He draped the talisman in front of my face. Crimson stained the grains of the wood.

“With this,” he went on, “the queen provided a way for me to follow you into your trance.” His teeth flashed. “I know you are completely drawn to the souls of the fallen, and there, my, what secrets you keep.”

Queen Ingir rose from her seat. “How long have you been bonded to Dravenmoor? To their assassin? You tried to slaughter my son!”

Her palm struck my face before I had time to dodge. I staggered in the chair, clutching my face. “No. I never sent any of the attacks.”

“When I finally saw into your thoughts, I saw the soul bond between you,” Fadey snapped.

“Soul…soul bond?” Did he mean the gilded rope between Skul Drek and me? “If you saw everything, you would know I did not understand what was happening, nor did he.”

Fadey rubbed his chin, as though considering my words. “I couldn’t see everything, more pieces of your time there. But it was enough to sense the bones. You have done something that no melder was able to do before. You’ve found a way to walk among the fallen, to sense their resting places like I never could. You will be able to see what I cannot see.”

“The bones?”

Fadey sneered. “I have thought of nothing else but the Wanderer since I learned what Damir was after. I know the bones are scattered, but we’ve found one, and your strange bond with the assassin will be the key to taking it.” He glanced back at Ingir. “We cannot get through the wards, and I cannot see them, merely sense a power unmatched. But with you, now all that will change.”

“You want the Wanderer for yourself?” My voice came out in a dry rasp.

“I do.”

“We do.” Ingir paused in organizing her herbs, her tone abrupt.

Fadey pressed a hand to his chest. “We do. When Ingir’s spell cast sensed a new power, a strong power, we wondered. When I tried to fall into a melder’s trance, but was warded against the burial site by a new kind of magic, I knew we’d found something with unmatched craft.”

I lifted my chin, terrified and furious all at once. “I will never meld them for you.”

Fadey barked a laugh. “Oh, I already knew after this you’d feel betrayed enough you would never help us. But your strength and craft will do well enough.”

“You can’t have it.”

“You won’t have a choice over what bones I take. You’ll be dead, Melder Bien.”

I froze. My bones.