I swallowed. “I hate to disappoint, but I was strongly encouraged to keep my distance from Quinten when he was visiting, so we only spoke briefly.”

The one, quick interaction shot through my memory, and it was as painfully clear as a punch to the chest.

“Oh.” I felt my body go cold. It seemed too much of a coincidence to actually be one.

“What?” Etan asked. “Does he have other plans?”

I shook my head, my eyes brimming with tears against my will. “He warned me.”

“Who? Quinten?” Mother asked.

I nodded. I could feel the tears spilling over as I flashed back into the Great Hall of Keresken Castle. I was holding the crown Silas had made. He’d been standing right beside me when it happened. “He noticed I’d gotten close to your family . . . and he . . . I can’t remember the exact words, but he told me to be careful, or I’d get burned.”

Mother covered her mouth with her hand, her face a mask of horror.

He knew. He knew even then he was going to kill them, and he could guess I was going to be close enough to the Eastoffes that I would be in danger myself.

“Father, is that not enough?” Etan asked.

“I’m afraid not, my son. It is a brick, but we need a wall.”

I sat there, still stunned by Quinten’s words, and trying to think of anything else he might have said.

“Are you all right, Hollis?” Scarlet asked quietly. She’d been so quiet, I’d almost forgotten she was there. But she understood. She was haunted in her own way.

I nodded, though it was a lie. Sometimes it felt like Silas had been dead for years, one chapter in a book that I’d finished reading long ago. But other times, it felt like the pain of losing him was so new it ripped the wound open and forced it wider, leaving my very heart bleeding over a love so young it had barely learned to walk.

I dabbed at my tears. I could cry when I was alone. Not here.

“Speaking of the attack, there is another detail that concerns me.”

I looked over at Etan, watching as he toyed with his cuffs, looking as if he simply needed something to occupy his hands.

“And what is that?” Mother inquired.

“News of it hadn’t reached the lines at all.”

“So?” Mother asked.

“That the king succeeded in nearly cutting down an entire branch of the family seems like something everyone would know about. If not from his own gloating, from others’ fear. But they said nothing of it when I traveled to Coroa, and they knew nothing when we passed back into Isolte today.” He shook his head. “I think we need to be on guard.”

Lord Northcott looked up at him, serious and calm. “We are always on guard.”

“Yes, but this event is startling,” Etan insisted, gesturing to Mother. “By now, the rumors ought to be swelling. They’re not. If the king is silencing people, we very well might be his next target.”