“Let them be, grandmother,” Lara said firmly.
Nestania huffed. The door closed behind them.
Gavriel carefully took her hand. “Who did this, Cathrynne?”
So I can return payment to them tenfold.
She looked away.
“You can tell me,” he said gently. “Whoever it is.”
A struggle played across her face. “Promise me something first,” she said.
“Anything.”
“You won’t act unless I allow it. Swear, Morningstar! Upon your father’s name. I know your word is unbreakable.”
His wings tensed. “You have my solemn oath that I will do nothing without your permission. Was it Haniel? I will see her cast down into a pit so deep?—”
Her hand on his arm stilled him. “It wasn’t Haniel. But they know something dangerous about me. And if I accuse them, they will reveal it to the High Council.”
Her face was desolate. Gavriel thought of their visit to Gia Andrade, Casolaba’s mistress, and remembered how Cathrynne had stood, staring intently down the street, at least ten seconds before the coach came careening around the corner. Her uncanny ability to predict that it was meant for him, and to shove him out of the way. The nosebleed afterwards.
The knowledge was sharp and bitter. “You are a seer,” he said.
A flash of terror crossed her face. Gavriel did not blame her. He could scarcely imagine a worse fate. She seemed to be in control of the gift, but he wondered how much longer that would last.
“I had my suspicions after the coach,” he admitted. “But Cathrynne, I would never, ever tell anyone. You don’t need an oath for that.”
Her breath was taut. “I had to use my ability to escape. There was no other way. They were going to kill me. I saw it.” Her eyes lost focus, and a blade twisted in his heart.
“Who?” he asked.
“Markus Viktorovich. Some of the other White Foxes in Arjevica.”
“Do the witches know?”
“No one knows. You’re the first person I’ve told.” She met his eyes. “Markus will deny everything, of course. He’s the one who took me away twenty years ago. Him and a witch named Berti Baako. He’ll say I’m lying to get revenge. The only way to prove what he did to me is to give a sweven to the High Council. If I agree, it would ruin the Viktorovich family . . .”
“And you, as well,” he said in disgust. “They would know you’re a seer and entomb you in the kloster.”
Cathrynne gave a humorless laugh. “I would rather see him get away with it than accept that life. Markus knows it. So he’ll keep his mouth shut if I do.”
The injustice of it sickened him. “I made you a promise and I’ll keep it,” he said. “But someday, we will find a way to bring them down, Cathrynne. And I swear before all the gods, I will not let them take you away again.”
Tell her the truth now. Tell her what you did. The role you played.
Yet he couldn’t bring himself to confess. Not just yet. Gavriel told himself that she had suffered enough, but the truth was that he couldn’t bear to see the trust in her eyes turn to hatred.
“What about you?” Cathrynne studied him. “How are you feeling?”
He set his guilt aside and told her everything that had transpired since he woke at Mount Meru. Cathrynne looked troubled.
“Does your father support Haniel in seizing control of the kaldurite?” she asked.
“Yes. They are claiming the witches poisoned me. An obvious pretext. I fear this could lead to civil war.”
Cathrynne stared out the window, her brow creased with worry. “We have to find Kal Machena. She’s the key to it all. If the White Foxes get her first, they’ll torture her until she leads them to the source, and then they’ll kill her.”
