Talon shoots her a glare. “You didn’t have to announce it.”

Tessa laughs and flops down into the chair. “Who wants to go see how glass is made?”

It’s so completely different from anything I thought she might say that I just stare at her, slack-jawed.

She takes a chunk of meat from my plate and pops it into her mouth.

“Really?” Niklas says. “How would we manage that?”

Tessa finishes chewing and swallows. “My tutor’s son was recently apprenticed as a glassblower and he’s invited us to his shop to watch him work.” She shrugs. “But only if everyone is interested.”

“I am,” Talon says.

“Me too,” Niklas adds.

Jacey pushes her empty plate to the center of the table. “I’m in. When?”

“Tonight,” Tessa says, licking a crumb from her finger. “Now.”

I can’t figure out how this fits into Tessa’s plan, but by the way she has schooled her expression into nonchalance, I know it does.

We leave the inn and stroll through the candy-colored town square to a more remote part of Leiden, where the buildings are farther apart and the windows are made of plain, unadorned glass.

I casually make my way to the front of the group and walk beside Tessa. She doesn’t turn her face to acknowledge me, but after a few minutes she starts speaking in a voice low enough that I have to strain to hear. I fight the impulse to dip my head toward hers. “Avalina lives two streets south of the inn. Her house is built of rose-colored brick with white shutters. It has a big oak tree in front. Leave with Bram, but not until I give you the signal.”

“Got it,” I say just as Bram slides his hand into mine. I take a deep breath. I can do this. I have to.

The glass workshop is on the outskirts of town in a building that would be nondescript if not for the large cone-shaped protrusion on the roof.

As we approach, Rasmus puts his arm out to block me. “Wait here.”

He disappears inside the building and doesn’t return for several minutes.

Finally he emerges and waves us forward.

We step through the door into a dimly lit room so warm that it smothers the air from my lungs. I shrug off my cloak, and several others do the same. Even Rasmus tugs at his collar, as if he’s considering shedding his Breaker attire.

Glassblowers work at various stations. One girl stands in front of a huge oven holding a long metal pole with a purple blob of molten glass on the end. She shoves the pole into the flame as if she’s feeding a dragon.