“I don’t think that was why he did that,” Rory said. “One of them wasn’t right.”
“What do you mean?”
“Only five of those guards were physically gifted,” Rory said. “The one standing to your left was just an ordinary woman. I could tell by the way she moved.”
“Lady Mirren?”
“Yah. Twice, when the guards closed in, she came within a hair’s breadth of touching you. Then, when the bishop introduced her, you were wearing your gloves, but she extended her fingers so that she would have touched your skin.”
I replayed the scene in my mind, as closely and exactly as my memory would allow. “Did you see her touch anyone else?”
Rory nodded. “When the servant brought Gehata wine, she made a point of sipping from his glass before giving it to him. She made sure to touch the servant.”
“Nobody suspects foul play so quickly as the guilty,” Bolt muttered.
“That’s why you were watching me delving Duchess Naranha,” I said.
Rory nodded. “You’re better at it than she is, but whenever you delve someone the blacks of your eyes get bigger for an instant. Mirren’s eyes got bigger than yours when she touched the servant.”
I took a deep breath. “Do we have any way of getting word to Pellin or Toria Deel?”
Bolt shook his head. “Not without a scrying stone, and the Archbishop surrendered his.”
I tried not to get angry, again, that the Chief of Servants had kept her scrying stone at Pellin’s behest instead of surrendering it to me. I failed. Now, their suspicion had put us in danger. “Maybe there’s another way,” I said. “What about Chora’s? If we can get to her stone, we might be able to get word to the rest of the Vigil.”
He sighed. “We can ask the chamberlain. He should have it safe-guarded, but that will only put us in touch with the other monarchs.”
“We need to contact them anyway,” I said. “The threat of the dwimor against the monarchs is real, even if that’s not exactly what happened here.”
“How can you be certain?” Rory asked.
“Fair question,” I nodded. “And I wasn’t until tonight. The bishop favored me with a twisted quote from the liturgy to threaten me, something along the lines of ‘Why seek the living among the dead.’ That, coupled with the soldiers guarding the queen’s body, paints a picture.”
“So there never was a dwimor?”
I shook my head. “No, I think there was, but I think it was spotted, perhaps killed. Then I think Gehata used the presence of the dwimor as a cover to kill Chora. Knowing Vyne’s health was failing, the opportunity to take control of the Merum church and Aille was probably irresistible.” I shrugged. “It’s a theory anyway.”
“What do you want us to do, Willet?” Bolt asked.
I checked his expression for signs of sarcasm, but he seemed in earnest. “Me? You’re the last Errant.”
“But I don’t hold the gift of domere. You do. Whoever Lady Mirren really is, she holds the gift—Laewan’s or Jorgen’s. This takes precedence over the search for the heir, and she’s your responsibility. You have to train her.” He shook his head at the look on my face. “There’s no one else.”
“You’re assuming we can get to her,” I said. “If you think Gehata is guarding Chora’s body closely, what’s he going to do with someone who can see into the mind of his enemies?”
My guard shrugged. “I didn’t say it would be easy.”
“Easy?!” My voice scaled up an octave. “It’s going to be difficult enough to make getting to Chora look like a child’s game in comparison. We were too late to keep Cesla from killing Queen Chora—so that’s off the table. Our most important priority is to find the heir.” I stopped without bothering to say I still didn’t know why Cesla had wanted to kill the queen. Her death wouldn’t guarantee a fight for the throne or a disruption in the fight for the Darkwater.
“Has he always been like this?” Bolt asked Gael.
She smiled. “Perhaps you should ask Rory. I’ve only known him for a little over a year.”
Rory took the exchange literally. “No. He used to be a lot calmer before he got involved with the Vigil, yah?”
“You all know I’m standing right here, don’t you?” I said. But Bolt was right. It didn’t matter that we already had one impossible task on our plate. Now that I’d had the chance to think about it, we had to bring Mirren into the Vigil. “Do you think Bishop Gehata is still in the throne room?”
“Doubtful,” Bolt said. “‘Once you’ve won the battle it’s time to quit the field.’”
It wasn’t one of his best. “Rory, I want you to follow the bishop and Lady Mirren. See where they go.”
“No,” Bolt said. “He’s your guard against the dwimor, or do I need to remind you that I can’t see them?”
I spread my hands. “You just told me I have to bring her in. How did you think we were going to find out where Gehata is keeping her? Our resources here are pretty limited.”
I was happy to see him look at me in disgust. That’s how I knew I’d won the argument. “Go,” he said to Rory. “No unnecessary risks.”
“Me?” Rory asked.
“You. This time use my definition of risk, not yours.”
The little thief slipped out of the room, careful to close the door behind him.
Chapter 30
Bolt sighed. “The nobles will be expecting us back in the throne room for the evening meal.” He looked at Gael. “You’ll have to lead the way. With Rory gone, you have a better chance of spotting an assassin than Willet or I.”
Rory gone. Those two words made me feel naked and I almost laughed out loud at the insanity of a world where I depended on the eyes and knives of an erstwhile thief for safety. I looked at Bolt and Gael. “We need an ally.”
My guard snorted. “An ally?” he asked. “As in only one?”
I nodded. “If he’s the right one,
