Case 34. Perhaps it’s only because I’ve spent the last several days cooped up in a library that I wonder if perhaps she means a bookcase. Prince Meilek might have considered that already, but he’ll have disregarded it because Vos Talwyn doesn’t have a library that large.

But Spinner’s End does.

My pulse drums beneath my skin, but when I speak, my words are mild. “Since you’ve shared this with me, I should inform you of something as well. I found the shaman from the attack at the teahouse.”

He frowns. “And where is he now?”

“Dead of an arrow. Couldn’t be helped. I’m just as frustrated. But before he died, he did say something rather confusing.”

It might be foolish to tell him, but I want to see his reaction. As the queen’s brother, he might be the one person who knows her best.

“He implied that the person who sent him to attack the queen’s Shadow at the teahouse was the queen herself.”

Prince Meilek’s eyes flicker with something I can’t quite name. It only lasts half a second before his gaze hardens, not long enough to draw any conclusions but long enough to make the connection between the shaman’s claim and Kendara’s sudden disappearance.

“That’s not possible,” he says firmly. “Kendara is too vital.”

“She also knows all of Evewyn’s secrets,” I point out.

His jaw tightens. “What you’re suggesting is impossible. Mei wouldn’t have sent shamans to attack Kendara, because she knew that Kendara wouldn’t be there. Kendara had planned to send her chosen apprentice instead, and she doesn’t do anything without Mei’s approval. My sister hasn’t always made the best choices, but—”

“Like deciding I’m a Nuvali spy?” I ask before I can leash my tongue.

His lips compress. His tone, when he speaks, is harsher than I’ve heard it before. “I will hear no more of this. You will be held with the other shamanborn while I write to Ronin to have you escorted back to Spinner’s End.”

“The other shamanborn? The ones who escaped from the Valley of Cranes? Are they to be executed?”

Although I think he means to ignore the question, after a moment of indecision, he does answer. “I’m escorting the shamanborn back to the Valley of Cranes, but I won’t allow them to be executed. Unfortunately, that’s the most I can do at the moment.”

He sounds unhappy, but I’m unable to summon any sympathy. In fact, his tone annoys me.

“You’re the prince of Evewyn. You’re the only one who can do something.” I don’t know what’s gotten hold of my tongue, but the shamanborn don’t deserve any of this. Prince Meilek is the queen’s brother, and yet he claims to be powerless?