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Phantom caught up to me, weaving between my legs and sitting down on one of my boots, as if trying to anchor me in place. I hesitated a moment longer, kneeling to give him a reassuring scratch between the ears.

“Stay here and see if you and your nose can help figure some things out.”

(I don’t smell anything unusual,) he informed me.

“Keep searching. I’ll be back soon.”

He cocked his head from side to side, clearly uneasy, but he obeyed, staying in place as I turned and hurried away.

Thalia immediately went to my brother and started arguing against his decision to let me go; their heated discussion echoed behind me as I picked up my pace. I half-expected one of them to come charging after me, but they didn’t.

I checked the training grounds first, where Aleks typically was at this time. Only Eamon was there, and he informed me that he hadn’t seen the Light King all day. I got a similar answer from every person I encountered during my swift march through the palace: No one had seen him in hours.

With every step I took, fear coiled more tightly in my stomach. Everything I’d spent the morning learning—everything I’d so desperately wanted to talk to Aleks about—rose around me like water, until it felt as if I was just barely keeping my head above the surface.

Was I fooling myself, thinking he was the one to tell everything to? Had I only dreamed the possibility of us being on the same side?

Did my brother have a point?

By the time I reached the hallway where Aleksander’s room was, I was practically running. With effort, I slowed to a jog, trying to catch my breath, gathering at least some composure before I pounded on his door.

He answered almost immediately, as if he’d somehow sensed me coming. He took one look at my face, and then he was moving toward me with concern, his gaze narrowing, searching the hall behind me as if expecting to see someone chasing me down.

“Nova? What’s wrong?”

“Where were you earlier today?”

His eyes settled on my face, questioning.

“Just answer me.”

“What the hell is going on?” he asked.

“Where. Were. You?”

“…Why?” Tension sparked in the air between us—and for an instant, it was as though all the trust we’d started to build was in danger of unraveling. As if it had been held together by a single thread.

“Because someone attempted to break into the chamber where Luminor and Grimnor are being kept,” I said, as calmly as I could, “and they killed everyone standing in their way.”

His expression changed abruptly. Confusion overtook it first. A hint of panic followed, but that was gone in an instant, replaced by his usual hard, fierce gaze.

Breathlessly, I said, “My brother thinks you—or one of your companions—could be responsible.”

“I don’t know anything about this.”

My throat ached and burned, like I’d swallowed a mouthful of sand. I couldn’t just take his word for things, could I? No one had seen him all day. No one had proof of where he’d been.

“I swear I don’t know anything, Nova.”

Just like he swore he didn’t know who killed my father.

I still didn’t have conclusive evidence ofthat, either—though I realized, in that horrible instant, how I might be able to obtain it.

I could have gone back to the chamber with the swords.

I could have placed my hand on Luminor’s blade, allowed myself to see what I could of its torrid past—whatever the truth and its consequences ended up being. I was getting better at reading the histories of objects. And there was a chance, too, that I could read something useful from the chamber door itself. Maybe my magic would reveal who had bloodied it, burned it, attempted to force their way through it…

I hadn’t thought of this while examining the scene, and I doubted the idea had crossed Thalia or Bastian’s minds, either; this power wasn’t unheard of, but it wasn’t a common manifestation of necromancy—and it wasn’t something I’d been practicing in the presence of anyone other than myself and Aleks.