Page 98

“Clara.” Alor’s voice is flat. She stands in a doorframe, as surprised to see me as I am to see her. “There you are.” She hastily closes the gap. Her eyes dart from the hand around my wrist to the man clutching it. “Is there a problem, Ilvan?”

“The king had asked us to watch for this one. We were going to bring her to him—”

“That is a future princess of Oricalis you are holding like she is some street urchin,” Alor interrupts with a tone that is part scandalized and part chiding.

I take note of how she’s not in a gown or suit like the rest of the students, but rather in a more practical set of leathers under a sparser version of the plate the Stellis wear.

She’s dressed like a Stellis in training.

“We of Clan Tower are in service to the crown.”

“And the crown itself has asked us to bring her to him.” Ilvan is sounding more uncertain by the second. I happily let Alor take the lead.

Alor shakes her head with a sigh, as if she can’t believe she has to deal with this. “Probably not by tugging her like a mule on a lead. Unhand her. I’ll take her to the king myself.”

There’s another second where it looks like Ilvan is going to object. But he doesn’t. His fingers begrudgingly unfurl from my wrist.

“Good.” Alor handles herself as if she’s the one these Stellis report to, despite them clearly outranking her. I’d expect nothing less from the daughter of the High Lord of Clan Tower. “Clara, if you’ll follow me, please.”

I step around the Stellis, holding my head high even though my heart is galloping. Their eyes are pinned to me as I follow Alor away. I add a swish of my skirts for good measure as she escorts me into a nearby room.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Alor whispers the moment the door is shut.

“You’re not supposed to be—You know what?

I don’t want to know what you’re doing back here.

” She rubs the bridge of her nose with a sigh.

“Go through that door, then to the right; it’s a straight shot to the ballroom from there.

Go before someone else takes an interest in you.

If anyone asks, we tried to find the king and couldn’t. ”

“Thank you.” The words are tinged with an emotion deeper than relief.

“Don’t thank me yet. You’re not in the clear, and most people I can’t save you from.”

I step away. I’m not going to waste her kindness, or the opportunity.

But, just as I’m about to open the door, she stops me by calling my name.

I pause, and Alor crosses to me as she pulls a slip of paper from her pocket.

I regard it warily, remembering the information I tasked her with finding on Arina… and my mother.

“I couldn’t find much on your sister, which made me curious.

So I dug deeper. The name Laylis helped, so thanks for that tip.

” She takes my right wrist with one hand, placing the paper into my palm with the other.

But her grip holds on both, as if she’s unsure whether to release the information to me.

Her eyes flick to mine and stick. Something in her stare makes my heart pound faster than when the Stellis confronted me minutes ago. It’s fear. Apprehension. The only thing that has her releasing me is a determined grit of her teeth.

“This isn’t just about you any longer.”

“What did you find?”

“Not enough, yet.” Alor gives a nod to the door she mentioned earlier. “We need to talk after the gala.”

With a wordless nod, I depart, following the path just as she outlined. But before I reach the door to the ballroom, I pause and unfold the paper she thrust into my palm. I suck in a sharp breath.

What I’d thought was one slip of paper is three folded up on each other. The first has a date that corresponds with about two months after the Fire Festival nearing two years ago—only a few weeks after I was captured. It reads:

Arina Daygar, captured by Eclipse City enforcers. According to head enforcer, taken to Mill No. 23.

No record of receipt of Arina Daygar at mill.

None of this is a surprise to me, though it does fill my mouth with a sour taste corresponding with the churning of my stomach. I swap out to the next slip of paper. More of Alor’s notes:

Record of Ravin’s involvement. Request specifically for her? Hunting her? Why her?

I flip to the last paper and my heart stops. This page is unlike the others. It’s worn and yellowed with time. Torn on one edge.

Somehow, even after all these years, I’d recognize that tear anywhere.

I’d bet my life that if I were to sneak back into the enforcer headquarters I’d managed to get into, right now, and pull their logbook, it would link up with the tear on the missing page from the day Mother died at the Descent.

The page I had been hunting for. The page that has proof of her murder, and who killed her.

It reads:

Laylis Daygar

Killed on the command of High Lady Helena Ventall.

Two children are said to survive her: Clara and Arina Daygar. They are to be apprehended immediately on sight.

My palm covers my mouth, though I don’t think I could make a sound if I tried. I have my answer. I finally have a name to lay the blame of all my family’s misfortune upon:

Alor’s mother.