All of his memories—his real memories—flooded him, and he spoke all he knew as Jorick and Bet listened on. He told them about how he’d lived for as long as he could remember in the Dristoll City Orphanage with dozens and dozens of other unwanted children, about how he’d always been alone until one day the owners brought in a boy off the streets who looked remarkably like Evin. He and the boy—Marten—had become good friends. Marten had learned from his uncle all the tricks of being a rogue before his uncle ran off and left him behind, and Marten in turn taught Evin everything he knew about stealth, about theft, about traps, about fighting.

“We were going to run away from there,” Evin said to Jorick and Bet. “Marten and I had planned to sneak into the lords’ keeps, steal some gold, and then we were going to go adventuring … until Sefron found me.”

“I’m sorry,” Bet whispered.

Evin and Jorick looked at her, surprised.

The elf girl looked up at them, her eyes red. “I know you must hate me.”

Neither boy spoke. Evin wanted to blame her for all of this. But he’d seen for himself what had really happened when Sefron returned her memories. Her tears told him that this was no longer an act, that this was the true Betilivatis—not a scheming wizard, but someone who had been just as manipulated as they were.

“I don’t hate you,” Evin whispered, not taking his eyes off of her.

“I don’t either,” Jorick said. “So come on, tell us your story. Or was your whole weird, mysterious wizard act the true you after all?”

Bet’s lips attempted to rise into a smile. “I am Betilivatis. I am from the elf city of Morronoir, in the forests to the far north. My parents did not accept my goal of being a wizard, and so I traveled to this kingdom and found a master in Sefron.” She met their eyes. “I trained under him, and I knew he oversaw the wall, but I can promise you this: I knew nothing of Sefron and Hennea’s plans to dismantle the wall. No sane person would ever go along with that.”

“No, definitely not,” Evin said. “I don’t think that either of those two seems particularly sane.”

Above them came the sound of something grinding. Evin looked up to see sparks flying away from the grate. Beyond the windows behind the study’s desk, the blue sky had begun to grow dark.

“What do you think they’re doing up there?” Evin mused.

Bet shrugged.

Jorick looked between the two of them, face stern. “Do you two really want to sit here and wait to find out?”

“What are we supposed to do?” Bet asked, her voice forlorn. “We’re bound in here, and Hennea is probably keeping guard.”