Tristan’s plan had seemed so straightforward. I’d go to the castle with my mother, and then I’d track down Marie or something of hers, and steal a memory of Anushka’s identity. When I had it, I’d use his name to give him the information, and he’d hunt her down. That failing, I’d remain glued to my mother’s arm, and wait for Anushka’s approach. There was no place she could take me that I could not call him, no place where he could not find me. And we were banking on her not knowing that fact.

The door opened behind me, and I turned, thinking it was the maid with my bath water. But instead, I found myself facing two grim-faced soldiers dressed in formal uniforms, a sprig of dried crimson berries pinned at their lapel.

“Mademoiselle de Troyes,” one of them said. “The Lady du Chastelier requests your presence.”

“I’m not ready,” I protested, taking a step back. “I haven’t even bathed.”

“You’ll be provided with what you need at the castle. You need to come with us now.”

I drew on the earth’s magic. I only needed a few more minutes – a chance to select something of my mother’s so I could find her. To retrieve my supplies where they sat on the desk in my bedroom.

“Wait downstairs. I’ll be with you shortly,” I said, forcing every ounce of my power into the words, feeling the force ripple out.

And fall away.

The guard shook his head, coming forward to grab my arm. “Now.”

And it was then the meaning of the berries struck me. The memory of Chris telling me the wooden charm he’d purchased would ward a person from magic, and my dismissal of the very idea. Of the strange wooden earrings that Lady Marie had worn, and the sprig of those very same berries pinned into her hair.

Rowan. The witch’s bane. And its presence rendered our plans useless, and put Anushka back in control.

If she’d ever lost it.

Forty-Nine

Tristan

“They refused me entry to the castle,” Sabine snarled, her boots leaving tracks of mud across the floor. “Told me that Cécile would not be requiring my services tonight.”

“Did they refuse any of the other crew?” I asked, scratching Souris behind one ear because watching Sabine pace was only adding to my nerves.

“No.” She spat the word out.

“They’re cutting her off from the herd,” Chris muttered.

Sabine stopped moving. “That’s morbid.” I felt her gaze turn on me. “You’re awfully calm, all things considered.”

I shook my head, picking at a frayed stitch on my boot. My anger was a slow burn, boiling hotter and hotter and threatening to erupt. Every minute seemed to pass interminably slow as I watched the sun track across the sky, and instinct told me to act, to go to the castle and find Marie and extract Anushka’s identity from her with whatever means necessary. Only the finest filament of control kept me in my seat¸ reminding me that only strategy and wit would win us success.

“There’s something I need to tell you both. You might want to sit.”

Sabine stayed where she was, crossing her arms.

“Cécile’s hypothesis about the alignment of the winter solstice and full moon has been proven correct,” I said. “If we don’t stop her, Anushka will kill Genevieve tonight and perform whatever spell she’s been using to maintain her immortality. Even without the cost of Cécile’s mother’s life, given that we’ve lost the ability to track her, tonight is our only opportunity to catch her.”

“And you’ve sent Cécile into the lion’s den alone?” Sabine’s cheeks flushed red with anger. Spinning on her heel, she started to the door. “I’m going to find a way into the castle. I’ll swim across the cursed river if I have to.”

“Sabine, come back here,” I said, jamming the door shut.

She jerked on the handle. “Open it. Let me out.”

I briefly considered lifting her up and depositing her in front of me until I was done talking, but I suspected manhandling the girl would not predispose her to listening. “Sabine, sit down and listen. Please.”

She grudgingly returned and sat next to Chris, and I proceeded to explain all of what Cécile had seen and heard in Trollus. “Angoulême plans to take control of the city using my brother, and when he does, he’ll arrange to have Anushka killed. The trolls will hail him as their savior, and all the world will suffer for it. And I do not think I’ll be able to stop them.”

“So you plan to kill her instead,” Chris said, and it wasn’t a question.

I nodded. “There is a chance we could catch her and use Aiden’s plan to free Cécile from my father, and then hide her away from the world, but…” I hesitated. “My people are in danger from both within and without, and I have to do what I can to keep them safe.”

“And when the rest of the trolls are free? What then?” Sabine’s arms were wrapped around her body as though to ward off the chill.

“I will try to take the crown,” I said. “And I will spend the rest of my life trying to keep them in check.”

“And if you fail?”

I closed my eyes for a moment, my knowledge of life before the Fall marching unwanted across my vision. “I suggest you pray to your God that I don’t.”

“Is this what Cécile wants?” Chris lifted his head, gaze steely and unflinching.