I had no choice but to glance up at him and smile as if I had never seen him before.

“I’m Anna,” I said in a pleasant tone. “Anna Neven.”

Lennox stared at me for another awkward moment, and then he slid his heavy-lidded gaze to Phelan.

“Anna, this is my twin brother, Lennox,” Phelan hurried to say, as if he was embarrassed by Lennox’s rudeness. “Lennox, this is Anna Neven, my warden partner.”

“A word, Phelan?” Lennox said. “In private.” He vanished down the hall, his footsteps sounding in the direction of the library.

Phelan hesitated, glancing at me.

“I’ll be fine here,” I said.

I listened as Phelan rushed down the corridor, waited until I heard the door shut. I tossed down my napkin and rose, following them all the way to the latched doors of the library. I made sure not to stand before the stained-glass panels, where my silhouette might be noticed by them. Carefully, I coaxed my magic beneath the doors, where I could glean their voices.

“I’m disappointed in you, little brother. You couldn’t find a prettier partner?” Lennox asked. “She’s so plain. I would grow weary of looking at her every day.”

Phelan was silent. When he spoke, his voice was clipped with anger. “Why have you come here, Lee? The new moon is only four days away. You should be in Hereswith.”

“Hereswith,” Lennox scoffed. “What a joke of a town.”

“We have our agreement.”

“Yes, yes, I know. I would take the town, you would continue work in the city. I’m tempted to switch our places.”

I bit my lip. If the brothers switched places, I would be able to return to Hereswith. I would be home, but my father would not. . . .

“There will be no switching places,” Phelan said coldly. “You wanted the town. You now have the town. We don’t deviate from the plan.”

“The people despise me. All they do is talk about Ambrose Madigan and his daughter with that fruit name.”

“Remember your purpose, Lee. You won’t have to be there for much longer.”

“Yes, I know, I know,” Lennox barked. “Which is why I’m here, Phelan. There’s a problem. Dreams are missing from the book of nightmares.”

“As we expected there to be.”

“Not exactly.” Lennox paced the library. The wooden floors groaned beneath his weight. “The whole purpose of us taking Hereswith was to find the dreamless sleeper. We expected one or two people to have nightmares absent from the record. An obvious and simple path to follow. But there are nineteen residents whose dreams are absent, by my reckoning. Nineteen! How am I supposed to find the one out of nineteen by November? That Ambrose Madigan was a wily one, as if he knew one day we would come, seeking the troll. He has protected her well.”

My mind reeled.

By November.

My father protecting a dreamless sleeper.

Mazarine.