Ice begins form into a hard lump in my gut. Somehow she’s convinced herself that this is not only the best thing for her, but somehow good for my friends as well. How do you reason with someone who is already so far beyond it?

My hands shake, and I plunge them into my skirt pockets. “Where did you get this idea, anyway? I don’t understand how you would even know this was something that could be done, especially after having been a flower for many years.”

Maeve gives me a shrewd look. “You’re smart. I’m glad of that,” she says. “After I was freed from the garden and discovered my family had vanished, I went to see Lady Aisling. I intended to kill her outright, but she offered to help me instead. I was surprised, but I agreed. We made a deal.”

The ice in my belly begins to spread. A deal made with Lady Aisling can’t possibly spell anything good. “Why would you do that? You can’t trust her. Not for a second. She always has an angle.”

Maeve shrugs. “I went in fully aware she was using me, and I know exactly what she’s using me for. The truth is I’m using her too. My eyes are wide open. Getting our entire family back is worth any price.”

I’m terrified to ask the question I know I must ask. “What was the deal?”

“You don’t need to know that. I’m your mother. I’ll take care of everything, and you needn’t worry about a thing. Come here.”

“I’m already worried. I need to know what the deal was.” I fold my arms across my chest.

She shakes her head. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But I have everything under control.” She takes a deep breath, and I look into her thoughts almost by instinct. Despite her protests, there’s a part of her that’s not entirely sure about this deal. I just need to find a way to latch on to that and bring it to the forefront.

But before I can dig deeper, she speaks again. “We agreed to an exchange. She would tell me how to repair my broken family”—she looks wistfully at me for a second—“and I would fetch something for her in return.”

“What did she want?” I ask, dread holding me in a vise.

Maeve waves me off. “That doesn’t matter. She told me I need to find a soul summoner and that they can be used to bring the dead back to inhabit a new body.” Her eyes practically glow with desperate longing. “She told me where they were last seen.”

I shudder. “And where was that?”

“As luck would have it, Wren. Your village. Our village, I suppose.”

My jaw drops. “Wren?”

“Oh yes. Our missions turned out to be beautifully aligned.”

My mind scrambles to wrap around this revelation. The journal she stole from Connor was supposed to be written by a soul summoner. That report Rachel found mentioned a soul summoner who had escaped Lady Aisling’s clutches since they were away while she was visiting the village. If that’s the soul summoner Maeve seeks, that also explains why she kept that map of where Wren once was located. I just don’t understand how that would help when the remains of Wren have long been underwater.