Her father and brother looked like she’d just asked them to swallow an entire pig that was not only raw but still very much alive. Farilane had hoped that perhaps they knew more on the subject, and that she’d been kept in the dark for reasons that started with her being a daughter rather than a son. This did not appear to be the case, and once more the assumption that people were as intelligent as she proved to be false. Farilane realized that a little more detail was needed.

“Mawyndulë is a Miralyith, an elven sorcerer—a powerful one. I expect he’s bald and in his mid-eighteen hundreds, although he has proved he can look like anyone. But he might have a problem sounding like them. He either is, or was, posing as the cult leader Proust, and most recently as Sheldon Faust, a carpenter from Warric, whom I suspect is now dead. In addition to murdering Nyphron, Mawyndulë is also believed responsible for the deaths of the Last Galantian Tekchin, and the former governor of Merredydd, Sikar, both of whom went in search of him after Nyphron’s death. Now Mawyndulë is back, and because of my stupidity, he has the horn. His next step will be to kill all of us. He’ll start with Estermon because the horn is in a locked box, and the emperor has the key dangling from a chain around his neck.”

Her father nodded, sighed, then looked at Nordyan. “You were sent to stop all this.”

“I tried. So did Kolby Fiske. You can’t fight fate.”

“You knew!” Farilane said, part of her feeling vindicated at guessing correctly, part furious that they’d kept it from her. “Of course you did. How else could you have found me in Merredydd so quickly? How else could you have sent Kolby to protect Sephryn before I even thought about visiting her?” Pieces fell into place. “That’s why you hid her from me. That’s why the name Sephryn was never mentioned in the palace when I was a child. And when I finally heard about her—when I asked—I was told she was dead. And when I learned otherwise, I was told she didn’t want to see me. You were trying to fight fate.” Farilane recalled what Sephryn had said and repeated it out loud, “By these ten events you will know my prophecy is true.”

This caught both of their attentions but neither spoke.

“You were trying to stop it, to break it, to prove it false. What is this prophecy, and who made it?”

“We need to speak to the emperor,” her father said.

“We need to get the emperor out of the palace,” she demanded. “Spirit him away to an undisclosed location and hide the key around his neck.”

“Won’t help,” Nordyan said.

“What are you talking about?”