Mia smiled. “It’s nice to have company at the house. Lord Morningstar so rarely invites guests.”
Cathrynne thanked her again and laced on the shoes. Then she drew a deep breath and composed herself. Now that Gavriel had brought her home to Kirith, she should leave straight after breakfast for the chapter house in Arioch. There was so much to tell Felicity Birch, who must be worried about her. Yet she felt dread at facing the interrogation that surely awaited. Mump and Crump would demand to have a go at her, and she needed to come up with a very convincing story about where she’d been during the time at Markus’s house.
A thrill of fear went through her. If they found out she was a seer . . . No, there was no reason they’d ever find out, not so long as she managed to lie convincingly. Which was the problem. She had never been good at deception. Cathrynne chewed her lip. She decided to eat breakfast before making a decision. It was always easier to tackle one’s problems on a full stomach.
***
A long stone veranda faced the sea and that is where she found Gavriel, with his legs stretched out and his black wing feathers ruffling in the gentle gusts that came across the moor. He wore gray trousers and an open-necked linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He looked distractingly handsome, even scowling at the broadsheet in his hands.
“Bad news?” she asked, sitting down at the table.
It was laid with an array of platters that made her nose twitch appreciatively. Poached eggs, savory potatoes with onions and paprika, thick-sliced toast and pots of strawberry jam, black tea with cream and sugar, and what smelled like heavenly cardamom scones. A proper Kirithi breakfast.
Gavriel glanced up, his face softening. “How do you feel this morning?”
She slathered butter on a slice of toast and took a big bite. “Much better. Tell me what you’re frowning at, Morningstar.”
He sighed and folded the broadsheet. “The witches have declared the Casolaba case to be solved. They are blaming Levi Bottas.”
“Who confessed that he did it,” she reminded him, adding a heaping spoonful of jam to the toast.
“Yes, but I still don’t know the exact nature of his relationship with the consul, who else is involved?—”
“Or how he managed to turn himself into a giant,” Cathrynne finished. “Oh, I think this is the best jam I’ve ever tasted! So where is Levi Bottas now?”
“No one knows. Yarl keeps a network of informers throughout Sion. They say he’s vanished. A team of witches searched every inch of the Lenormand School and found no sign of him.”
Cathrynne swallowed the last bite of toast, her appetite fading. “Do you think he’ll go after Kal?”
Gavriel shook his head, clearly troubled. “I don’t know. But I’m certain she escaped the Clear Creek mine. I met her in the tunnel only a short distance from the exit, and I saw her footprints when we came out. She took one of the roads.”
“I worry about her, Gavriel.”
“So do I. But I don’t think she wants to be found.”
Cathrynne stared out at the beaten-silver waves in the distance. She thought of Kal’s sailing ship tattoo, the dreams of adventure she shared with her friend Durian. “She’s tough and resourceful. And she pocketed more of the kaldurite stones. They’ll give her some protection.”
Gavriel nodded, studying her with an intensity that made her self-conscious.“And you? I worry about you, too, Cathrynne.”
She piled her plate high with eggs and potatoes. “I’m fine.”
“How can that be true?” His voice grew rough. He was angry, she suspected, though not with her. “After what the White Foxes did?”
She set her fork down. “Which time? Last week, or twenty years ago?”
“I mean Markus Viktorovich.” Gavriel practically growled the name.
“We do seem destined to keep crossing paths,” she said. “And I still owe both him and his mother. But thanks to them, I faced my worst fears and survived.”
Gavriel leaned forward. For a moment, she thought he might reach for her hand, but then Mia bustled over and he sat back. The young maid seemed to sense that she was intruding, for she quickly refilled the teapot and left.
“Ever since I was taken from Arjevica to Arioch by carriage at the age of eleven, I’ve had a fear of closed spaces,” Cathrynne admitted. “Even being confined to barracks was an agony. It’s funny, because I can sit and read a book for hours with no difficulty, but if I’m told I can’t leave a room, I become terribly restless?—”
“Aha,” he said with a half smile. “And you claimed you didn’t read books.”
“You remember that?”
“I remember everything.” He noticed her hunting for the salt cellar and pushed it closer. Their fingers brushed as she took it, and Cathrynne felt a little jolt. “But please continue.”
