‘I do not think there is any hope,’ said Clariel. The anger was flowing away, like water from a holed vessel. She had nothing to contain it now.

‘Tell me,’ said Tyriel.

Clariel told him. How they had visited the King, and the kin-gift, and then to the Governor’s mansion. Jaciel touching the goblet, the sudden fight, her flight and capture, the prison hole, the Paperwing flight to Hillfair.

‘So,’ said Tyriel heavily, when at last she had finished. ‘I believe you are right, and now only one of my three children lives.’

‘Can’t you … go into Death to see?’ asked Clariel. She was remembering what Bel had said about Tyriel never wearing the bells, perhaps not even having read The Book of the Dead.

‘No,’ replied Tyriel, very shortly. ‘Death is not to be entered save when … needs must.’

‘What are you going to do about Kilp then?’ asked Clariel. She felt two conflicting urges inside her. One was as it had always been, to get back to the Great Forest. The other was the desire to destroy Kilp and Aronzo, to take revenge for her parents’ deaths, to join the force of Abhorsens that was surely going to help the King.

‘We must consult with the Clayr, and Gullaine and Kargrin in the Palace,’ said Tyriel. ‘There is also the matter of the Summer’s End Hunt, one of the most important in our year …’

Clariel felt some of the anger that had leaked away return. How could the Abhorsen be concerned with a ceremonial hunt, when there was urgent business at hand? The Borderers didn’t go hunting stags for pleasure when there was a wolf pack in the Forest.

‘There is also the question of what to do with you,’ continued Tyriel. His voice held no menace, but even so, Clariel found his gaze upon her very disquieting.

‘I would like to go to Estwael,’ she said quickly. ‘To my aunt Lemmin, my father’s sister.’

‘That, at least, is out of the question,’ rumbled Tyriel. ‘You would not be safe. Kargrin says that Kilp needs to establish you as Queen under his control. A puppet, if you will, for he cannot continue to claim Jaciel will take the throne. No one will believe him if he cannot show she lives. Kargrin also told me … about your encounter with the Free Magic creature.’

‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ asked Clariel. ‘She … it’s captured. You’ve got it stuck in a bottle.’

Tyriel didn’t answer for a moment, but kept looking at Clariel, his eyes unblinking. She tried to meet his gaze, but eventually found herself casting her eyes down.

‘Kilp may have other such allies,’ Tyriel said finally. ‘I think we must keep you somewhere safe, in case of abduction. Or if things change and Kilp needs all of the closest royal heirs dead, safe from assassination.’