CHAPTER TWELVE

To my surprise, a short, dark-haired woman answered the door. She looked at me suspiciously. “Yes?”

“I’m looking for Cyn,” I said.

“Are you with him?” she asked, pointing at Alaric.

I nodded. “Yes. Tell her the raven has come to call in her debt.”

The woman rocked back in shock. For a moment I thought she would slam the door in our faces. Finally, she pressed her lips together unhappily but stood aside. Alaric and I stepped into the house.

“I’ll get her,” the woman said. “Just… stay here.”

She climbed the stairs that ran along the right side of the room, leaving us alone. Alaric turned around, studying our surroundings. Somehow, despite the rain, he’d stayed maddeningly dry.

“I’m surprised she’s not running,” I said under my breath.

He smiled. “I bound her with a true vow. She would not be able to turn away my representative.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about being someone else’s representative. It sounded like being in someone else’s service.

I looked around. A couch with faded blue cushions sat against the far wall. There was a small table with two chairs near the fireplace. A mending basket sat on one of the chairs. This was a comfortable home, if a little shabby.

The woman I’d seen with the dog came down the stairs, her steps slowing as she saw me. She scanned the room, but her gaze passed right over Alaric without pausing. So it really was true that she couldn’t see him—just as Alaric couldn’t see her. He was looking only at me.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“No one,” I said. Only a few days ago I might have given my name—I had thought myself anonymous when I entered the Silence. But I knew better now—if Alaric had known my name, others might know me as well.

“Is she here?” Alaric asked.

I nodded slightly.

“Then say this: ‘I come on Alaric’s behalf, for what is his by right and vow.’ ”

I repeated the message.

She nodded. “I thought that might be the case. Is he here?”

“Yes.”

She blanched and drew herself upright. “Let’s make this quick, then. What does he want?”

I looked at Alaric. “What do you want to ask?”

“Ask exactly this—no more and no less,” he said.

I listened carefully, then turned back to Cyn. “He asks, what exactly did his mistress ask you to make after he left the room that day? And he asks where it is hidden.”

She lifted her chin. “So he’s going to try to free himself,” she said. I didn’t like the tone of her voice—she reminded me of the magistrate who’d lived down the street from Father and me in the town of Savin, always sniffing for information he could use for leverage.

“That’s none of your concern,” I said, trying to sound threatening. “He found you once, he can do it again if necessary.”

She looked at me appraisingly. “And who would he send? You? You look like a half-drowned cat.”

My cheeks flushed, but I swallowed down my outrage. It might behoove me to appear less dangerous than I actually was.

“Lena,” Alaric said impatiently.

I looked at him. “She refuses to answer.”

Cyn’s eyes widened with fear. “Now see here, I didn’t say that—”

I ignored her, listening as Alaric gave me his response, his voice devoid of emotion.

I turned back to Cyn. “He says that you are bound to tell us what you know, or suffer the consequences.”

“Fine,” she snapped, though she was clearly shaken. “Tell him that his mistress had me make a box. She wanted it entirely made of wood, with wings carved down the sides.” Her voice softened as she spoke—she clearly took pride in her work. “But she requested one unusual specification. The box had to be waterproof. As to where she hid it…” Her gaze went inward as she concentrated. “The princess said she would hide it where the raven would never be able to find it, not by foot, nor by wing.”

Alaric’s expression darkened as I repeated Cyn’s words. So this meant something to him.

“Do you want to ask anything else?”

Alaric shook his head. “This is the information we came for. Let’s go.”

“We will leave now,” I told Cyn.

“Wait,” she said. “Does this discharge the debt? I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder for the next twenty years of my life.”

I didn’t like this woman—in fact, I didn’t mind the idea of her looking over her shoulder for years to come. I spoke without looking to Alaric for guidance. “If the information proves useful, perhaps,” I said.

And then we were walking out of the house, the door slammed shut behind us.

“You scared her,” Alaric said.

“How would you know?” I replied. “You couldn’t even see her.”

“Because you looked…”

I waited for him to finish. “Well?”

“Dangerous,” he said finally. Though there was something in his tone that made me wonder whether he thought that was a good thing.

“We got what we needed, didn’t we?” I said. “So what now? I don’t want to be standing in this rain longer than we have to.”

“We can’t discuss anything here,” Alaric said. He glanced around, and I realized that he was afraid we might be overheard. “Let’s get out of the Gather first. Stay behind me.”

The rain was clearing up as we made our way out of the tailors’ quarter and back toward the edge of the city. People who had gone into shops to escape the downpour were now returning to the streets. Alaric led the way through the crowd, keeping a few paces ahead of me so no one would know we were together—disguise or not. But as we approached the black stones that marked the city border, he stopped abruptly.

I craned my neck, trying to figure out what he’d seen. The people around us were stopping too, their murmurs growing louder, and then I saw them—the black stones in front of us were glowing a bright, sickly green.

The stones beneath my own feet changed color. Suddenly the ground shifted under me, and I stumbled. I dove for the nearest building, pressing myself against a sturdy doorframe. When I looked back for Alaric, he was gone.

The stones shifted again. This time they cracked upward, and enormous roots erupted into the air, breaking the street apart. The entire city seemed to be rocking and swaying. Animals brayed in fear, and stalls collapsed. Cracks ran up the side of one house across the way, and I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping it wouldn’t fall. People screamed.

