“You will flourish at the palace, Delara,” the lord said, his voice ringing clear in the strained silence. “The artifact’s ultimate potential, its true power, will soon be unlocked.”
As he said it, their gazes still locked across the fire, Ru felt distinctly that he was putting on a show for the benefit of the Children and her friends. She was far past succumbing to his ridiculous rhetoric.
Archie and Gwyneth remained quiet, eating their dinner and shooting Ru furtive looks. Ru only stared back at the lord, his sharp eyes still fixed on her. She said, “What do you expect me to do there? What do you think will be accomplished in Mirith that can’t be done at the Tower?”
His mouth curved upward slightly. “You will have much-needed structure. There will be oversight. And when you at last harness the artifact’s power in full, you will be revered.”
“By who, exactly?” Archie said, mouth half-full of pork pie.
Lord D’Luc’s gaze darted to Archie. “Everyone.”
“Their ghosts, maybe,” Ru said. “Don’t pretend the artifact is anything but a weapon to you. ThatIam anything but a weapon.”
The lord’s expression softened then. In a strangely distant voice, as if speaking to someone who wasn’t there, he said, “Weapons come in many forms.”
There was nothing more to say after that.
The Children, ever docile with piercing gazes, finished their dinners in silence. Ru picked at her food, stared into the fire, and tried to ignore the artifact’s increasing chatter.
Its voice had grown louder as they traveled, and now it had come to a near fever pitch in its insistence. It pulsed against her thoughts, a warmth in her chest, and that unavailable flutter in her consciousness.Look at me, it seemed to say.Remember me, I’m here.
She tried to ignore the feel of it, the way it reminded her of Fen’s hand in hers. She wished the stone would disappear. She wished it would consume her.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
The question came from Gwyneth, who sat pressed as close to Ru as she could manage to stave away the night’s cold. Even that close to the fire, the chill was inescapable.
“Not really,” Ru replied, the thought of eating an entire pie turning her stomach.
“You’ll be fine,” said Gwyneth, putting her arm around Ru. “Arch and I will be with you the whole way. We’ll figure it out. We’ll make it right.”
“Thank you, Gwyn,” Ru said, and she meant it. She knew that Gwyneth’s words were platitudes, meaningless in the dark. But she was relieved to be with her friends, even if their presence was just another means of controlling her.
Archie, on the other side of Gwyneth, leaned over and nodded in agreement. “If we die, at least we die together.”
Gwyneth made a sound of exasperation. “What did I say aboutdying?”
“I’ll try not to, but no promises,” said Archie, taking a bite of turnover and immediately spitting it out. “That’sboiling,good lord.”
“Well, you did hold it over the fire for about five times longer than needed,” Gwyneth said.
Ru smiled despite herself. “I’m glad you’re both here.”
Bedrolls were brought out after dinner and arranged around the fire. Lyr insisted on setting up his bed next to Ru, in case, in his words, “Anything comes wandering out of the woods and tries to eat you.”
Lord D’Luc sat awake by the fire, facing the road, his hair shining almost orange in the firelight. His head rested on folded hands, elbows braced on his knees. Ru wondered what he was thinking about, whether it was the artifact, or even Ru herself. She wondered if he understood the concept of empathy. If he ever felt remorse.
She supposed, slipping into a restless sleep, that it made no difference either way.
Ru woke in the night,heart pounding. Something wasn’t right.
She reached instinctively for Lyr’s form in the dark and found that he was gone, his bedroll empty. The sky was blackand thick with stars, and the moon had set. Morning was hours away. Breathing hard, Ru listened. She didn’t know what had woken her, whether it was a sound or a dream or something else.
She heard only the rustle of trees in night breezes, the soft breaths of Gwyneth and Archie in their bedrolls. Twisting around, she saw that the carriages were all there. The horses stood undisturbed at the edge of camp, and the bedrolls around the fire all appeared to be occupied, including Lord D’Luc’s.
Lyr was nowhere to be seen.
And something wasn’t right. Something was…