm up, and Luc covered it with his own.

“He tried it on you?” Raun-Tu asked, leaning forward.

She shook her head. “He didn’t need to confuse me, only make me too weak to run. He did try to use it on the other travellers who we were with, when he wanted them to help search for me the day I escaped.”

“How did it work?” General Ru asked.

Ava tightened her grip on his hand. “It didn’t. One of my fellow travellers had helped me destroy the tea a few days before.”

“You could only know he tried to use it on them if you didn’t actually run.” Luc tried to keep his voice even. She should have gotten away as fast as she could.

She shot him a quick look. “I needed a lift to Illoa, and the group was headed there. I wasn’t strong enough to walk the whole way. I was waiting for Sirna to go chasing after me, and then planned to hop in a cart and let the others take me where I needed to go.”

Dak gave a chuckle. “And it worked?”

Luc felt her still beneath his hand. She sucked in a quick breath.

“He decided they were hiding me.” She lifted a shoulder. “Some of them did know I planned to run, but not where I was. He held a knife to a five-year-old’s throat to get them to give me up.”

“Which they couldn’t do, because they didn’t know where you were.” Talika’s eyes were wide with distress.