Before he could finish that sentence, Hannah, who had been seething by the front door, hurtled toward them like a runaway train. Wren had half a mind to crawl back into the tunnel.

“Care to explain what the hell is going on?” Hannah thrust a creased paper toward her. Printed in bold capital letters across the top was WANTED: WREN SOUTHERLAND. Beneath it, a sketch of her face stared back at her. Fear struck first, hard and sudden as a slap to the face.

“You’ve been sneaking around the house and breaking curfew,” Hannah continued. “And the other day, when you went downstairs to investigate that sound, you left all your books open. I didn’t mean to look, but…”

Wren rested her face in her hands.

“That medicine … It was antitoxin, wasn’t it? I didn’t want mention it because you promised to tell me, and I trusted you. Now I don’t know what to think. What does this mean? That all my staff—they were murdered?” All the fury in her voice suddenly shattered. What remained was despair.

“I’m so sorry.” Wren hated that she was too much of a coward to meet Hannah’s eye. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“So you were just going to, what? Avoid it forever and let me live my whole life in the dark? Cross your fingers and hope it didn’t happen to me, too?”

“It wouldn’t have happened to you. I promise. If there was any risk of you—”

“How can you be sure?”

“Ms. Southerland and I have been investigating this case undercover,” Hal cut in. “We have reason to believe the murderer was targeting soldiers. It seems every civilian who fell ill before me was…”

“A test case?”

He nodded, his mouth a thin line.

Hannah slumped against the wall, laughing weakly. “I already grieved them once. I don’t know that I can do it again.”

“I’m sorry.” Hal’s voice was so gentle, it nearly gutted Wren. There was no pity there, only understanding. “I can’t imagine how difficult this is.”

“Just tell me what I can do to help.” At first, Wren mistook the flatness in Hannah’s voice as defeat. But when she looked into her eyes, she saw steel and fire. Raw determination.

“I want to know who did it,” Hannah said.

Wren and Hal exchanged a look.

“For now, I need you to help cover for my mistake,” Wren said. “The Queen’s Guard is after me because of a misunderstanding. I know I can set this right. If Lord Lowry asks, tell him I’ve left for a few days and brought Henry with me. He probably won’t even notice we’re gone.”

Panic flickered in her eyes. “And what will I tell him if he does?”