Sylph nearly cried out when Thana stepped into the room, pyramidin hand. “Sylph, use this!”
“Yes.” She took hold of the pyramid with her mind as Illis andIvar scrambled into the room, headed for the pyradistés. Everything faded tothe dull gray of pyramid sight, and Sylph moved the power of the cancelationpyramid like a blanket, covering every enemy pyramid and snuffing their power.For a moment, the pyradistés continued to throw the useless crystal at theOrder and the nobles, but Dina and the brothers succeeded in carrying theUmbriels from the room.
Lady Lucia’s sister was an unmoving heap, as were most of thepyradistés and some of the nobles. The standing pyradistés froze as if theydidn’t know what to do.
“Sylph!”
She turned, saw the man coming at her, saw the knife, but he wasalready collapsing before she brought her power to bear. Her father stoodbehind him with a wine bottle held like a club. His expression was as confusedas ever, and she wanted so badly to believe he cared.
But she couldn’t risk sentiment at the moment. “No one leaves,”she said, edging around him toward the exit. “We’ll wait for the queen to—”
Queen Earnhilt barreled back through the door, bellowing at fullvolume. Thana had obviously released her, and Sylph left her to cow everyoneinto obedience.
In the hall, Thana was speaking rapidly to the prince, somethingabout mind pyramids. Sylph released the guards from their stone shackles,making everyone jump. “They need your help, too,” she said, thankful that Thanawas adept at mind magic.
Thana squeezed her arm. “Are you all right? Is Calla one of thetraitors in there?”
“Yes, and no. Do you still doubt her?”
“I don’t know.” She scowled as she released the guards and sentthem in to help the queen. “Why isn’t she here if she stands with us?”
“I hope you’re not talking about me,” someone called from downthe corridor. Calla led a contingent of palace guards, who saluted the prince.He led them into the council chamber to take possession of the captives.
Calla glared at Thana and Sylph. “What is it with you two andtrust? I went for reinforcements quietly, unlike some. We don’t want to cause apanic.” She snorted. “Honestly, as if I’d betray my own family.”
If she’d lived her entire life among the nobility, she might notbe so quick to say that. She marched past without another word.
Thana grabbed Sylph’s arm again. “I need your help protecting thecapstone, but…with this new crystal nearby…”
“I’ll just have to face it. With you, my raven, I know I can.”
Thana beamed. “Well, me and this.” She held her cancelationpyramid aloft. It would be enough. Anything else was unthinkable.
* * *
Thana left all the arresting and questioning to Calla and thequeen. Yes, she had suspected Calla, but she wasn’t ashamed of that. She wasbeginning to think she should be suspicious of everyone. Especially when thequeen’s lover had a sister who no one seemed to have known about or hadforgotten.
Or she’d been hidden away like Calla, and excuses for herdisappearance had been made until her existence had faded past memory.
Who knew how many more of them were waiting in the shadows?
Gunnar led the way to the nearest secret passage, the Order andSylph in tow. He’d given the queen a brief explanation, and then they were offwith barely a moment for Thana to tell Sylph how proud she was.
“Lady Sylph?” Gunnar asked as they walked. “Can you tell if thepyradistés have broken into the capstone cavern below?”
Thana guided her as she focused. “I sense them,” Sylph said, hertone dreamy. “Crudely moving through the earth, chipping away. I dare notextend my senses close enough to find their exact location.”
“But if they’re still traveling, they haven’t gotten there yet,”Thana said, hopeful and worried at the same time. Her reasons for leaving Sylphbehind the first time were still valid, but without her, they wouldn’t be ableto reach the rogues. “Are you sure about this?” she asked, knowing Sylph wouldget her meaning.
Sylph squeezed her hand. “If it starts to pull me in, we can useyour cancelation pyramid.”
“The new crystal resisted last time.” She bit her lip. “And I’mnot sure what that would do to a Fiend pyramid.”
Sylph seemed almost serene as she smiled, contrasting with thedarkness surrounding them, but scaring Thana all the same. She’d looked likethat when she’d encased herself in stone. “We’ll have to wait and see. All Iknow is, I’m not leaving you right now.”
And Thana was supposed to be thinking about the future, but shefocused on Sylph’s words instead. The future would have to be fine with notbeing the center of attention for a while.
Sylph held tightly to her hand the deeper they went. Every oncein a while, Gunnar would stop and wait for Thana to scout ahead with herdetector. The pyramids she sensed were still on the move, and she tracked thenew Fiend pyramid, which drew her senses like a light in the dark.
At one touch near the capstone cavern, the enemy pyramid seemedto flare, and a smattering of dust came from the ceiling as the palaceshuddered. With a gasp, Thana turned her attention to the capstone, but it wasstill dormant, locked, though she could practically feel it straining to be setfree.
“Thana?” Gunnar’s gaze flicked between her and Sylph, who wasbreathing heavily but evenly and bore a sheen of sweat upon her forehead.
“Go,” she said, and they hurried into the capstone cavern atlast.
Everyone sighed at finding it as empty as before, but that justmeant they’d have to seek out their enemy.
“Can you cancel the enemy’s Fiend pyramid now?” Dina asked.
Sylph looked to Thana. “Should I?”
Thana shook her head. “Let me try.” She closed her eyes andconcentrated on her cancelation pyramid. Again, the rogue pyramid pulled at hersenses. It froze in motion as she touched it, almost as if this was what it hadbeen waiting for.
She hesitated. Pyramids in general weren’t sentient, but therewas something about this one, a definite anticipation. The capstone feltsimilar, but she’d always thought that had something to do with the actualcreature it controlled. What if it was a peculiarity of Fiend magic instead?
She felt around it,
