And then I tell him. I tell him about the night at the hospital and the night I met Nick. I tell him about how and why I forced Nick’s hand and got him to name me his Page. I tell him about needing to find the truth, not just about my mother’s death but about my own abilities and how they might be connected to hers. I don’t tell him Patricia’s name, or her ancestors’, but I tell him about the facts of Ruth’s memory. And then I tell him about the memory that drove me to his room—the Wall of Ages with the marble representing Lord Davis’s Kingsmage, and how the silver surface had been scratched.

Like someone had carved one marble out and replaced it with another.

“What if you were wrong about a mole but right about the attacks being organized by someone close to the chapter? What if it was a previous Kingsmage who opened that Gate twenty-five years ago, and the Order punished them by removing them from their post? If this Kingsmage became unstable away from their Oaths, then what would stop them from taking revenge on the Order and anyone else who led to their being caught? Maybe this Merlin-gone-bad went after my mother because she was a witness that night. And then they came here to hurt the Order by opening Gates again and kidnapping the most valuable Scion. After the attempts to take Nick didn’t work, they sent hellfoxes after the current Kingsmage to take you out of the picture. If these attacks are all connected, I can find my mom’s killer and you can prove your hunches were right!”

When I finish, he sits back in his chair and studies me for a long, silent while. He stands up to pace to the end of the room and back. Stops, stares down at me, then paces again.

“Say something.”

“Something.”

I roll my eyes. “You can go down to the Wall. Check for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

He waves a hand. “I know what your lies look like. This isn’t one of them.” He pauses, shakes his head. “Is this what you and Nicholas are truly up to? Looking for the truth about your mother?”

I release a slow breath. “Yes.”

His eyes are unreadable. I brace for a challenge about my and Nick’s plan or a derisive jab at Nick for not claiming his title for the right reasons. Neither comes.

“Say you’re right and this Kingsmage opened a Gate. There’s no way the Regents would let that Merlin run free. They lock up Merlins who succumb to their blood. The second we begin to turn, they put us in a warded prison under guard.” His brows furrow. “And before you ask, I’ve seen the prisons. Escape is impossible.”