Page 68 of The Witch Queen

“Those two are trouble,” Fionn says in mock seriousness before grinning at me.

“Trouble is an understatement.”

Hawthorne

And in the final days of the rift, a prince will be born with the ability to see through the darkness. The truths he will discover will tear down that which never should have existed. His light and his blood, when joined with the other’s, will open the gate that brings in the light.

The Secrets and Stories of Velmara

After two weeks of constant rebuilding, the merchant district has reopened in small pockets. Yesterday, Fionn, Silene, and I attended the grand reopening of an art studio. Silene has made numerous friends throughout Arberly, to no one’s surprise. The human woman who owns the art studio had personally invited Silene to attend, and when we’d arrived, Silene bounced off to mingle with the dozens of people she’s met these months. Fionn and I were left to admire the art on our own, and he stayed grumpy and silent while I charmed a group of females with stories about Velmara’s Floating Market.

After the event, Laurel stopped by our apartment and left Silene a small vial of thayar concentrate to get us in and out of the village for our meeting with the rebels today. Hopefully that’s all we need it for.

“Ready?” I ask Silene, who’s less bubbly this time using the thayar than the last time, before we knew what was waiting for us in Oakton. She nods and grabs Fionn’s and my hand. Pressure, then we stand in front of the manor. It still looks abandoned—the rebels have done a good job hiding this place.

Our goal today is to convince Krantz that attacks on civilians are too risky for him, and that Laurel and the palace should be his focus. I also want to find out any information I can about the manor that seems to serve as the rebellion headquarters. A human woman, who looks to be in her mid-thirties, approaches us. She has mousy brown hair, blue eyes that look kind despite her participation in the rebellion, and a short but curvy frame. Fionn stiffens beside me.

“Hello,” I start to say with a bright smile that shows my dimple, but she cuts me off, as unaffected by my charms as Laurel.

“Follow me,” is all she says in a quiet and gentle voice before turning back toward the manor. I look at Silene and Fionn, then shrug. We follow her into the decrepit building and up two flights of stairs. She stops in front of a door. “Krantz told me to bring you here when you arrived. He’s away, but you’re to wait in his office until he’s back. It will probably be half an hour.” With that, she opens the door and gestures us into a room painted bright white. It’s clearly used frequently, filled with furniture and stacks of papers, and Krantz has tried to make it look less crumbling than the other parts of the manor. As we walk in, she gestures to a couch and two chairs, before leaving and shutting the door behind us. As soon as it’s closed, I use my light magic to search for any light coming into the room from unexpected places. When I determine we’re not being watched, I jump up to examine the massive oak desk that fills half the room.

“What are you doing?” Silene hisses.

“She said it would be half an hour before he’s here. I’m going to snoop through his desk for information,” I tell her, lifting a stack of papers from one corner and flipping through them.

“What if this is another test of loyalty?” she whispers. I shrug.

“I’ll put everything back exactly as I left it. Plus, I scanned the room. There are no peep holes. And if it’s a trap, I’ll just own up to it and tell him I wanted to know what he was up to so I can report back to my father. I’m persuasive.” I give her a confident wink. Silene sighs but resigns herself to my antics as she usually does. Everything on the desk is just correspondence with other rebels, or ledgers of food supplies, so I move on to the drawers. I find a book with what appears to be the name of every rebel who has joined, and while that could be useful, it would surely be missed, so I put it back. At the bottom of the desk is a locked drawer, and I smile. “Fionn, come unlock this drawer for me.” He frowns but does as I ask. Kneeling down on the ground next to me, he closes his eyes and concentrates. I hear a click, and the metal locking mechanism has popped open. “Thanks,” I tell him with a cocky grin before sliding open the drawer.

It’s more organized than any other drawer, with folders containing documents, each one labeled with the subject of its contents. Mostly letters, though these are more sensitive in nature. There’s a missive from a potential secondary leader in Echosa, detailing their recruiting efforts. There are also ledgers of thayar supplies. I hand that to Silene.

“Memorize this,” I tell her, knowing she has the best ability amongst the three of us to remember random facts and figures. I keep flipping through the folders, finding nothing else useful. In the last folder, I find a single sheet of parchment. It’s a letter from an ally in Velmara, providing information to the rebels about the thayar flower. I take in the words quickly, excitement that I might’ve found something that could truly help Laurel.

The sons and daughters of our great kingdom deserve a better life, and I am determined to find the information needed to remove any complications in achieving our vision for the realm.

My heart stops when I read the signature at the bottom.

Your friend and ally,

Nemesia

I read the letter a second time, my eyes stopping on the harsh lines that make the signature at the end. This can’t be true.

“What is it?” Fionn asks, taking the letter from my hand. “Nemesia… isn’t that…” I nod. Silene looks up from where she is still scanning over the thayar supply notes.

“Nemesia, Laurel’s friend?” she asks.

“I believe so, based on the contents of the letter. But it could be a forgery. Laurel could probably confirm the handwriting. We need to take it back with us.”

“We can’t. What if it’s found missing? We would be the first suspects.” Silene’s eyes widen in fear.

“I don’t give a fuck,” I spit out. “If they confront us, we own up to it and make an excuse, and if they don’t believe us, we fight our way out and be done with them. At this point, we’ve found their leader, we’ve found their headquarters, and this letter tells us who their informant has been. That’s good enough. Laurel needs to know if this is true.”

Silene weighs my words. “This might not even be a real letter. Your feelings for Laurel might—”

I cut her off. “I don’t have feelings for Laurel.”Liar.“But even if Idid,this would still be important to show to her. I’m not negotiating.” My voice comes out harsher than I mean for it to, but I don’t back down.

Silene only raises her hands in submission. “Fine, take it. But you have to be the one to tell her.”

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