“One of them can,” I admit. “I know that for sure. Most of Vetris knows it, too. But that one isn’t on Varia’s side.”

“If the princess has the Bone Tree, they are all on her side.”

“How do you know that?” I narrow my eyes.

“Unlike Cavanos, Helkyris does not burn books it doesn’t agree with.” His eyes twinkle back at me. I raise my chin.

“Right. Regardless, this valkerax isn’t on her side, Elder. I’d stake my immortal life on it.”

“Why?”

“I taught it to Weep. It’s free of the Bone Tree’s command.”

“Ah.” He nods, chin in his hand. “Weeping. I’ve read of it in the rare Sunless War record. You are…capable of it?”

“I’d do a casual demonstration, but that’s against the spirit of the thing.”

“Can you teach any number of the other valkerax to do it, too?” he presses.

My laugh bursts out, and I just barely cover my mouth.

“S-Sorry. No. Not without a lot of drugging, underground dungeons, and dying on my part. It’s a frankly awful time. And a lengthy one.”

“Not feasible, then,” Fione muses, pulling out a notebook and a quill. She scratches something out.

“You thought of that already?” I tilt my head.

“Obviously.” She taps her quill on another sentence. “What about the Bone Tree? Can we go back to the mountaintop and destroy it, strip her of her source of power?”

She’s the Duchess Himintell right now. Strong spine, unblinking periwinkle eyes. Apple-cheeked, blushing-in-love Fione is nowhere to be seen. Malachite and I share a look as Lucien shakes his head.

“The Bone Tree’s gone,” Lucien muses. “That thing on top of the mountain is a shell—the entirety of its magic is inside her now.”

“In that choker around her neck,” I say. “Right?”

Lucien shrugs. “I can’t say. But it’s a physical symbol of her new power, certainly.”

“It’s feeding off her,” Fione says. “Her magic. Which means we don’t have much time to stop her.”

“There is a time limit either way, Your Grace,” the sage says. “When one takes into consideration the imminent loss of life from a valkerax invasion.”

My stomach turns uneasily. The dream last night…Varia was close to Vetris; she was in the grasslands. But she wouldn’t—her parents, the king and queen, are there. She wouldn’t kill them. She’s still Varia, and the Varia I know treasures the people she loves.

Even if they’ve betrayed her.

But her parents haven’t. She loves them. Vetris is safe. I’m not sure about anywhere else, but I’m sure Vetris, at least, is safe.

“How do you stop someone with the most powerful weapon in the world?” Malachite muses.