“It was an invaluable opportunity to help us catch the killer,” Guymer said. “We need to stop him before he kills again. But because you didn’t keep your head and imagined a monster, we have lost the chance to identify the attacker and capture him. Because of your emotional reaction, we still have a killer loose in the Keep and we don’t know his identity, much less what he looks like. He is undoubtedly a traitor or an infiltrator sent to kill important people. We might have had him if you could have kept your wits about you so that you could tell us what he looked like. Because you couldn’t do that simple thing, we missed our chance and as a result we don’t have a clue who it could be.”

“We are left to wonder why,” Clay added.

“She can’t be faulted for being afraid,” Sadler said.

Magda sat quietly, refusing to allow herself to rise to the bait. There were more important things at stake than proving herself to these men. It was not only the lives of the people in the Keep that were at stake, but all the people of the New World. She didn’t know why the council had summoned her, but it wasn’t to get at the truth. There was no point in defending herself when they had already decided that it was more convenient to blame her than listen to her. They didn’t want the truth; she did.

Elder Cadell waved his hand again. “That’s not why we called you here, Magda. We called you in because Councilman Weston had a valuable suggestion.”

“And what would that be?” she asked without looking over at Weston’s smug expression.

“That we appoint you as a representative of the council for the people in outlying lands. It’s an important post. We value your experience with such distant lands. You would be our contact with these remote peoples of the Midlands, as you often were on an informal basis in the past. As Councilman Weston pointed out, there is simply no one better suited to the post.”

Chapter 42

Magda frowned as she looked from one grim face to the next. “You want to appoint me to a post to advise you on the peoples of the smaller lands?”

“No, not advise us.” Weston leaned an elbow on the polished table. “You would travel to these far-flung lands and represent the views and decrees of the council to the peoples who inhabit those distant places. They are, after all, part of the Midlands. They need to know what is happening here at the Keep, what is being decided. They need to know about the war and such.”