Page 220 of The Queen’s Shadow

“Okay.” I nodded, putting my hands on the cool surface. I closed my eyes and found the calm state of Eriene, allowing my power to reach forward and connect with the churning energy that was radiating from the crystal ball in front of me.

The magick felt frantic, and finicky, as if it wanted to pull me down one of several paths but couldn’t decide which path to take. I frowned.

Alright. Here goes nothing.

I showed the ball an image of Amon and I embracing in Pride’s palace, happily back together where we belonged.

“I need to find him and bring him home. Is Amon being held captive in The Court of Gluttony?”

I watched anxiously as the smoke swirled beneath my palms, but my heart sank when it turned yellow.

Inconclusive.

“Try to be less specific.” Balveria urged. “The orb cannot show you where he is if you do not already know. It can only tell you if you are on the right path.” I tried not to snarl at her. What a stupid piece of magick. Why couldn’t anything ever just be straight forward? I bit back my anger and tried again.

“Is going to The Court of Envy next the right choice?” It had been bothering me that we were not just going straight to Gluttony. I understood the logic in trying to build an army and a navy, but it just felt like such a roundabout way of doing things.

To my delight, the smoke turned green. My mind began to race, I needed to narrow this down.

“Is there someone from The Court of Envy who will help me free him?” I asked eagerly, and the smoke turned green again. I almost squealed with excitement.

“Is it Prince Caspian or Princess Niamhara? Will they help me?”

The smoke swirled, and I waited anxiously for the answer. It was almost as if the orb was thinking. Finally, the smoke turned yellow. I sighed. Well, it was worth a shot.

“Ask about The Flute!” Dossidian called from the other side of the dais. I nodded and switched the image in my mind to one of us overcoming the power of The Flute and reclaiming it.

“Will Dossidian be able to find the answer to overcoming the power of The Flute in Wrath’s library?” I asked. The smoke immediately swirled red, and I sighed. Shit. I moved to pull my hands away, but Dossidian stopped me.

“Wait, ask if the answer to stopping The Flute is in the library. Maybe I’m not the person who’s meant to find it. Remember The Flute in Olkuyrbe? Only Rycon could pull it from where it rested. That’s a pretty standard loophole when dealing with magickal artifacts and texts.”

I rolled my eyes but did what Dossidian suggested. He had been right. The smoke turned green, indicating that the answers we sought were indeed housed in Wrath’s library. I glanced over at our party. If it wasn’t Dossidian who was going to find it, I hoped it was at least one of us.

“Will someone in our party find the answers we seek?” I asked. Green. Okay great.

“Will Conrad find it?” Red. Nope.

“Jeremy?” Red again. That left…

“Meredith…” Dossidian breathed at the exact same time as me.

Bingo. I gaped at the swirling green smoke and grinned.

“Well Mer, hope you don’t mind staying behind. Looks like you’re once again going to save our asses.” I beamed. Meredith smiled back at me, her eyes lighting up.

“I certainly wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to explore the Citadel’s library. From what I’ve heard, it’s enormous!”

Dossidian, on the other hand, looked decidedly less enthused about this development. I frowned, unsure why he was so put off at the idea of her staying back with him. It was clear to anyone who had eyes that they were into each other.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Dossidian said, Conrad gaped at him.

“What di hell yuh talkin’ about man? Di magick ball just said Mer a guh find di answer in di library. What yuh mean it’s not a good idea?”

Darianth was looking back and forth between Dossidian and Meredith suspiciously, and Balveria looked like she almost felt bad for her son. What the hell was going on here?

“Nothing. Nevermind.” He turned to me. “Perhaps I should accompany you and Jeremy to Envy, and Conrad can stay here to free the people of Wrath while Meredith searches the Citadel’s library.

“No way, man!” Conrad shook his head in protest. “Envy is an island court. Mi been wanting to see it since we got here. Plus, mi water magick will make di trip across di Obsidian Sea go quicker.” Conrad pointed out. I could tell the idea of being out on the water excited him. He had a gleam in his eye that I hadn’t seen in a long time.