Prue did, mostly. She left out the parts about Bonnasaint, preferring to wait on that, telling the brothers only that after returning from her encounter with the demon and the King of the Silver River and finding Pan, the two had come looking for Phryne to see if there was anything they could do to help free her.

“But when I went into the city looking for information, pretending to be a blind pilgrim, I was told she had escaped,” she finished. “So we came here to see if you knew anything.”

Tasha grunted. “We know a lot, and we’ll tell you if you think you can keep it to yourself. That wild child, Xac Wen, came here some days ago after we found out that Phryne was charged with her father’s murder and imprisoned. We knew that wasn’t right, and we were afraid for her. The Queen doesn’t like Phryne, and we thought she might do her harm. So we sent the boy back with instructions to break her free and bring her here. He’s a capable boy; we knew he could do it. He must have done so, since she’s gone.”

“But we’ve heard nothing from her since,” Tenerife added. “You say she escaped sometime night before last?” He exchanged a glance with his brother. “She might have decided it was too dangerous to try to come to us. She might have gone into hiding. But we haven’t seen her or Xac Wen, either.”

“Truth is,” Tasha continued, “we can’t go anywhere just now. We’re being kept right where we are on the Queen’s own orders. Haren Crayel, our captain of the Home Guard, commands this contingent. He’s our friend, so he told us of these orders. Doesn’t mean he intends to go against them, you understand, but he thought that at least we ought to know. He doesn’t believe the charges against Phryne, either.”

He shrugged. “So here we sit, unable to do much of anything.”

“Maybe there’s nothing anyone can do until we know something more,” Pan said quietly.

“Pan and I don’t know much about Phryne’s whereabouts, but we do know something about the Queen’s part in her imprisonment,” Prue said finally. She gave Pan a reassuring smile. “It’s all right. I’m ready to talk about it.”

Then she told Tasha and Tenerife of Bonnasaint’s attempt and failure to kill them and of his admission that he was responsible for killing Oparion Amarantyne and that the Queen had arranged it. She also told them of Panterra’s plan to bring the assassin here to be held prisoner by the Orullians and their companions until a way could be found to allow him to tell his story to the High Council so that Phryne might be exonerated.