Page 18 of Fortress of Ambrose (House of Marionne #3)

He pulls open a cupboard that’s sparsely filled with nonperishables, moving them aside before pushing the wall along the back of the cabinet.

It springs open. Inside the hidden compartment are piles of folded newspapers.

He hands me one. Then another. I flip through the issues of Debs Daily from the last several weeks.

Some with headlines I’ve seen. Others I haven’t.

The Future of Magic Uncertain

Headmistress Darragh Marionne Awaits Judgment

Corruption Abounds in the Brotherhood—Head or Heart

Begonia Terrace Taken Off the Market, Unsold

Ellery Ambrose & Elena Hargrove Nuptials on the Rocks?

Five Tips for Evading a Darkbearer

Darragh Earlise Marionne, Obituary

Magic Missing, Vigilantes on the Run

I flip to the last article and read. The report pins the rumors about the Sphere’s destruction on Jordan and the Dragunhead.

Then it mentions that I, the heir to House of Ambrose, and “someone else” may know of his whereabouts.

My heart knocks into my ribs. Without the brotherhood to pursue justice, the article encourages Marked citizens to be on the lookout.

Sun tracking classes are being offered to track down Jordan.

The words on the page blur at the rapid ram of my heart. I have to tell Jordan about this.

“Fortunately sun tracking is not easy or fast to learn,” I say. Yagrin was the only one in his class expertly skilled at it.

“Probably because it requires patience.” Willam chuckles.

“News travels fast. And ambition even faster.” Willam doesn’t want anything to do with Jordan.

He’s a moving target. I chew my lip, realizing I hadn’t considered that before coming here.

I’m surprised he let me in here at all. Still, we are out of options to heal Jordan without his help.

Then it hits me. Willam being on edge. The safe house being so empty.

I know exactly how to persuade him. I can give him something they have never had—a say.

“I understand helping us is a risk. But when has a safe house ever had the chance to shape the Order?”

Willam’s forehead creases.

“What if the Order could look different? What if the Houses could look different?”

“Spoken like the heir to a great ancestral House.”

“Don’t be mistaken. I have no interest in running Marionne. I haven’t even been back to Chateau Soleil.”

“You’re saying you don’t have plans for House of Marionne?”

I shift uncomfortably at the legacy I never asked to carry put on my shoulders. The weight of being responsible for so many others is suffocating. I can hardly keep myself alive. I’m not here to talk about a responsibility I did not want. A ship I didn’t ask to captain.

“What do you want to happen with the Order?”

He paces the length of the room before pointing to a paragraph in one of the articles detailing vicious attacks like the Sixth Ward in DC, on other Unmarked neighborhoods in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City.

More Darkbearer attacks.

I swallow. The Darkbearers’ existence is why the brotherhood formed forever ago.

“Everyone’s out for themselves. Why shouldn’t we be?”

“Jordan’s different. Check your rumor sources, he absorbed the Sphere’s magic to keep Beaulah Perl from getting it.

Willam, he needs a Healer to look at him soon.

Or there won’t be any Order left to build because magic will be gone.

This is an opportunity like no other. You have to be able to see that. ”

I’ve never cared about the Order before.

I’m not sure I care about it now. But Willam needs to be convinced.

My mother’s face flutters to mind, blanketing the conversation in a sudden wave of grief.

She is all I cared about. Her, my toushana, and Jordan.

She slipped through my fingers. And now the rest is trying to.

“If you don’t trust him, bet on me.”

“I’ll say this, the safe houses are hungry for change, Quell.

” He glances over his shoulder at the swinging door separating us from the living room where the others are.

“Who could stop us from creating our own Houses?” He straightens his collar.

A tattoo peeks from his top button, hardly visible, with pointed rays or something over where his scar used to be. It must be some kind of new sigil.

“You’ve started your own allegiance?”

“Us and three other safe houses. So far.” And here I thought I could inspire vision as a way to regain his trust. He already has vision.

He needs help executing. I’m speechless, proud of them fighting for a place in the magical world to come.

And terrified—because Houses breed power. And power breeds monsters.

“I want to know more. If these are to be magical Houses, you’ll need help.”

“Later.” He leans forward. “I want to tell Knox my own way, in my own time. I’m asking you to be discreet.”

“Fine. But you will help me get a Healer for Jordan.”

He doesn’t speak for several moments. “I’ll think about it and give you an answer this evening.”

He doesn’t fully trust me. But it’s a start.