And then everything went still once more.

Was it over? I tentatively tested my footing. Then I realized that no one else had moved. The street was entirely silent.

In the distance I heard hooves echo upon the stone.

All around me, people prostrated themselves on the ground. I followed their lead as an opulently gilded carriage appeared at the end of the street, pulled by enormous gray horses.

The carriage rolled past me, staying to one side of the split street. It halted near where the roots had first broken through the stone. I glanced up to see the carriage door open.

Two Wolves disembarked from the carriage, followed by a dark-haired man who looked to be in his forties. Last came a younger woman with red-gold curls in a simple brown dress.

Katen. My body went rigid with fear. What if she sensed me, somehow? But I could not run. If I stood now, I would only draw their attention.

I held my breath as the group walked to the broken stones closest to the edge of the city. The man stared down at the stones, then turned to face the people on the street. I quickly averted my gaze.

“Who has dared to call the Silence into my city?” he said. Shale. I shivered at the fury in his voice. “Tell me, who?”

No one dared look up at him.

“Captain, are your guards good for nothing? Who was it?” Shale called.

I chanced another glance in time to see a guard raise his arm and point at an older woman on the ground next to a baker’s stall.

Shale’s mouth curled into a cruel smile. “Come here,” he said, beckoning to the woman.

No, no, don’t go.

But the woman stood and walked over, her shoes scuffing against the stone. She stopped before Shale. In the silence, I could hear her weeping.

“Rise, my subjects, and bear witness to my justice,” Shale said. All around me, people rose to their feet. I did the same.

There was a knife suddenly in Shale’s hand. “Turn around,” he commanded the woman.

Slowly she turned so she faced the crowd, trembling.

“Though the Silence desires to crush us, I keep the Gather safe for all who live here,” Shale cried. “But I cannot do this when there are those who would invite the enemy inside.”

He grabbed one of the woman’s arms, yanking it back. Then he raised the knife high and brought it down, slicing her hand clean off.

I flinched. The woman screamed, collapsing to the ground as blood spurted from the stump of her wrist. At first she writhed in agony, but her movements soon slowed—and then she lay still.

Shale knelt by her side, pressing his palms into the pool of her blood. As I watched, he raised his hands and drew a pattern through the air. Then he lowered them once more, placing them upon the broken stone.

The roots that had torn through the streets began to burn. They hissed and curled, releasing black smoke into the air, until nothing was left except piles of ash. The broken stones rippled underfoot, as though they were ice melting into water, before resolidifying back into place. One by one, the stones up and down the street followed suit.

Shale rose to his feet. “There. Behold how I have restored our city.”

One person began to clap, then another. The street was filled with applause as Shale stalked back to the carriage and climbed inside.

Katen knelt by the body and raised her hand, calling for a Wolf. “Find this woman’s family,” she said, her voice pitched to carry. “See that her body is returned to them.”

The Wolf nodded, and Katen returned to the carriage, her shoulders slumped. Of all the people in Shale’s escort, she was the only one who looked even slightly remorseful.

The carriage door slammed, leaving the Wolves to deal with the body. Then it rolled away. The street was silent and still.

“Lena.” I jumped as Alaric reappeared next to me, his face hard. He grabbed my hand. “We have to go.”

He pulled me toward the forest, abandoning all pretense that we were strangers. Not that it mattered—after what had just happened, I doubted anyone was watching us. I looked down as we passed by the spot where Shale had stood, expecting to see pools of blood. But there was nothing below my boots but glassy black stone.

I turned back to see the bustle of the market resuming. Unease crawled down my spine. How could they go on just as though nothing had happened?

My gaze caught on a man in the distance who I could have sworn looked like my father. Then I blinked, and he was gone.

“What was that?” I asked as soon as we were clear of the city.

“That was Shale and Katen,” Alaric said grimly. “I’m sorry I left you. I couldn’t take the risk of being seen. Not when I’m supposed to be out in the forest hunting you.”

I absorbed this new information. I was beginning to understand why everyone was so frightened of Shale. But Katen had seemed… surprisingly compassionate?

“Katen was not what I expected,” I said.

“She hides her true nature. It’s easy for her to do, next to him.”

“And what about the stones? Did someone really invite the Silence in?”

Alaric shook his head. “No. Disturbances like that have been happening more frequently, and he needs someone to blame each time, to show the people that the city is under his control. But he’s a fool if he thinks anyone here is convinced.”

“Why do you think these disturbances are happening?”

He weighed his words before speaking. “The Gather—Shale and Katen and the rest—were never meant to exist here. They encroached on the Silence. And sometimes… sometimes the Silence fights back. That is why humans must stay on safe paths. In truth, none of your kind should be here.”

“In the Mundane, the Silence bewitched humans. It dragged them into the forest, and they were never seen again,” I said. “Does this have anything to do with that?”

Alaric pressed his lips together. “There are some things I am forbidden to speak of,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

So someone—Katen, I supposed—had bound his tongue. It was disappointing, but neither here nor there. Regardless of this tangle with Shale and Katen, we had gotten the information we came for.

Alaric looked behind us. “We’ve put enough space between us and the Gather. Let’s get going.” He put his arms around me, and we flew once more.