“Not in person,” he added. “But with his mind, he struck her. She was right. He’s found us. And he will come after her. You know that, Venette.”

Venette was silent, fingers worrying Orwin’s ring on its chain about her neck.

“What you said to the Olken. About Danfey. I know you were simply supporting Barl, then. But now that you know he really is a threat… I have to ask. Did you mean it, about wanting to kill him?”

Her fingers closed hard. “Yes, I did. Why?”

Instead of answering, Remmie tipped his face to the night sky and rested his tired gaze on its unfamiliar stars. Remembered Batava’s schoolhouse, and clever Rine Grovsik’s pleasure as his constellation incant held.

The unfamiliar diamond pinpricks high above him blurred.

“Remmie, you’re frightening me,” said Venette. “What is this about?”

Slowly, he looked at her. “Barl’s magework is in two parts. There’s the weather magic, to end the drought and ensure Lur’s bounty… and then there’s the warding, to keep it safe from the world. Her magework’s only lethal if the two parts are combined. But if the warding wasn’t needed? If she only had to break the drought?” His voice caught. “If that was all of it, Venette, she wouldn’t have to die.”

Venette was too intelligent not to grasp his meaning. Orwin’s ring slid through her fingers as she gasped, and stepped towards him.

“You think to go home? To rid the world of Morgan? Remmie, you can’t. You’d never survive the journey.”

“Not on foot, no,” he agreed. “Besides, I’d never get there in time. But if I incanted…”

“To Elvado?” Incredulous, she laughed. “Remmie—”

“It’s not as mad as it sounds. Maris told me her uncle Arlin once incanted from Elvado to Iringa.”

“Did she also mention the state he was in when he got there?”

“I gather he wasn’t a pretty sight,” he said. “But Venette, if you helped me… if we did a working on the strongest travel incant we know…”

Shaking her head, Venette turned away.

“Or doesn’t it bother you, that Barl is about to kill herself to save us?”

And that spun her back to him, her eyes in the glimfire sparking with temper. “That’s a wicked thing to say. Of course I am bothered. But what you’re suggesting—my dear, it’s madness.”

He managed a crooked smile. “Not if it works.”

“And if it works, how will you get back to us?”

A good question. “Now, now, my lady. One conundrum at a time.”

“Remmie…” Venette pressed trembling fingers to her lips. “Please. Don’t ask me to do this.”

“I have to,” he said simply. “It’s Barl’s only hope.”

“And what of hope for you?”